Hard Candy

A slightly breathy voice, smooth yet crisp acoustic guitar, and melodies carrying a sweet-and-sour sadness: Ned Doheny found a richly nuanced expression quite different from the familiar singer-songwriter style. Beneath it are a soft groove with soul at its core and clear harmonies steeped in jazz.

Born in Los Angeles in 1948, he came from the wealthy Doheny family whose name appears on Beverly Hills streets. But his easy, boyish singing never feels overly sheltered. Before debuting alongside Jackson Browne among Elektra’s first group of newcomers, several promising ventures fell through, including a proposed group with Dave Mason and Cass Elliot. He had also studied with saxophonist Charles Lloyd. His 1973 solo debut introduced a fresh sensibility; this second album followed three years later after his move to Columbia.

Linda Ronstadt, Glenn Frey, Don Henley and J.D. Souther provide the notably Elektra-coloured chorus team, while the rest of the treatment amplifies Doheny’s individuality. Steve Cropper produces, H.B. Barnum arranges the vocals, and David Foster, Tom Scott and Tower of Power join in. Michael Brecker’s funk cuts also suggest a kinship with Boz Scaggs beyond their shared label.

With former Average White Band member Hamish Stuart, Doheny wrote ‘A Love of Your Own’ and other celebrated songs subsequently favoured by Black singers—a telling pattern. Japan, rather than America, welcomed this record. After Prone in 1978 he released five original albums in Japan, where AOR was popular, while his next American release did not arrive until the independently issued The Darkness Beyond the Fire in 2010, thirty-four years later.