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Copyright 2016 Truett Pratt Happy Days Rock & Blues Spectacular | All Rights Reserved
Born in San Antonio, TX, Truett Pratt grew up singing harmony parts at 3 ˝ yrs old in his church choir and progressed from there to learning multiple musical instruments, ending up playing 1st trumpet in his award willing high school bands. Poised to attend Baylor University after graduating at 17, Truett received a phone call from a group, The Spurlows, sponsored by Chrysler Corporation who traveled the 48 states promoting Driver Education in the daytime, and giving sacred music concerts at night.
“It was the greatest and most intensive training a young person desiring to be a top professional could ask for. Thankfully, I was so very lucky to play and perform with some of the most talented and wonderful people on the face of this planet. I still maintain relationships with some of my closest comrades.”
During that grueling time, he met another talented individual, Michael Omartian, and after a year at Baylor, was contacted by Omartian and invited to sing on various radio and TV commercials. In 1970, Omartian (Truett's first roomate) began a successful record producing career that came to include hits from Christopher Cross, Cher, Dion, Tom Johnston, Jermaine Jackson, Rod Stewart, Donna Summer, and Dionne Warwick ("Love at First Sight," "Deja Vu," "Don't You Ever Take Your Love Away"). He introduced McClain to Pratt. They started a group called Brother Love and began recording commercial jingles. After relocating in Los Angeles, Truett met Jerry McClain, who became his partner, and shared a wild and fantastic 7 years before “Happy Days” fame, doing shows in Nevada, then on to luxury resorts and hotels around the 50 states. They traveled about 6 months out of the year and worked diligently on their recording career the other half o f the year.
Becoming Pratt & McClain, they got a deal with ABC/Dunhill Records, recording one album. Later signed to Warner Bros. subsidiary Reprise through producers Omartian and Steve Barri, they were picked to record the theme song to the wildly successful Happy Days. The song was written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, who wrote the themes for other ABC-TV hit shows: Love American Style, Wonder Woman, Laverne and Shirley, and The Love Boat. The original theme song for Happy Days was Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock." "Happy Days" b/w "Cruisin' With the Fonz" went to number five pop in spring 1976 and was included on the second LP, Pratt & McClain Featuring Happy Days. The follow-up, a cover of Mitch Ryder's "Devil With the Blue Dress On," peaked at number 71 pop in summer 1976. The duo charted two more times, the fourth release also written by Truett, hitting Top 10 in 21 foreign countries Of course, “Happy Days” can be heard during the TV show's opening and closing credits as it runs in perpetual rerun syndication and as a part of cable channel Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite programming. Pratt & McClain's "Happy Days" is available on the Rhino CDs Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 18 and Have a Nice Decade: The 70s Pop Culture Box.
“It was the greatest and most intensive training a young person desiring to be a top professional could ask for. Thankfully, I was so very lucky to play and perform with some of the most talented and wonderful people on the face of this planet. I still maintain relationships with some of my closest comrades.”
During that grueling time, he met another talented individual, Michael Omartian, and after a year at Baylor, was contacted by Omartian and invited to sing on various radio and TV commercials. In 1970, Omartian (Truett's first roomate) began a successful record producing career that came to include hits from Christopher Cross, Cher, Dion, Tom Johnston, Jermaine Jackson, Rod Stewart, Donna Summer, and Dionne Warwick ("Love at First Sight," "Deja Vu," "Don't You Ever Take Your Love Away"). He introduced McClain to Pratt. They started a group called Brother Love and began recording commercial jingles. After relocating in Los Angeles, Truett met Jerry McClain, who became his partner, and shared a wild and fantastic 7 years before “Happy Days” fame, doing shows in Nevada, then on to luxury resorts and hotels around the 50 states. They traveled about 6 months out of the year and worked diligently on their recording career the other half o f the year.
Becoming Pratt & McClain, they got a deal with ABC/Dunhill Records, recording one album. Later signed to Warner Bros. subsidiary Reprise through producers Omartian and Steve Barri, they were picked to record the theme song to the wildly successful Happy Days. The song was written by Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, who wrote the themes for other ABC-TV hit shows: Love American Style, Wonder Woman, Laverne and Shirley, and The Love Boat. The original theme song for Happy Days was Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock." "Happy Days" b/w "Cruisin' With the Fonz" went to number five pop in spring 1976 and was included on the second LP, Pratt & McClain Featuring Happy Days. The follow-up, a cover of Mitch Ryder's "Devil With the Blue Dress On," peaked at number 71 pop in summer 1976. The duo charted two more times, the fourth release also written by Truett, hitting Top 10 in 21 foreign countries Of course, “Happy Days” can be heard during the TV show's opening and closing credits as it runs in perpetual rerun syndication and as a part of cable channel Nickelodeon's Nick at Nite programming. Pratt & McClain's "Happy Days" is available on the Rhino CDs Super Hits of the '70s: Have a Nice Day, Vol. 18 and Have a Nice Decade: The 70s Pop Culture Box.
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