Libby Titus
July 6, 1947 – October 13, 2024
Her New York Times obituary described Libby Titus as “A highly regarded songwriter and backup vocalist in the 1970s...[who] never scaled the commercial heights as a solo artist. Still, she garnered critical praise for her first and only major-label album, called simply “Libby Titus”
Early Life
Libby was born Elizabeth Jurist in Woodstock. Her mother, Julia Irene Jurist had been a dancer for the Earl Carroll revue. Libby attended Bard College, but her studies were cut short when she became pregnant and married novelist Barry Titus (grandson of Helena Rubinstein) in 1966; they had one son,Ezra, but separated in 1968.
Libby Titus #1
Around 1968, she released her first album entitled Libby Titus. It included covers of the Beatles’ “Fool On The Hill” and “Here, There And Everywhere” as well as John Sebastian’s “You Didn’t Have to Be So Nice.”
The back cover of the album says, “Libby Makes The World Go Round,” but the title of the album seems to be just ‘Libby Titus.’
Levon Helm
I wasn’t familiar with Titus until her name came up in Barney Hoskins‘s 2016
The way the story goes (and likely requires a large grain of salt), The Band’s Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Richard Manual were Woodstock’s wilder and crazier members and they were particularly interested in the women of Woodstock as were the Woodstock women in them.
Rick Danko and Levon Helm were racing to see Libby Titus. Rick crashed resulting in The Band’s inability to tour following the critical success of their Music From Big Pink album. Poor Albert Grossman, manager of many including Bob Dylan and The Band. Bob’s motorcycle crash prevented him from touring and now another of Albert’s stars are unable to tour.
Anyway, Levon won
From 1969 through much of the 1970s, Libby and Levon were together On December 3, 1970, they had a daughter . Amy.
Libby Titus #2
In 1977 Columbia released her second album, also called Libby Titus. A a mix of covers and original co-writings, it featured noteworthy names such as Phil Ramone, Paul Simon, Carly Simon, Garth Brooks, and Robbie Robertson among the many noteworthy credits (All Music listing)
Note the last cut on Side One: Love Has No Pride. Written by Titus and Eric Kaz, it will become her best known song, but not by her. Perhaps the cover you know best is Bonnie Raitt’s.
A few other well-known names covered the song such as Linda Ronstadt, Rita Wilson, Lynn Anderson, and Rita Coolidge.
Dr John
After splitting with Levon Helm, Titus took up with Dr. John, who wrote a lovely instrumental for her, “Pretty Libby,” on his solo piano LP Brightest Smile In Town.
Not only did Titus inspire Dr John, but Carly Simon, too.
| If all our flights are groundedLibby, we’ll meet in ParisDance along the boulevardsAnd have no one to embarrass,Puttin’ on the Ritz in style | With an Arab and an Heiress,Libby we’ll fly away – heyLeave behind our bluesTrade them all inFor a Paris breeze.Libby we’ll fly |
Donald Fagen
Though he did not grow up there, Passaic, NJ’s Donald Fagen, like so many other then young musicians, became (and continues to be) another Woodstock resident He had attended Bard College at the same time as Titus, but they were simply two ships passing in the night.
Titus met Fagen in 1987 when they both went backstage to hang with Dr. John.
Titus recalled in a Variety article, “…we went to dinner and got into this conversation that never ended. He took me out to dinners, and we kept talking until the spring of ’89.”
She continued, “In May of 1989 he did a show for me with Dr. John at Elaine’s [NYC], of all places, and it was the first time he had performed in years.
“After that we decided to do our own show. We got various artists to do Jerry Ragovoy songs. Donald didn’t want to perform, but I said, ‘You have to, or no one’s going to come.’ We did our shows once a month or once every two months then – it became the New York Rock and Soul Revue.”
New York Rock & Soul Revue
The Revue gathered veteran vocalists and session heroes (Michael McDonald, Phoebe Snow, Boz Scaggs, David & Eddie Brigati, Donald Fagen and later Walter Becker). The performances were collected for The New York Rock & Soul Revue: Live at the Beacon (released 1991). Titus’s show-producing role is widely credited with pulling these artists together and, by some accounts, encouraging Donald Fagen’s renewed interest in live performance.
The video below features a 1991 New York Rock & Soul Revue show featuring Fagen, Boz Scaggs, Michael McDonald, Phoebe Snow, and Eddie and David Brigati,
Fagen and Titus married in 1993 and of course he’d write about their relationship, a sometimes rocky one.
| The stars are bright tonight The air is sweet Though summer’s over now There’s a strange new music in the streetYou and I Know the world can’t be like this It’s our love that makes it shineGirl Whatever trouble waits outside these doors We’re safe inside this house of light We make up our own storyline
|
Around the neighborhood They stare and grin As if they live their lives Just to help maintain the state we’re in But when we fight Then those hungry wolves close in We’re one thoughtless word awayFrom poison skies And severed heads And pain and lies So follow me I’ll hold you tight And we’ll build a life together In the great pagoda of funn |
Passing
Donald Fagen announced Libby’s death at Steely Dan‘s site.“
“My beautiful wife, Libby Titus Fagen, passed on October 13th surrounded by family. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts, and for respecting our privacy at this time.”