Chuck Mangione, Jazz Musician Whose ‘Feels So Good' Stormed the Pop Top 10 in the Late '70s, Dies at 84

Yahoo

3 days ago

Jazz musician Chuck Mangione, who had one of the biggest pop-jazz instrumental crossover hits of all time with 'Feels So Good' in the 1970s, died Tuesday at age 84.
The death was reported by multiple news outlets out of his native Rochester, NY. The city's WROC-TV reported that the Bartolomeo & Perreto Funeral Home said the musician died in his sleep at home on Tuesday.
The flugelhorn and trumpet player won two Grammys, out of 14 nominations, in a career that spanned 30 albums. Beyond his musical success, the musician was also familiar to millions for his recurring voice role on the animated series 'King of the Hill.'
A ubiquitous hit in 1978, 'Feels So Good' reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammys.
That success led to Mangione being commissioned to write and perform 'Give it All You Got,' the theme song for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
On 'King of the Hill,' he played himself, as a celebrity pitchman for the fictional Mega Lo Mart, and was portrayed wearing an outfit that was familiar to many from the cover for the hit album 'Feels So Good.'
Mangione was born in Rochester on Nov. 29, 1940. He starting music lessons at age 8, starting out on piano but switching instruments after seeing the film 'Young Man With a Horn.' He formed his first jazz band while he was in high school, along with his pianist brother, Gap. He graduated in 1963 from the Eastman School of Music, where he later came back as a teacher and the director of the Eastman Jazz Ensemble.
Mangione's parents were jazz buffs who would often invite the stars of the genre over to dinner in their home, including Dizzy Gillespie, Carmen McRae and Art Blakey — whose Jazz Messengers group he would later join, establishing his serious chops.
He was also a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the group the National Gallery. With his brother Gap, he was part of the act the Jazz Brothers, who released three albums in 1960-61.
Mangione's solo career took off with the 1970 album 'Friends & Love… A Chuck Mangione Concert,' which was nominated for a 1971. The first of his releases on the Mercury label, it was recorded at the Eastman Theatre in Rochester. A single from the album, 'Hill Where the Lord Hides,' marked his first appearance on the Billboard Hot 100.
He moved to A&M with the 'Chase the Clouds Away' album in 1975. The title song was used at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.
He won his first Grammy for 'Bellavia,' a 1976 album, and his second for the 'Children of Sanchez' soundtrack, which also earned him a 1978 Golden Globe nomination.
'Feels So Good' was released as a single in December 1977, soon topping Billboard's adult contemporary chart and making it to No. 4 on the Hot 100. The album version clocked in at 9 minutes and 42 seconds and required what he called 'major surgery' to be cut down to 3:31 for radio and single release purposes.
The 'Feels So Good' album was a smash in its own right, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, held back only by the 'Saturday Night Fever' soundtrack.
He released nine albums for A&M between 1975-82, thereafter switching to Columbia for his next five releases before forming his own Feels So Good imprint in the late 1980s.
Best of Variety
New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week
'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts?
Final Emmy Predictions: Talk Series and Scripted Variety - New Blood Looks to Tackle Late Night Staples