Happy Birthday: Tom Johnston

Today we celebrate the birthday of Tom Johnston, best known as the frontman of the Doobie Brothers prior to Michael McDonald stepping in. In celebration, here are four facts about Mr. Johnston, some of which you may know and some of which may be news to you. Either way, we hope you’ll wish the gentleman the best of all possible birthdays if you’re able to do so, and if you’re not, then you can still celebrate by listening to the music.

1. His friends call him Tommy.

Actually, we don’t know for a fact that this is true. But we do know that it’s how he’s credited for his performance on Nicolette Larson’s song “Dancing Jones,” so that’s what we’re basing it on. If we’re wrong, we’re sure we’ll hear from Mr. Johnston on the matter.

• SPOTIFY: Listen Here 

2. He played on the Carly Simon song “Cow Town.”

And if you’ve ever heard Simon’s 1976 album ANOTHER PASSENGER, then you already know that this isn’t the only connection that this LP has to the Doobie Brothers: the second track on Side 1 is a cover of their classic track “Livin’ on the Fault Line.”

• SPOTIFY: Listen Here 

3. He was responsible for the 29^th video ever played on MTV.

That’s such a specific number that you probably already know in your heart that it’s true, but we’ve confirmed it by checking out the playlist for MTV’s first 24 hours and, yes, “Savannah Nights” was indeed the 29^th video ever played on the network.

4. He was on the soundtrack to Dirty Dancing.

It’s not that this is such a shocking revelation in and of itself – after all, it’s not like he’s credited under a pseudonym or something – but at the same time, it’s very possible that you could’ve looked at the soundtrack dozens upon dozens of times and never had the epiphany that, holy crap, this is the same Tom Johnston who fronted the Doobie Brothers! If this resembles your reaction upon reading this entry, then you’re welcome.