Laura Nyro’s Smash Hits – For Barbra Streisand! Three Dog Night! Fifth Dimension!

Some of the catchiest pop songs of the late 60’s and early 70’s were written by one person, the terrific Singer/Songwriter Laura Nyro:

Laura Nyro’s Hit Singles For Others!

Nyro released a number of great album – and I wanted to look at some of her best songs, the ones that were smash hits for other Artists!

Of course, Laura had her own successful recording career, with terrific hit albums like these:

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Laura’s At The Top Of The Charts!

Laura had many songs in the top ten, including a chart-topping #1 smash, because Nyro’s biggest hits were for other Artists! I enjoy hearing the differences between Laura’s version and the cover version by others, especially when that “cover” is by Barbra Streisand…

Barbra’s “Stoney End!”

Nyro wrote it, Babs made it the title of her album, and the song was a big hit!

Here is the audio-only version from Nyro, which was on her debut album, “More Than A New Discovery” in 1966, then re-released as just “Laura Nyro” in 1969:

Streisand’s Top Ten Hit!

Barbra Streisand released her single version, which went to #6 on the charts…

Here is a short snippet of the song, performed in concert by Babs:

Finally, here is a full-length live performance by Barbra, which goes right into “The Way We Were”…

Laura’s incredible debut album included many songs that would become hits for other artists, including several for one pop ensemble!

Time To Enter “The 5th Dimension!”

The pop group “The 5th Dimension” had a string of big hits in the late 60’s and early 70’s. The five original members were Billy Davis, Jr., Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo, LaMonte McLemore, and Ron Townson.

And who was responsible for most of them? Laura Nyro!

Laura Nyro’s #1 Smash Hit!

The 5th Dimension went to the top of the charts with the #1 single “Wedding Bell Blues”, which Laura also sang on an album – but their rocketed to #1!

Here is a clip of the group performing the song on TV – as a skit!

Thanks to “danbanrock1” for posting YouTube!

I personally love this ad with Laura for the song – sorry, I couldn’t find a larger version:

Laura almost single-handedly made The 5th Dimension stars. The group also had hits with the Nyro songs “Stoned Soul Picnic”, “Blowing Away”, “Sweet Blindness” and “Save the Country”…

Thanks again to “danbanrock1”, here is the group performing “Stoned Soul Picnic”, which made it to #3 on the pop charts in 1968:

The group named their album after the song, and Nyro’s hit “Sweet Blindness” was also on the album…

Blood, Sweat & Laura!

The rock group “Blood, Sweat & Tears” had one of their biggest hits thanks to Laura – the band went all the way to #2 on the charts with Nyro’s classic song “And When I Die”.

Here’s a vintage clip of the band performing the song live on TV:

One of my favorite names for a group is this one:

So Cold It’s A “Three Dog Night!”

Yep, that’s where the band’s name came from, a folk tale that you cuddled with your dogs on cold nights!

The group hit the top ten in 1969 with Laura’s quirky song “Eli’s Comin” –

Here’s the band performing the song in concert:

Three Dog Night stripped the song down to its rock essence, while Nyro makes the song much funkier and soulful. Laura’s version is included on her brilliant album, “Eli & The Thirteenth Confession”.

So there you go, a look at some of Laura’s songs that were smash hits for other Artists…some were faithful to Laura’s original version, which some – yes you Three Dog Night – dramatically changed them – it’s great to have both to listen to and compare!

A recent tribute album brought more of her great songs back: