Happy Birthday: Eddie Rabbitt

Today we celebrate the birthday of Edward Thomas Rabbitt.

Yes, that’s right: the man who sang “I Love a Rainy Night” wasn’t working under a pseudonym. His name really was Eddie Rabbitt, and if you only knew him for his hits on the Billboard Hot 100, then you really missed out, because Rabbitt – who succumbed to lung cancer at the age of 56 in 1998 – was a legitimate superstar on the country charts, scoring a staggering 17 #1 singles over the course of his career.

We’ve put together a playlist which spotlights all of the #1 hits that we have in our catalog, but we’ve also put together a list of five occasions when he collaborated with other artists.

1. Chris Gantry, “Tullahoma Dancing Pizza Man” (1977): Although Gantry is better known as a songwriter, having written – among others – the Glen Campbell hit “Dreams of the Everyday Housewife,”  he’s also released some albums of his own. Indeed, Rabbitt contributed vocals to Gantry’s self-titled debut album, but since we can’t clarify exactly which track(s), we’ve opted to share a songwriting collaboration between Rabbitt and Gantry, one which appears on Rabbitt’s 1977 album ROCKY MOUNTAIN MUSIC.

• SPOTIFY: Listen here

2. Wood Newton, “Julie (Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?)” (1979): Another instance of an individual who’s known more for his songs than for when he was singing them himself, Newton wrote Razzy Bailey’s “Midnight Hauler” and the Oak Ridge Boys’ “Bobbie Sue,” both of which were #1 country hits. He did, however, score a few minor country hits himself, including this one featuring Rabbitt on backing vocals.

3. Crystal Gayle, “You and I” (1982): This duet provided Rabbitt with one of the biggest pop hits of his career, and it did the same for Gayle, too, come to think of it. If you can’t place it by the title, just hit “play,” and if you lived through the ‘80s, you’ll immediately go. “Oh, that song…”

4. Juice Newton, “Both to Each Other” (1985): This is another song that you’ll recognize as soon as you hit “play,” but the reason you don’t recognize this one is because it was more popular when it was recorded by Gloria Loring and Carl Anderson under a different title, “Friends and Lovers.”

5. Lacy J. Dalton, “Bye Bye Love” (1992): You know that a song is obscure when you can’t find it on Spotify or on YouTube, but such is the case with Dalton’s duet with Rabbitt on a cover of the Everly Brothers classic “Bye Bye Love,” which appeared on her 1992 album CHAINS IN THE WIND.