Chuck Negron, Three Dog Night Co-Founder Who Sang ‘Joy to the World’ and Other Smashes, Dies at 83
Chuck Negron, one of the three founding members of the rock group Three Dog Night and lead singer on some of their biggest hits, died Monday at age 83. A statement from his publicist said Negron died peacefully at his home in Studio City, Calif., surrounded by family.
Negron’s voice was heard as the lead vocalist on such hits as “Joy To The World (Jeremiah Was a Bullfrog),” “One (Is the Loneliest Number),” “Old Fashioned Love Song,” “The Show Must Go On” and “Easy To Be Hard.”
Although no exact cause of death was given, a statement said that Negron struggled with heart failure in his final months, in addition to the chronic COPD he had dealt with for three decades.
Three Dog Night was founded in 1967 by Negron, Danny Hutton and Cory Wells. The group struggled to find credibility with some rock audiences, who resisted the band for not writing its own songs as the singer/songwriter age took over. Yet they had 21 top 40 hits, many of them offering early shots to some of the top writers of the day. They recorded material by Nilsson, Randy Newman, Laura Nyro, Paul Williams, Neil Young, Robbie Robertson, Tim Hardin, Hoyt Axton and Leo Sayer, among others.
“I like different songs for different reasons,” he told Rock Cellar. “I like ‘One’ because it was our first million-selling record, that one really put us in the game. It has a special place in my heart for other reasons too, it was done in one take, and at the time I was in awe of what came out of me, I couldn’t believe I’d done that. … I loved ‘Joy to the World’ because it became a signature song for us, and it’s still a hit to this day.”
The group’s self-titled debut album came out on Dunhill in 1968 and went platinum. Wells sang most of the lead vocals on the first album, but, fatefully, the very first song on the very first LP, “One,” written by Nilsson, was sung by Negron. It went to No. 5 on the Hot 100.
Their following seven album releases, through 1974, all reached gold status. The group’s first No. 1 was “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” sung by Wells, in 1970, and the second was the Negron-sung “Joy to the World” in 1971.
The partnership fell apart in the mid-1970s, due in part to Negron’s well-documented and admitted struggles with drugs, including a heroin addiction that he finally kicked. The group disbanded between 1976-1981, then reunited from 1981-1985 before there was another fallout, this one more permanent. Hutton and Wells carried on under the Three Dog Night banner, and Hutton continues to tour behind it today, as the sole original member. Negron eked out a successful career as a solo artist on the oldies circuit for decades to come, until the pandemic put a halt to his touring.
Negron estimated that at one point, he was spending $2,000-3,000 a day on drugs and spent millions of dollars on his habit over time. In 1991, Negron checked into rehab, later telling Rock Cellar of his time at CRI: “I wanted to cry help, and they took a spiritually and physically broken man, and they changed me with many tools and an unbelievable support group.” Later he did benefits for the rehab center, and would speak at hepatitis conventions to share his experiences with the condition.
An obituary provided by Negron’s representative said that although he and Hutton had been estranged for decades, they met up last year ” in a timely effort to exchange apologies and bury the hatchet.”
In a December interview Hutton did with Catalyst’s Bill DeYoung, he spoke of that meeting with Negron. “They’re making a documentary on us now, and the producer asked me… ‘Would you and Chuck ever get back together again?’ I just looked at her and said, ‘Absolutely not. No way.’ She said, ‘He would love to talk to you,’ and I said ‘Look, I don’t want to talk to him.’ A lot of hurt, all of that stuff. And then I finally said, all right, you know what? I’ll talk to him. So we went to his place – she had a whole crew there – and we hugged. And made up. It was wonderful. It was a great relief to get that burden … it’s not healthy to keep that anger. Anger always comes from hurt, I think.”
The third founding membrer, Wells, died in 2015 at age 74.
Negron told Rock Cellar about the secrets of performing with COPD. “I reached a point where the COPD was going to prevent me from performing live; I could have literally died on stage,” he said. “But people aren’t going to pay to see someone singing with an oxygen mask on, so I had to do something or it was all going to be over. Luckily my girlfriend Amy stumbled across this pair of glasses that feed the oxygen from the tank, through the glasses, to the wearer. The cord has been modified to look like a guitar cable, so it’s more ‘rock ‘n’ roll.’ The audience can’t even tell. It changed my entire career.”
Negron is survived by his wife, Ami Albea Negron; his children Shaunti Negron Levick, Berry Oakley, Charles Negron III, Charlotte Negron, and Annabelle Negron; his brother Rene (Jody) Negron, sister Denise (Janey) Negron; nine grandchildren, five nieces and two nephews, as well as his children’s mothers, Paula Servetti, Julia Negron, Robin Silna and Kate Vernon.
