Jim Messina (musician)

In 2012, Messina released the CD and DVD Jim Messina LIVE at the Clark Center for the Performing Arts containing songs by The Buffalo Springfield, Poco, Loggins & Messina as well as his solo material.

The duo reformed again in 2009 for an extensive tour.

In 2009, Messina released the CD Under a Mojito Moon-Part 1, on which the only guitar he played was his flamenco guitar. The Latin-based arrangements feature trumpet, percussion, drums, piano and nylon acoustic guitar in melodies reminiscent of the music of Cuba and Spain.

In 2005, Messina and Loggins hit the road as a duo again. They had a successful nationwide tour that produced a CD and DVD entitled Live: Sittin' In Again at the Santa Barbara Bowl. Messina also pulled from the vaults the original master analog recordings that he had produced and mixed for Loggins and Messina at Columbia Records, which were released as the 2005 digitally mastered compilation album The Best: Sittin' in Again.

In 1993, Brooks and Dunn recorded "Mexican Minutes" written by Jim Messina and co-authored with Kent Robbins in Nashville.

In 1989, Poco's original lineup (consisting of Messina, Richie Furay, Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner) regrouped for a successful reunion tour. That same year, they released the album Legacy. Messina played guitar and mandolin on the album. He wrote and sang on three of the songs: "Follow Your Dreams", "Look Within" and "Lovin' You Every Minute." He also co-wrote the song "Call It Love", which was sung by Rusty Young. That song reached number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1989.

In 1983, Messina released his third solo album with Warner Bros., One More Mile. The album leaned more toward rock, and Messina used a number of young and upcoming studio musicians as his rhythm section. The album also featured Edie Laymen and Pauline Wilson singing background and harmony parts. On the song "The Island", he shows his influence of slack key, a Hawaiian style of playing the guitar.

In 1981, Messina signed with Warner Bros. Records and recorded and released his second solo effort, Messina, which included folk, rock, Latin and light jazz elements. The album featured singer Pauline Wilson, who sang a duet with Messina on "Stay the Night".

In 1979, Messina met with Don Ellis (not to be confused with Don Ellis the jazz musician who recorded for the same label) of Columbia Records subsidiary A&R to plan his first solo album. He learned that Ellis did not like Messina's new musical direction, towards Latin jazz with a rock edge, because it did not sound like a Loggins and Messina album. Messina toured to support the debut LP, which sold 150,000 copies, about the same sales as Sittin' In had had. However, without the support of the record company, the album stalled, peaking at #58 on the Billboard 200, and Messina asked Columbia Records president Bruce Lundvall for a release from the label. Its single, New And Different Way, slightly missed the Top 40 on the AC chart, peaking at #43.

Loggins ultimately decided to strike out on his own, and in 1976 the duo split after a final concert in Hawaii. Both went on to solo careers.

After the release of Sittin' In, Messina went on to write, perform and produce seven more albums with Loggins. Those albums were Loggins and Messina (1972), Full Sail (1973), On Stage (1974), Mother Lode (1974), So Fine (1975, a covers album), Native Sons (1976, their last studio release) and Finale (1977, released by Columbia after the duo's split).

Though the album was originally intended to be Loggins' first solo album, the two decided that Messina's contribution was so substantial that the album was finally released as Kenny Loggins with Jim Messina Sittin' In, in November 1971. Messina had been reluctant to perform and tour, having begun the collaboration with the sole interest of producing. Nonetheless, by the end of 1972, the group, now renamed "Loggins and Messina", had toured extensively; they would eventually sell over 20 million albums.

After Poco, Messina signed a contract with Columbia Records as an independent producer. Messina was first introduced to the idea of producing Kenny Loggins in the summer of 1970 while still performing on the road with Poco. Loggins first met Messina in December 1970 at Messina's home, where the two recorded a number of Loggins' compositions in Messina's living room. Loggins at the time was a songwriter for ABC Dunhill and not a performing artist. Loggins had no agent, no manager, no business manager, and no prior experience as a performing artist. Messina felt Loggins needed some kind of an edge, and should embrace a more modern sound.

In 1970, Messina married actress Jenny Sullivan; the marriage ended ten years later in 1980. They had no children. Messina has a son, recording engineer and musician Julian Messina (born 1992), from a relationship in the early 1990s. In 2001, Messina met his second wife, Michaela Laza Messina, an opera singer and a music teacher. They have a daughter, Josey (born 2006).

After Buffalo Springfield disbanded, Messina and Richie Furay, a founding member of Buffalo Springfield, formed Poco in 1968. Switching back from bass to guitar, Messina played lead guitar and supplied vocals and some songwriting to the band. After recording two studio albums and one live album, he left Poco due to exhaustion from touring and to focus on becoming a record producer.

When he was 16 years old, he recorded an LP with "His Jesters" titled The Dragsters, which was released in November 1964. One notable track was "The Jester", on which he played lead guitar; it was included on the 2003 CD Lost Legends of Surf Guitar Volume 1.

James Messina (born December 5, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, singer, guitarist, recording engineer and record producer. He was a member of the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield, a founding member of the pioneering country rock band Poco, and half of the soft rock duo Loggins and Messina with Kenny Loggins.

James Messina was born in Maywood, California, in 1947, and raised in Harlingen, Texas, until he was eight. He spent much of his childhood split between his father's home in California and his mother's home in Texas.