In 1972, guitarist and songwriter Danny Whitten died of a drug overdose at just 29 years old, cutting short the career of a musician who had played an integral role in Neil Young’s early work with Crazy Horse.
More than 50 years later, Three Dog Night founder Danny Hutton still remembers a painful encounter with Whitten not long before his death.
Speaking with Rolling Stone, Hutton, 84, revealed that Whitten had once even been under consideration to become the third singer in Three Dog Night.
“Danny was also a guy I was thinking of as a possible third singer for Three Dog Night,” Hutton said. “When I lived in Laurel Canyon, the Rockets lived up the street. They became Crazy Horse.”
Hutton ultimately decided Whitten wasn’t the right fit for the group but remembered him warmly, saying, “He wasn’t quite the tenor we needed, but he was the sweetheart.”
The two remained in each other’s orbit as Whitten’s career took off with Crazy Horse. Hutton recalled visiting Whitten and his bandmates around the time they had finished “Cinnamon Girl,” the 1969 Neil Young song featuring Whitten on guitar and vocals.
But Whitten’s growing heroin addiction eventually took a devastating toll.
“I just feel so sad for Danny,” Hutton told Rolling Stone. “Danny really got into heroin.”
Hutton then recalled an incident at his home that left him angry with his friend.
“And then after a party at my house, my guitar was missing, and he sold it,” Hutton said. “I left a scathing note to him. I was sad angry. Then he went out and OD’d.”
Whitten died on Nov. 18, 1972, after ingesting a combination of diazepam and alcohol. Earlier that day, Young had dismissed him from rehearsals for his upcoming tour because Whitten was struggling to keep up with the band. Young gave him $50 and a plane ticket back to Los Angeles. Whitten died later that night.
Related: Beloved ’70s Singer, Who Sang With Linda Ronstadt and Neil Young, Was All But Forgotten After Her Death at 45
Hutton told Rolling Stone that the timing of Whitten’s death left him with lingering guilt of his own.
“He died right after I kicked him out of the house,” Hutton said. “I felt really horrible. He was a sweet guy.”
Whitten’s addiction also became intertwined with one of Young’s most haunting songs, “The Needle and the Damage Done.” Young wrote the song as he watched heroin addiction destroy musicians around him, including his friend and Crazy Horse bandmate.
Whitten had been a key part of Crazy Horse’s early history. After Young left Buffalo Springfield, he began playing with Whitten, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina, who had previously performed together in the Rockets. The musicians became Crazy Horse and backed Young on the 1969 album Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere.
Whitten sang alongside Young on “Cinnamon Girl” and shared lead guitar duties with him on “Down by the River” and “Cowgirl in the Sand.” He was also a songwriter in his own right, penning “I Don’t Want to Talk About It,” which was later famously recorded by Rod Stewart.
Young carried his own guilt over Whitten’s death for years. He later recalled for Michael Heatley’s book “Neil Young: In His Own Words” that Whitten had been unable to keep up during rehearsals on the day he died and told him to return to Los Angeles. Young said learning of Whitten’s death that night “blew my mind” and left him feeling tremendously guilty.
“We were rehearsing with him and he just couldn’t cut it. He couldn’t remember anything. He was too out of it. Too far gone. I had to tell him to go back to L.A. ‘It’s not happening, man. You’re not together enough.’ He just said, ‘I’ve got nowhere else to go, man. How am I gonna tell my friends?’ And he split. That night the coroner called me and told me he’d died. That blew my mind. F–king blew my mind. I loved Danny. I felt responsible,” said Young.
For Hutton, however, the memory that has endured is simpler and more personal: a talented musician and friend whose life ended far too soon.
“I just feel so sad for Danny,” he said.
Related: Last Surviving Original Member of Iconic ’70s Band Three Dog Night Turns 84
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