Albert Hammond is well known for his successful career as a songwriter, but as a solo performer, he’s often considered a one-hit wonder. The song that made him a singing sensation? 1972’s “It Never Rains in Southern California.” Written by Hammond and Mike Hazlewood, the soft rock classic appeared on Hammond’s debut album of the same name and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 on Dec. 16, 1972.
According to Songfacts, Hammond once said the song was written in London when he was struggling to make it as a musician. “That struggle you go through, that's ‘It Never Rains in Southern California, the story of my life,” he shared. "One of my most important songs, not only because I think it's a great song and I love it, and I think it tells the story of my life in a way, but also because I was the artist, the producer, the writer - I mean, everything was right, it was just like the right thing. If I hadn't had that, I might have got slowly downhill, you know."
Other artists rejected Hammond’s hit song
Hammond co-wrote songs that became huge hits for other artists, including “The Air that I Breathe” (The Hollies), “When I Need You" (Leo Sayer), “One Moment in Time” (Whitney Houston), and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” (Starship).
But “It Never Rains in Southern California” was actually rejected by several artists when Hammond first wrote it.
In an interview with the Strange Brew, the songwriter recounted his early issues with his future hit. “The strange thing with that song was, maybe it was meant for me, because I gave it to Glen Campbell and The Seekers. They both turned the song down. So I never played it again to anyone until I auditioned for Clive Davis in L.A. After I played 45 minutes on my guitar, he asked me if I had any other songs. I told him 'yeah,' but that these two wonderful artists had turned it down.”
RELATED: 1977 No. 1 Soft Rock Hit Became a Career-Defining Classic
Hammond considered his meeting with Davis to be his lucky break. Speaking with Music-News.com in 2017, he shared, “I suppose my lucky break was meeting Clive Davis, auditioning for him, and for me playing him 45 minutes of music from ‘The Free Electric Band’ to ‘The Air That I Breathe’ to all these songs but not playing him ‘It Never Rains in Southern California.’”
Hammond noted that Davis asked him if he had any other songs, which led him to the song that had been rejected by others.
“I said, ‘Yes, but when I played it to all these wonderful artists, they told me it was a terrible song, that's why I didn't play it today,’" Hammond recalled. “And he said, ‘Play it for me.’ I played him ‘It Never Rains in Southern California,’ and he said, ‘That's going to be your biggest single, and that's going to be the title of your album.’"
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