The “Golden Hits Of The 70s” 

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ALAN O’DAY

“UNDERCOVER ANGEL”

(ALAN O’DAY)

Pacific 001

No. 1   July 9, 1977

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“There was a local hit on the radio called ‘He Did Me Wrong, but He Did Me Right’ by Patti Dahlstrom,”

Alan O’Day told Fred Bronson in The Billboard Book of Number One Hits.  “In that song, she used the

word ‘undercover.’  I thought it was a neat idea.  I’ve always loved things about angels, too, so the words

came together.”  O’Day’s own “Undercover Angel,” a hyp­nagogic, spacey tune with sexual undertones, shot

to the top of the charts.

 

Alan was born in Hollywood on October 3, 1940.  As a tot, he’d tap on a tiny xylophone until Ma and Pa

turned him loose on a piano.  Spike Jones was his favorite–that is, until he saw Blackboard Jungle

(1955), with Sidney Poitier, those delinquent teens, and that “Rock Around the Clock” noise provided by

spit-curled Bill Haley.  Thereafter, while attending Coachella Valley Union High School, O’Day played in

rock’n’roll bands with names like the Imperials, the Renees, and the Shoves.

 

While working at a $1.50 an hour job at a nearby recording studio, Alan met Sidney Goldstein, who liked

the kind of tunes that Alan was knocking out and signed him on as a writer for his Viva Music publishing

firm.  O’Day eventually wrote tunes for Cher, Dobie Gray, and Bobby Sherman, and had several of his

numbers popularized by Helen Reddy (“Angle Baby”) and the Righteous Brothers (“Rock and Roll

Heaven”).

 

In 1977, Ed Silvers, the president of Warner Bros. Music, gave Alan the chance to record some of his

songs–Warner had recently purchased Viva, and was launching a new label for its own staff songwriters.

Alan O’Day was the first artist to record for Pacific Records, and “Undercover Angel” was the first thing he

etched in vinyl.

 

Despite the tune being banned by numerous radio stations, America ate up “Undercover Angel,” but no

second helping was called for.  Alan O’Day tried hard to re-entice listeners, rapidly writing of “Soldiers of

Fortune” and “People Who Talk to Themselves,” but the verdict was in and Alan was strongly encouraged

to leave the media via the back door and pronto.