It's a Beautiful Day

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For the Beach Boys song see It's a Beautiful Day (song)

For the U2 song see Beautiful Day

For the Queen song see Made in Heaven

For the Sarah Brightman song see It's a Beautiful Day (Sarah Brightman song)

It's A Beautiful Day

Background information
Origin	San Francisco
Genre(s)	Rock, Jazz, Folk, Classical
Years active	1967 - 1974, 1997 - present
Label(s)	CBS, Columbia

It's a Beautiful Day was a band formed in San Francisco in 1967, the brainchild of violinist and vocalist David LaFlamme. LaFlamme, a former soloist with the Utah Symphony Orchestra, had previously been in the band Orkustra, and unusually, played a five-string violin. The other members were his wife Linda (keyboards), Pattie Santos (vocals), Hal Wagenet (guitar), Mitchell Holman (bass) and Val Fuentes (drums). Although they were one of the earliest and most important San Francisco bands to emerge from the Summer of Love, It’s a Beautiful Day never quite achieved the success of their contemporaries such as The Grateful Dead and Santana, with whom they had connections. It’s A Beautiful Day created a unique blend of rock, jazz, folk, classical and world beat styles during the seven years the band was officially together.

The band's debut album, It's a Beautiful Day, released in 1969, featured the tracks "White Bird", "Hot Summer Day", "Time Is" and "Bombay Calling". The intro of the latter was used, at a slower tempo, by Deep Purple as the intro to "Child in Time" on its In Rock album. The vocals and violin playing of David LaFlamme plus Pattie Santos' singing attracted attention including FM radio play, and nationally, "White Bird" bubbled under Billboard's Hot 100 chart peaking at #118.

By 1970 the original lineup of the band had changed a little- the LaFlammes had split up and Linda left the band, replaced by Fred Webb. The following album, Marrying Maiden, released in 1970, included memorable tracks and was also a chart hit. In that year, the group also performed at the Holland Pop Festival at the Kralingse Bos in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and at the UK Bath Festival.

The band continued to record Choice Quality Stuff/Anytime in 1971 and the live album Live At Carnegie Hall in 1972, touring until 1974, when they split up. Pattie Santos was killed in a car crash on December 14, 1989. In 1976, LaFlamme's solo version of "White Bird" finally cracked the HOT 100, peaking at #89.

It's a Beautiful Day reunited in 1997 under the name "David LaFlamme Band" for the recording labels. The band still features founder David LaFlamme and original drummer Val Fuentes. Other band members are LaFlamme's current wife, Linda Baker LaFlamme (vocals), Toby Gray (basses), Gary Thomas (keyboards), Rob Espinosa (guitars), Michael Prichard (percussion). They completed a string of shows in 2005 and 2006 and toured with Jefferson Starship in 2007.

A version of "White Bird" by violinist Vanessa-Mae was released in 2001 and reached number 66 in the UK Singles chart.^[1]

1 Personnel
2 Discography
- 2.1 Albums
- 2.2 Singles
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Personnel

David LaFlamme - violin
Linda LaFlamme - keyboards (1967 - 1970)
Pattie Santos - vocals
Hal Wagenet - guitar
Mitchell Holman - bass
Val Fuentes - drums
Fred Webb - keyboards (1970 - 1974)
Bill Gregory - guitar (1972 - 1974)

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

It's a Beautiful Day (1969) US Album Chart No. 47/UK Album Chart No. 58, 1970^[2]
Marrying Maiden (1970) US Album Chart No. 28/UK Album Chart No. 45, 1970^[2]
Choice Quality Stuff/Anytime (1971) US Album Chart No. 130
Live At Carnegie Hall (1972) US Album Chart No. 144
It's a Beautiful Day...Today (1972) US Album Chart No. 114
1001 Nights (Compilation) (1974)
White Bird/ Amherst Records (1977)
Inside Out/ Amherst Records (1978)
It's A Beautiful Day / Marrying Maiden (Rerelease) (1998)
Beyond Dreams (2003)
David LaFlamme - Live in Seattle (2003)
David LaFlamme - Misery Loves Company (2005)