Linda Hoover

Although it remained unreleased for half-a-century, Linda Hoover's 1970 debut intersected with some of New York's finest musicians and played a minor role in the early development of jazz rock titans Steely Dan. The New Jersey native had the voice, songs, and poise to become a significant part of the burgeoning singer/songwriter movement, but a minor dispute with her label led to the shelving of her only record, and her career was derailed almost as quickly as it had begun. Decades later she went on to release an independent album, 2018's Another World, and in 2022, her lost debut, I Mean to Shine, finally saw the light of day courtesy of archival specialists Omnivore Records. Hoover was in her mid-teens when she first encountered Gary Katz, an A&R rep working out of Manhattan's famed songwriting and publishing hub, the Brill Building. Although he was eager to work with the talented young singer, Hoover's father insisted that she attend college before attempting a career in music. Four years later, in 1970, Katz signed the then-19-year-old artist to a New York imprint Roulette Records and paired her with a crack team of studio musicians led by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. Along with their future Steely Dan bandmates bandmates Jeff "Skunk" Baxter and Denny Dias, veteran folk musician Eric Weissberg, and members of the Dick Cavatt Orchestra, Becker and Fagen were instrumental in shaping Hoover's arrangements and even provided several of their own compositions, including the title cut, "I Mean to Shine." Hoover also had a handful of her own strong folk-rock originals which she padded with covers of the Band's "In a Station" and Stephen Stills' "4+20." Although Roulette's owner Morris Levy was fond of Hoover's album, a publishing dispute caused it to fall by the wayside and he soon shelved the release and moved on. A year later its title song was given to Barbra Streisand and appeared on her hit album Barabara Joan Streisand, giving Becker and Fagen a dose of songwriting credit before they relocated to Los Angeles. Hoover ultimately declined an invitation to head to the West Coast with them and eventually settled down to raise a family and play music on the side. Over subsequent decades, these early sessions with Hoover became a minor, but integral part of the Steely Dan origin story, though the studio tapes continued to languish in a closet in the singer's home. Years later, she entrusted the fragile tape reels to engineer Andy de Ganahl, who brought I Mean to Shine into the digital world for the first time, although it would remain unreleased for several more years. Eventually, Hoover's son, Toft Willingham, formed his own band, the reggae-outfit Spiritual Rez, and he helped her produce an album of new music. Released in 2018, Another World revealed Hoover's voice and songwriting instincts to be in fine form. The renewed attention to her music also led to Omnivore Records taking on the archival project of finally releasing her long-lost debut. In 2022, 52 years after its creation, I Mean to Shine was finally issued to the public.
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