Chuck Negron, founding member and lead vocalist of late ’60s-founded Los Angeles rock band Three Dog Night, has died at the age of 83 at his Studio City, Calif. home.
Per his obituary, he had been battling chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, and heart failure in the months leading up to his death.
Born June 8, 1942 as Charles Negron II to a Puerto Rican nightclub performer, he was raised in the Bronx, New York and spent his childhood playing basketball and singing in doo-wop groups. He was recruited by Allan Hancock College and, later, California State University to play basketball, bringing him to L.A., where he continued to explore a career in music.
In 1967, he joined Danny Hutton and the late Cory Wells to form Three Dog Night, a vocal trio — with genre-blending roots in R&B, rock ‘n’ roll and urban doo-wop — focused on out-of-the-box harmonies, cutting-edge production and performing the best songs they could find. The approach made them one of the most successful bands of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, as the group produced nearly two dozen Top 40 Billboard hits throughout this period.
Negron’s lead vocals appear on classics like the two-time Grammy-nominated “Joy To The World (Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog),” “One (Is The Loneliest Number),” “Easy To Be Hard,” “Old Fashioned Love Song,” “The Show Must Go On” and more.
Eventually, the band expanded to include guitarist Michael Allsup, and the late musicians Jimmy Greenspoon, Joe Schermie and Floyd Sneed. Hutton and Allsup are the last living members of the original band, and continue to tour as Three Dog Night.
The band’s success was stymied by internal schisms, as Negron’s addiction to drugs eventually landed him on Skid Row for a time. After numerous recovery efforts, he launched a solo career in 1991, releasing seven albums between 1995 and 2017 and becoming a passionate advocate for people with substance abuse issues. He also published a co-written autobiography, Three Dog Nightmare, in 1999, which recounted his musical career and journey toward sobriety. In later years, Negron continued to tour heavily until the pandemic.
After decades of estrangement between him and Hutton, the two former bandmates met last year in a timely effort to exchange apologies and bury the hatchet.
“Through his six decades of success, and all the ups-and-downs, his large, unconventional family was most important to him,” his obituary read.
He 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; his 9 grandchildren, 5 nieces and 2 nephews; as well as his children’s mothers: Paula Servetti, Julia Negron, Robin Silna and Kate Vernon. He was predeceased by his parents, Charles Negron and Elizabeth Rooke, and his twin sister Nancy Negron Dean.
