our first album, Sittin' In, came out, we started receiving a lot of excitement about the music and good sales," Messina recalled in 2005. "We had a choice. It was either I now go on and continue to produce him and we do the solo career or we stay together and let this work. For me, I did not desire to go back out on the road. I had had enough of that, and I wanted to produce records. But Clive Davis (then president of the record company) intervened and said, 'You know, I think you'd be making a mistake if you guys didn't take this opportunity. Things like this only happen once in a lifetime. It may merit you sleeping on it overnight and making a decision that will be in your best interest.' He was absolutely correct. Kenny made the decision as well. It delayed his solo career, but it gave him an opportunity, I think, to have one." Messina assembled The Kenny Loggins Band by summoning old friends, bassist Larry Sims and drummer Merel Bregante, formerly of The Sunshine Company, multireedist Jon Clarke, and violinist/multireedist Al Garth. Famed Grammy-winning keyboardist, songwriter and record producer Michael Omartian played on the debut album, but did not join them on tour, although he played keyboards on the second and third albums. Los Angeles-based session percussionist Milt Holland played on each of the duo's studio albums, but like Omartian, he did not tour with them either. Over the next four years they produced five more original albums, plus one album of covers of other artists' material, and two live albums. They sold 16 million records and were the most successful duo of the early 1970s, surpassed later in the decade only by Hall & Oates. They charted three top 20 singles from the second and third albums: "Your Mama Don't Dance" (#4), "Thinking of You" (#18), and "My Music" (#16). Their work was covered by other prominent artists, including Lynn Anderson, who recorded "Listen to a Country Song" in 1972 and reached #3 on the charts, and Anne Murray, who reached the U.S. top ten with "Danny's Song" in early 1973 and the U.S. top twenty with "A Love Song" in early 1974. A greatest-hits album, The Best of Friends, was released a year after the duo separated. The later studio albums often found both Loggins and Messina more as two