February 14, 2024

Orleans' JOHN HALL - From Rock Rythms to Congress

52 minutes

John Hall is a founding member of the band Orleans

and one of the main instigators of the No Nukes and MUSE (Musicians United for Safe Energy) movements. He’s been intimately involved in promoting social change and environmental advocacy, both as a private citizen and as an elected representative in Congress.

John was studying piano at 5, playing French horn, guitar bass and drums by 12. He started playing in the clubs of Greenwich Village by 18 and at 21 wrote and directed music for a Broadway and

Off-Broadway play. He then worked on numerous projects including Seals and Crofts’ album Down Home. He toured with Taj Mahal and when he came home, started the band that would become Orleans in 1972.

Moving to Woodstock NY with his wife Johanna, the pair began writing together. They had major hits ‘Dance With Me’ and ‘Still The One’, songs that have garnered 9 million terrestrial airplays

and hundreds of millions of streams.

John has also co-written songs for Janis Joplin, Millie Jackson, Bonnie Raitt, The Tymes, Chaka Khan and Chet Atkins among others. He co-founded the group Musicians United for Safe Energy and helped organise the 1979 No Nukes concerts at Madison Square Garden. His song 'Power' was its anthem, performed and recorded there by the Doobie Brothers with James Taylor, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, Carly Simon, Nicolette

Larson, Phoebe Snow, and many more. That song was also sung by Peter Paul and Mary, Pete Seeger and others. John’s guitar playing was featured on albums by Browne, Raitt, Carly Simon, Little Feat and more. In the 90s the John Hall Band recorded two LPs: Search Party and All Of The Above, which contained the AOR

and MTV staple Crazy (Keep On Fallin’).

Environmental activism led John to serve on several boards. In 2006 he was elected to the US House of Representatives and also served on the Select Committee on Energy Independence

and Global Warming.

Returning to private life in 2011, John continued to perform and record with Orleans and as a solo artist. During the

pandemic, he wrote and recorded songs for his latest CD “Reclaiming My Time.”

John Hall joins us this week as special guest to share the stories (and the music) from his life. I hope you'll join us.

If you'd like to know more about John, check out his website https://johnhallmusic.com/ and if you feel like requesting a guest that you'd like to hear interviewed on the show - reach out to me through my website https://www.abreathoffreshair.com.au

Warm regards

Sandy

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By Sandy Kaye

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