Together they penned Zevon’s classic "Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner". His dissatisfaction with his career led him to move to Spain in the summer of 1975, where he played in a small bar in Sitges near Barcelona owned by David Lindell, a former mercenary. In the early ’70s, Zevon toured regularly with the Everly Brothers as keyboard player and band leader/musical coordinator. Zevon’s second effort, Leaf in the Wind, was scrapped (though a belated release was contemplated just prior to his death). Flashes of Zevon’s later writing preoccupations of romantic loss and noir-ish violence are present in songs like "Tule’s Blues" and "A Bullet for Ramona". Zevon’s first attempt at a solo album, Wanted Dead or Alive (1969), was produced by 1960s cult figure Kim Fowley but did not fare well in the marketplace. Another early composition ("She Quit Me") was included in the soundtrack for the film Midnight Cowboy (1969). In the 1960s, Zevon also toured and recorded with Manfred Mann. He wrote several songs for his White Whale label-mates the Turtles ("Like the Seasons" and "Outside Chance"), though his participation in their recording is unknown. He spent time as a session musician (notably as piano player and band leader for the Everly Brothers) and jingle composer. Zevon turned to a musical career early, including a stretch with high school friend Violet Santangelo as part of a Sonny and Cher-type male/female duo called lyme & cybelle (in a 60s-ish affectation, the band name eschewed capitalization). Zevon’s parents divorced when he was 16 and he soon quit high school and moved from Los Angeles to New York to become a folk singer. By the age of 13, Zevon was an occasional visitor to the home of Igor Stravinsky where he, alongside Robert Craft, briefly studied modern classical music. Following the announcement that Zevon had terminal lung cancer, Capitol Records put out a remastered version of the album in early 2003.Zevon was born in Chicago, Illinois, to William "Stumpy" Zevon (formerly "Zivotovsky" relative of folk/blues-singer, Jedaiah Zivotovsky), a boxer, small-time criminal and Mickey Cohen associate who was of Russian Jewish origin, and Beverly Cope Simmons, a Mormon from Salt Lake City, Utah. Wanted Dead or Alive was initially released on the CD format by One Way Records in 1996. Once Zevon reached stardom, Wanted Dead or Alive ended up as an all-but-forgotten relic of his early career. His next album, the critically acclaimed classic Warren Zevon, was not released until 1976. Jackson Browne later commented, "I don't remember thinking was as good as he really was." Attempts to record a follow-up album, called Leaf in the Wind, were abandoned, and Zevon found work as band leader and musical coordinator for the Everly Brothers. Sales were poor, and critics ignored the album. The album was released "to the sound of one hand clapping", as Zevon later remarked. Zevon chalked up his disagreement with Fowley to a "sudden attack of taste". But, he didn't listen to anyone about anything, and one day I just walked in thinking I'd had enough. I wasn't trying to produce him because you really couldn't produce Warren, at least not in those days, but I was trying to help him make a record that might sell more than ten copies, all purchased by his friends. wanted to play all the instruments himself. Kim Fowley began the project as producer, but he left after disagreements with Zevon and did not take credit for production duties. Livingston had left the group by the time the single was recorded. Sugarblu consisted of Jolaine Herald, Pamela Easley, Carol Meyer and Tule Livingston. It was covered in 1972 as a single by Sugarblu on Warner Bros. "Tule's Blues" was written about his lover, Marilyn "Tule" Livingston, mother of his son Jordan. The track "She Quit Me" was featured in the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy (performed by Lesley Miller) as "He Quit Me". The album was a commercial and critical failure. The album released by Liberty Records in 1970 under the moniker "Zevon". Wanted Dead or Alive is the debut studio album by singer-songwriter Warren Zevon. Wally Heider's Studio III, San Francisco, California
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