Sept. 7: Starland Vocal Band's Margot Chapman's birthday is today.

(Margot is not the "mystery birthday")

The Starland Vocal Band emerged from the Washington, D.C. folk scene of the late '60s. Originally a husband and wife duo named Fat City, the future husband and wife Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert wrote "I Guess He'd Rather Be in Colorado" recorded by John Denver and Mary Travers. Denver also recorded their song "Take Me Home, Country Roads" which was a huge hit.


In 1969 the duo were known as Bill and Taffy, and often opened for Denver on tour. On Bill and Taffy's second album in 1974's (Aces,) they enlisted a 18-year-old singer and pianist named Jon Carroll. They decided to form a new group, adding another youngster, 17-year-old vocalist Margot Chapman. They changed their name to the Starland Vocal Band.

in 1976 issued their self-titled debut LP, with the lead single "Afternoon Delight" quickly reaching the top of the charts on its way to helping earn the group five Grammy nominations. (They won two, including Best New Artist.) "Afternoon Delight" was so enormously popular that the group even landed their own short-lived CBS variety series The Starland Vocal Band Show, which featured a then-unknown comic named David Letterman.


The next two Starland Vocal Band fared poorly, and after one last minor chart entry with the single "Loving You with My Eyes" the group disbanded after issuing a fourth album.

Soon after, Bill and Taffy divorced, and Carroll and Chapman, who had also married at the peak of the group's success, divorced also.

Press links below to view You Tube videos:
-- "Afternoon Delight"
-- 19th 1976 Grammy Awards Best New Artist Starland Vocal Band (By The Beach Boys)