JOHN HALL

Anyone who’s followed the career of John Hall knows that his involvement in activism has always been as important to him as his ability to make music.

Although best known for helming the band Orleans and the two hits he procured with that band — “Dance With Me” and “Still the One” — his efforts were initiated long before that. He actually began playing piano at the age of four and later dropped out of college to pursue performing in Georgetown (Virginia) and Greenwich Village. He recorded his first album under the aegis of “Kangaroo” in 1968 and a short time later composed a Broadway theater trilogy. Hall’s first solo album, Action, appeared in 1970.

“I was learning to write songs and learning to record back then,” Hall recalls. “There are some really good songs on those records and there are also somethings that sound incredibly juvenile, but I was juvenile then.”

It was while he was in Greenwich ViIlage that he met his first wife Johanna Shier, and the two of them turned their personal relationship into a lucrative professional partnership as well, penning songs that later became successful entries in the Orleans catalog and with other artists as well. “Half Moon” remains the most famous of those, given the fact that it became an integral part of Janis Joplin’s repertoire.

In addition to his tenure with Orleans, Hall also served as a session player for artists such as Seals & Crofts, Taj Mahal and Bonnie Raitt, but his greatest activity took place after he left the band and restarted his solo career. He