Jake Holmes
| Jake Holmes | |
|---|---|
| Born |
December 28, 1939 San Francisco, California |
| Genres | Pop, folk |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Guitar |
| Years active | 1963 – present |
| Labels | Tower, Polydor, Columbia |
| Associated acts | Allen & Grier |
Jake Holmes (born December 28, 1939 in San Francisco, California) is an American singer-songwriter and jingle writer who began a recording career in the 1960s. Holmes, who has a particular talent for writing clever, perceptive lyrics, is perhaps best known as the original author of the song "Dazed and Confused", later reworked by Led Zeppelin, and for composing the music to US Army recruitment jingle "Be All That You Can Be" for the words created by Earl Carter in the 1980s. The jingle and subsequent advertising campaign was used extensively by the US government throughout the 1980s. Holmes also co-wrote the "Be a Pepper" jingle for the Dr Pepper soft drink.
Holmes' first musical foray was with his wife Katherine in the folk pop parody duo, Allen & Grier. Following military service, he resumed his music career. Among the highlights: Holmes put lyrics to Bob Gaudio's music on The Four Seasons' 1969 Genuine Imitation Life Gazette album, after which the pair went on to compose Frank Sinatra's 1970 Watertown album. Coming during a relative low point in Sinatra's career, Watertown was his least successful album, but the song "I Would Be in Love (Anyway)" reached No. 4 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart. The song "What's Now is Now" reached No. 31 on that chart and was later included in Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits Volume 2. Sinatra's recording of the Gaudio-Holmes composition "Lady Day" was left off the Watertown album, but was released as a single, and Don Costa later rearranged "Lady Day" for inclusion in Sinatra's Sinatra & Company album. In 1985 Nina Simone recorded a cover version of "For a While," from the Watertown album, for her Nina's Back album. That same year Simone recorded a live version of "For a While" for her Live And Kickin' album.
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