Chidester says the record was a flop, only selling about 100 copies. He died of an overdose in 1969 at age 21.Īhbez wrote music for many artists, but he also recorded an album of his own music, called “ Eden’s Island,” which was released in 1960. Chidester says there’s some evidence that Zoma got involved with a bad crowd and drugs. Sadly, in 1960, Anna was diagnosed with cancer. Photo courtesy of Joe Romersa/Shadowbox Studio. In Big Tujunga Canyon, Eden Ahbez sits next to an outdoor oven that he used to make food while living in the wilderness during the 1950s and 1960s. Photo courtesy of Brian Chidester/Full Moon Films. This photo was taken by record producer Bob Bertram, who extensively worked with Ahbez during the 1950s and 1960s. They lived almost exclusively outdoors.Įden Ahbez sits outdoors in the San Fernando Valley, circa 1963. In the 1950s, they camped in Big Tujunga Canyon and other areas, and sometimes lived in ashrams in the Glendale area. They married in 1946, and their son, Zoma, was born in October 1948, a few months after “Nature Boy” became a big hit. We sleep on the ground in sleeping bags in the California mountains and deserts.”Īnna was Ahbez’s wife. Anna and I have learned that nature and a simple life will bring you peace and happiness. Because all the money in the world could not give me the things I already have.
One in a million you composer tv#
In a 1948 appearance on the TV show “ We the People,” Ahbez told host Dwight Weist, “All the money in the world will not change my way of life. … They were really the precursors of the hippies.” They followed some gurus like Krishnamurti and Yogananda, who were in Southern California at that time giving lectures. “They were interested in Eastern mysticism. During and after the Great Depression, he preferred living in nature, even when he started receiving significant royalties from his music.īrian Chidester, who is working on a documentary called “ As the Wind: the Enchanted Life of Eden Ahbez,” says Ahbez was part of a group called the California Nature Boys in the 1930s and 1940s. Since then, the song has been performed and recorded by hundreds of artists from jazz and other genres, including Frank Sinatra, John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, James Brown, David Bowie, and more.Įden Ahbez composed the song, which was about himself. Less impressive is "I'm So Glad It's Summer Again," which is nothing more than a poor man's "Hot Fun in the Summertime." But this album's strengths by far outweigh its weaknesses, and One in a Million You is enthusiastically recommended to R&B lovers.The song “ Nature Boy” was a number one hit for Nat King Cole in 1948, selling 1 million copies that year.
"I Just Can't Stop Dancing" was meant to recall "Dance to the Music," a Sly & the Family Stone smash that Graham had played on in the late '60s - although the song is equally mindful of 1960s Motown and has an appealing personality of its own. This isn't to say that One in a Million You is devoid of up-tempo material one of the best things on the album is the very danceable and infectious "I Just Can't Stop Dancing." Nonetheless, the LP is best-known for its ballads. successfully released Graham's remake of "When We Get Married" (previously recorded by the Dreamlovers and the Intruders) as the follow-up single. And if anyone doubted that Graham's fans wanted to hear him doing a lot of romantic crooning, their fears were put to rest when this LP's sentimental title song became a major hit and Warner Bros. But when he launched a solo career with 1980s One in a Million You, the singer/electric bassist surprised the R&B world by emphasizing ballads. As the leader of Graham Central Station, Larry Graham was responsible for some of the nastiest, grittiest, most gutbucket funk of the 1970s.
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