Nilsson had a tough childhood. He was raised along with his half-sister by his mother, Bette, who had an alcohol problem. The family had little money and Harry's mother was often in trouble for writing bad checks and failing to pay bills.
In early 1952, the Nilssons moved to San Bernardino, California, where Bette's brother, John, lived. The family lived in a small trailer and Nilsson's mother waited tables for a living. Facing legal trouble for bouncing checks, Bette moved the family back east to Long Island in 1956.
In school, Nilsson was smart and atheltic. The tall blonde youth played baseball and basketball. When his mother moved back to California, Nilsson stayed in New York to finish high school, but ended up hitchhiking to Los Angeles before graduating.
In Los Angeles, Harry discovered that his mother was in jail and he was on his own. He got a job at the Paramount Theater, where he enjoyed seeing rock and roll bands performing live. Harry also enjoyed listening to rock and roll and R&B music on the radio.
In the summer, Harry took a break from his job at the theater to work for his Uncle John at a gas station. His uncle was a mechanic, but enjoyed singing. Harry credits his uncle with teaching him to sing. After the summer, Harry returned to work at the Paramount theater.
When the Paramount close around 1960, Harry got a job at a bank. Lying about his lack of a high school diploma, Harry was given a job working in the bank's computer section. While, Nilsson worked nights at the bank, his interest in music grew. During the day he began visiting music publishers and singing on demo records.
In 1963, Nilsson met John Marascalco. Marascalco was a songwriter who had written, among others, "Good Golly Miss Molly" which was a hit for Little Richard. Marascalco took Nilsson under his wing and the two co-wrote a few songs including "Groovy Little Suzie" which Little Richard recorded.
Nilsson was signed briefly to the Mercury Records label then to Capitol's new Tower label. He met Perry Botkin and George Tipton who were early supporters of Harry and ended up working with him for many years.
As Nilsson's music career began to blossom he continued to work nights in the bank. It was only after having songs recorded by Glenn Campbell and The Monkees, that Harry felt comfortable enough to quit the bank and work full-time as a songwriter and singer.
Harry signed with RCA in 1967 and in October of that year released Pandemonium Shadow Show. The album featured Nilsson's song "Without Her." Although critically acclaimed, Pandemonium did not sell well. It did, however, attract the attention of the Beatles. Derek Taylor, fomerly the press officer for the Beatles, mailed copies of the album to the Beatles.
At the New York press conference announcing the formation of Apple, the Beatles described Harry Nilsson as both their favorite singer and their favorite American "group." A few months later, Nilsson accepted an invitation to visit the Beatles in London during the recording of the group's "White Album." One evening, Harry and his wife, Diane, were treated to an "unplugged" version of the album as Paul McCartney played guitar and sang some of the album's songs.
Near the end of 1968, Otto Preminger's film Skiddo was released. Harry Nilsson composed the music for the film ... and sang the closing credits. Nilsson has a brief cameo in the film playing a security guard.
Nilsson's second RCA album included his recording of Fred Neil's song "Everybody's Talkin'." Like Pandemonium Shadow Show, Aerial Ballet didn't sell very well and the single of "Everybody's Talkin'" failed to break into the top 100.
But "Everybody's Talkin'" would become a hit. While making his film "Midnight Cowboy," director John Schlesinger used Nilsson's recording of "Everybody's Talkin'" as a placeholder. He used the song in rough cuts of the movie expecting to replace it with a song especially commissioned for the film. But the song worked so well in the film, that it was used in the final version.
The song became a hit - reaching #6 on Billboard's Hot 100 and earning Harry a Grammy. Nilsson's success continued as Three Dog Night's recording of his song "One" hit #5 on the charts and went on to sell more than a million copies.
In 1970, Nilsson released Nilsson Sings Newman, an album of songs by Randy Newman. At the time, Newman was not very well known. Nilsson Sings Newman did not make it into the Billboard album chart, but was awarded "Record of the Year" by Stereo Review magazine.
Also in 1970, Nilsson began work on "The Point," an animated musical about a young round-headed boy born in a land where everything - and everybody - had a point. The film debuted as the first "Movie of the Week" on ABC in early 1971. The song "Me and My Arrow" from the film's soundtrack album was released as a single and used in a series of car commercials.
In the middle of 1971, Nilsson began recording a new album in London. Nilsson Schmilsson was produced by Richard Perry and became Nilsson's best-selling album. The album includes his recording of "Without You" which became a world-wide hit in 1972. Another single from the album, "Coconut," also sold well.
Son of Schmilsson was released in July of 1972 while Nilsson Schmilsson was still in the charts. Son of Schmilsson was also recorded in London with Richard Perry as producer. The album spawned a couple of (minor) hit singles, "Spaceman" and "Remember (Christmas)," but is best known for containing a song that would never be a single, "You're Breaking My Heart."
In 1972, Nilsson's friend, Ringo Starr, asked Harry to appear in a film called "Son of Dracula." Harry played the lead role in the film and supplied much of the film's music. A soundtrack album was released which included a "Bite It" iron-on.
In 1973, Nilsson recorded an album of pop standards. A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night was produced by Derek Taylor and featured an orchestra arranged by Gordon Jenkins.
In 1974, John Lennon, estranged from his wife, visited Harry in Los Angeles and the two found themselves making headlines by being thrown out of the Troubadour for heckling during a Smothers Brothers performance.
Lennon produced Nilsson's Pussy Cats album. The uneven album suffers from Nilsson's voice problems - although Nilsson ruptured a vocal cord, he refused to stop the recording for fear that Lennon would back out.
Nilsson's next three albums, Duit on Mon Dei, Sandman, and ...That's the Way It Is were released in 1975 and 1976 and did not sell well. In an attempt to revive his career, Nilsson put everything he had into his next album, Knnillssonn.
Knnillssonn was released in July of 1977. Nilsson felt that RCA failed to properly support his album and asked to be released from his contract. When, in 1978, RCA violated Nilsson's contract by releasing a "Greatest Hits" package of Harry's recordings without his permission, Nilsson was able to have his contract with RCA terminated.
Nilsson traveled to Malta where Robert Altman was filming Popeye. On location, Harry composed and recorded the music and songs for the film starring Robin Williams.
In 1980, Harry Nilsson signed with Mercury Records and released his album, Flash Harry. The album was only released in Europe, not the US.
After the murder of John Lennon in December of 1980, Nilsson devoted much of his time to campaigning for better gun laws. He also formed Hawkeye Entertainment with writer Terry Southern. The company produced the film "The Telephone" starring Whoopi Goldberg and written by Nilsson and Southern.
Mismanagement of Nilsson's person and business accounts caused the collapse of Hawkeye Entertainment and forced Nilsson to seek bankruptcy. Nilsson's business manager pleaded guilty to three counts of grand theft and served two years in state prison before being paroled in June of 1994.
In early 1993, Nilsson suffered a major heart attack. Almost a year later, on January 15, 1994, Harry Nilsson died. George Harrison, Barbara Bach, George Segal, Jim Keltner, Paul Williams, and many other friends and family members attended his funeral. During the services, aftershocks from the recent Northridge Earthquake rumbled. A joke made the rounds during the funeral that the earthquake was the result of Harry getting to Heaven and discovering that there are no bars.