Songwriter Harry Nilsson 1994 Valley Oaks Cemetery

Harry Edward Nilsson III (June 15, 1941 – January 15, 1994),[1] who sometimes went by the stage name Nilsson, was an American songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success as a singer in the mid 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings, he is credited as 'Nilsson' and is known for the hit singles "Without You," "I Guess the Lord Must Be in New York City," "Everybody's Talkin'," "Coconut" and "Jump into the Fire." Nilsson's songs 'One' and 'Cuddly Toy' have been covered by artists including the Monkees, Three Dog Night, Aimee Mann and Alva Noto (with Blixa Bargeld, as ANBB). He was awarded Grammy Awards for two of his recordings.

Death

Nilsson suffered a massive heart attack in 1993. After surviving that, he began pressing his old label, RCA, to release a boxed-set retrospective of his career, and resumed recording, attempting to complete one final album. He finished the vocal tracks for the album with producer Mark Hudson who still holds the tapes of that session.

On January 15, 1994, Nilsson died of heart failure in his Agoura Hills, California home. According to his wife, they had been watching Enchanted April, and the last thing he told her before she fell asleep was, "I love you so much." During Nilsson's funeral on January 17, aftershocks from the 1994 Los Angeles earthquake were felt.

In 1995, the 2-CD anthology he worked on with RCA, Personal Best, was released.

Harry Nilsson is buried on a hillside at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, Los Angeles County.