The Tragic Story Behind “Without You”: From Badfinger to Harry Nilsson’s Haunting #1 Hit

Today’s show is a whopper…we dig into the genius & the tragedy that surrounded a pop music classic that was #1 several times for different artists. Without You. Written and recorded by Badfinger and then discovered as a deep track by Harry Nilsson who loved it and wanted to record it. …But after trying it in many different iterations and fighting with his legendary producer about the right way to approach the song. Harry Nilsson began to hate the song and did everything he could to sabotage it. It went to #1 anyway…But then the song became something of a curse. The co-writers of the song from Badfinger were decimated by career & money struggles, and in the end, actually ended up taking their own lives. Then Harry Nilsson ruptured his vocal cords and never sang the same way ever again Harry then basically disappeared from the public eye and then passed away right before he was planning to wage a comeback. Then another artist took her version to #1 in the 90s... The details of this bittersweet rock n’ roll soap opera are coming up NEXT….on Professor of Rock." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .