Neil Young’s “Lotta Love” Gave His Former Backing Vocalist Nicolette Larson Her First Hit

In 1977, Neil Young called his neighbor Linda Rondstadt, he was looking for a female vocalist. Rondstadt, like two others before her, recommended Nicolette Larson. After meeting Larson who was at Rondstadt’s Malibu home at the time and going through the songs he had written, they both started singing through some of the harmonies together and clicked.

“I didn’t know much about Neil Young,” remembered Larson in a 1978 interview. “But we went over and sat by the fireplace and Neil ran down all the songs he had just written, about twenty of them. We sang harmonies with him and he was jazzed.”

A week later, Larson and Rondstadt cut vocals (credited as the Bullets) on Young’s American Stars ‘n Bars album at his La Honda ranch in California. “We [Neil and Crazy Horse] worked out the songs in a room of his house,” said Larson. “And just when we had the songs down, Neil said, ‘Thanks a lot, we’ve got the album.’ He was recording all the rehearsals secretly in another room.”

It was six months later before Larson heard from Young again when he asked her to come to Nashville to work on his album Comes a Time and front his Gone with the Wind Orchestra studio band. “He told me to sing whatever I wanted,” recalled Larson. “You can hear me trying to work the parts out on the album.”

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Larson’s work on Comes a Time helped her land a contract with Warner Bros. Records and release her 1978 debut album, Nicolette. Produced by Ted Templeman (Eric Clapton, Van Halen, Aerosmith), the album featured Litte Feat keyboardist Billy Payne and guitarist Paul Barrere, Ronstadt and Michael McDonald on backing vocals, and Eddie Van Halen on guitar on “Can’t Get Away from You,” among a longer line of musicians.

The album also opened with Larson’s version of Young’s song “Lotta Love.” She was the first to record and release the track. “I got that song off a tape I found lying on the floor of Neil’s car,” said Larson. “I popped it in the tape player and commented on what a great song it was. Neil said: ‘You want it? It’s yours.’”

Young released his version a month later in October 1978 on Comes a Time, while Larson went on to collaborate with Willie Nelson, the Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffett, Emmylou Harris, and the Doobie Brothers, among many others.

In 1994, Larson released her final album Sleep, Baby, Sleep: Quiet Songs for Quiet Times, a children’s music album. She died on December 16, 1997, at age 45 from complications of a cerebral edema.

A tribute album to Larson was released in 2006. A Tribute To Nicolette Larson – Lotta Love Concert, was originally recorded in February 1998 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, and features performances by Harris, Buffett, Crosby, Stills & Nash, Carole King, Bonnie Raitt, Dan Fogelberg, Jackson Browne, and more.

Photo: Nicolette Larson performs at the Old Waldorf Club in April 1979 in San Francisco, California. (Ed Perlstein/Redferns/Getty Images)