Condolences: Chuck Mangione
• Jazz musician Chuck Mangione, who had one of the biggest pop-jazz instrumental crossover hits of all time with “Feels So Good” in 1978, died Tuesday at age 84. Variety notes that WROC-TV in Mangione’s hometown of Rochester, NY reported that Mangione died in his sleep at home.
The flugelhorn and trumpet player won two Grammys, out of 14 nominations, in a career that spanned 30 albums. Beyond his musical success, Mangione was also familiar to millions for his recurring role playing himself on the animated series King of the Hill.
A ubiquitous hit in 1978, “Feels So Good” reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammys. Mangione felt the success of the tune was partly due to counterprogramming. “I think ‘Feels So Good’ was such a hit because of the Bee Gees,” he said in an interview with the Celebrity Cafe. “Saturday Night Fever had saturated radio; I think the top 6 out of l0 hits were from that album. Radio programmers couldn’t figure out what to put on instead, and when somebody edited ‘Feels So Good’ from nine minutes down to three, they instantly started playing it as an alternative to what were the current top songs.”
Mangione added, “I don’t mind having written the song at all. I just wish that I had written it in a different key, as the high D is hard to play. I’m glad that I wrote something that brought joy to millions of people.”
