James Boyd Greenspoon (February 7, 1948 – March 11, 2015) was an American keyboard player and composer, best known as a member of the band Three Dog Night.
Greenspoon was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in Beverly Hills. His musical training began at the age of seven with classical piano lessons encouraged by his mother, Mary O'Brien, a silent film actress.[3][4] O'Brien's roles including the wife in Buster Keaton's 1926 movie Battling Butler. His aunt was Virginia O'Brien.
Greenspoon attended Beverly Hills High School along with Richard Dreyfuss, Bonnie Franklin, his childhood friends producer, Michael Lloyd and drummer, songwriter, singer Art Guy. Lloyd, Greenspoon and Guy had their first chart success with the surf group The New Dimensions, in 1963. Greenspoon attended the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and studied with west coast piano instructor, Harry Fields. Greenspoon had one daughter, Heather Greenspoon.
Career
Early career
Greenspoon worked on the Sunset Strip in the 1960s with the groups Sound of the Seventh Son and The East Side Kids. His bands held residence at The Trip, Stratford on Sunset (now The House Of Blues) Brave New World, Bidos Litos, Ciros, and The Whiskey. In approximately 1964, Greenspoon joined forces with drummer, singer, songwriter Art Guy, who he had attended school with and formed the band The New Dimensions with Michael Lloyd. Greenspoon and Guy were signed to Original Sounds Records, after penning and recording the original song; Funny Feelin', which the pair co-wrote, played and sang lead.
In 1968, Greenspoon moved back to Los Angeles, where he met Danny Hutton, and subsequently formed Three Dog Night.
Greenspoon played with Three Dog Night the entire time they existed in his lifetime, from their formation in 1967 until their breakup in 1976 including all their albums, then again when they reformed in 1981 until his death in 2015, a total of 43 years. He was one of the longest-tenured of the band's musicians, closely followed by singer Cory Wells was in the group from 1967 until his death a few months after Greenspoon's.
In 2014, Greenspoon was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma, and stopped touring with Three Dog Night.[6] A year later, Greenspoon died at his home of cancer on March 11, 2015, in North Potomac, Maryland, at the age of 67.[7] Three Dog Night member Danny Hutton described him as a "brother".[4]