JAKE HOLMES

'Jake Holmes' (born December 28, 1939 in San Francisco, California) is an American folk-rock singer/songwriter of the late 1960s. Holmes is the author of the song "Dazed and Confused" which was later adopted and popularized by Led Zeppelin. The song appeared on Holmes' debut, ''"The Above Ground Sound" of Jake Holmes''.
It is still not widely recognized that Holmes was the author of the classic song. Page, while on tour with the Yardbirds in 1967, saw Holmes perform the song in Greenwich Village [1]. Within months, he had adapted the song for that group, and later, for Led Zeppelin. For reasons that are not entirely clear, Page claimed sole songwriting credit for the song when it appeared on Led Zeppelin's debut album.
Holmes' first musical foray was with his wife Katherine in the folk rock parody duo, Allen & Grier. Holmes later collaborated with Bob Gaudio on The Four Seasons' ''Genuine Imitation Life Gazette'' album, after which the pair went on to compose Frank Sinatra's ''Watertown'' album.
In the 1970s, Holmes moved into writing advertising jingles. He is the composer of the popular "Be All You Can Be" slogan and jingle for the US Army. He also wrote "Be A Pepper" (1977) for Dr Pepper. In spite of the fact that his name is not known, Holmes might be at the top of the list of American singer songwriters because of his work with jingles. Not only are his lyrics famous and remembered, his voice has been heard millions of times on those countless commercials for Gillette, DeBeers, Winn-Dixie and Sears.

Contents

Jingles Composed and/or sung (co-authors, date)

References

Jingles Composed and/or sung (co-authors, date)

★ “Be a Pepper” for Dr Pepper (Randy Newman & Jake Holmes, 1977)

★ “We fly the world” for Pan American World Airways (DATE)

★ “Aren't You Hungry For Burger King Now?” (1981)

★ “Raise your hand if you’re sure” for Sure deodorant (DATE)

★ “ America's Getting Into Training” for Amtrak (1981)

★ “Be all that you can be” for U.S. Army (19XX)

★ “Best a Man Can Get” for Gillette (199X)

★ "Come see the softer side of Sears" (19XX)

★ “When we say less is more, we mean less is more!” Charmin (200X)

References

★ AllMusic.com entry

★ Jake Holmes interview at ''Perfect Sound Forever''

★ Jake Holmes My Space Page

★ Professional page at 3Tree