Today (June 15th) marks what would have been Harry Nilsson's 71st birthday. Nilsson is best remembered for being an inventive and groundbreaking songwriter, despite the fact that his two biggest hits "Everybody's Talkin'" and "Without You" were actually not written by him. Although he recorded it first, it was Three Dog Night that hit the Top Ten in 1969 with their cover of Nilsson's song "One." Nilsson died of a massive heart attack in 1994 after struggling for years with diabetes.

He first caught the ears of the Beatles in 1968 with his three-octave tenor range, became personal and professional friends with all of them, and went on to work extensively with both Ringo Starr and John Lennon. Although Nilsson's Beatles connections often overshadowed his own work, Nilsson actually belonged to a tight-knit group of transplanted L.A.-based songwriters including Jimmy Webb, Van Dyke Parks, and Randy Newman.