List of guests appearing on The Midnight Special

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources:  –  ·  ·  · scholar · JSTOR (January 2009) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

This is a partial list of guests who appeared on The Midnight Special.

1972 (pilot)[]

First aired: 8/19/1972^[1]

• Andy Kaufman
• Argent- "Hold Your Head Up" & "Tragedy"
• John Denver (guest host) - "Take Me Home Country Roads" & "Goodbye Again"
• Cass Elliot - "Leaving on a Jet Plane" duet w/John Denver
• Harry Chapin - "Taxi"
• David Clayton-Thomas (singer from Blood, Sweat & Tears) - "Yesterday's Music" & "Nobody Calls Me Prophet"
• The Everly Brothers - "All I Have to Do Is Dream" & "Stories We Could Tell"
• The Isley Brothers - "Pop That Thang"
• Helen Reddy - "I Don't Know How to Love Him"^[2]
• Linda Ronstadt - "Long, Long Time" & "The Fast One"^[3]
• War - "Slippin' into Darkness"

1973[]

• Al Green (guest host)
• Albert Hammond
• Albert King
• Alvin Lee & Mylon LeFevre
• Anne Murray (guest host) - "Danny's Song"
• Aretha Franklin
• The Association
• B.B. King - "The Thrill is Gone" - Duet with Gladys Knight
• Barbara Fairchild
• Badfinger
• The Bee Gees (guest host) - "Lonely Days"
• Ben E. King
• Bill Cosby (guest host)
• Billy Paul - "Me And Mrs. Jones"
• Billy Preston - "Will It Go Round in Circles"^[4]
• Black Oak Arkansas
• Blood, Sweat & Tears
• Bloodstone
• Bo Diddley
• Bobby Day
• Bobby Darin
• Bobby Womack
• Bonnie Bramlett
• Brewer & Shipley - "One Toke Over The Line"
• Bud Brisbois
• Buddy Miles
• The Byrds
• Canned Heat
• Carol Burnett
• Charlie Rich
• Chi Coltrane
• Chubby Checker (guest host)
• The Coasters
• Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
• The Committee
• Conway Twitty
• Country Joe McDonald
• The Crusaders
• Curtis Mayfield (guest host)
• Danny & the Juniors
• David Bowie - "Space Oddity"^[5]
• David Brenner
• Del Shannon
• The Del-Vikings
• Dionne Warwick (guest host)
• Dobie Gray
• Doc Severinsen (guest host)
• The Doobie Brothers - "Jesus Is Just Alright" and "Listen To The Music"
• Don Gibson
• Don McLean
• The Doobie Brothers - "Listen to the Music"
• Doug Kershaw
• Dr. John
• Earl Scruggs
• Edgar Winter Group - "Frankenstein"
• Edward Bear
• Edwin Hawkins Singers
• Electric Light Orchestra
• Eric Weissberg
• Fanny
• Flash featuring Peter Banks
• Fleetwood Mac - "Miles Away", & "Believe Me"
• Focus - "Hocus Pocus"
• Foghat
• Freddy Cannon
• Gary Mule Deer
• Genesis - "Watcher of the Skies", & "The Musical Box"
• George Burns
• George Carlin
• George Jones
• Gladys Knight & the Pips (guest hosts) - "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)"^[6]
• The Grass Roots
• Gunhill Road
• Harry Chapin (guest host)
• Helen Reddy (guest host) - "Delta Dawn"^[2]
• Henry Mancini
• Herman’s Hermits
• The Hollies
• The Honey Cone - "Want Ads"
• Hoyt Axton
• The Incredible String Band
• Ike & Tina Turner^[7]
• The Impressions
• Jack Burns and Avery Schreiber (guest hosts)
• Jerry Butler
• Jerry Lee Lewis (guest host)
• Jim Croce (guest host) - "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" and "I Got a Name"
• Jim Weatherly
• Jimmie Spheeris
• Jimmy Clanton
• Joan Baez (guest host)
• Joan Rivers
• Joe Walsh
• John Kay
• John Stewart
• Johnny Rivers (guest host)
• Johnny Mathis
• Johnny Nash (guest host) - "I Can See Clearly Now"
• Johnny Paycheck
• Johnny Rodriguez
• Johnny Winter
• Jonathan Winters
• Jose Feliciano (guest host)
• Kenny Rankin
• Kenny Rogers and The First Edition
• King Crimson - "Larks' Tongues In Aspic Part 2" & "Easy Money"
• King Harvest
• Kris Kristofferson
• Lakshmi Shankar
• Leo Kottke
• Leroy Hutson
• Little Anthony & The Imperials
• Linda Ronstadt - "Long, Long Time"^[3]
• Livingston Taylor
• Lloyd Price
• Loggins & Messina - "Your Mama Don't Dance"
• Lou Rawls (guest host)^[8]
• Loretta Lynn (guest host)
• Mac Davis (guest host) - "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me"
• Marty Robbins (guest host)
• Malo
• Melissa Manchester
• Merrilee Rush
• Mimi Fariña
• The Miracles
• Monty Python
• Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
• The O'Jays^[9] - "Back Stabbers" and "Love Train"
• Paul Anka (guest host)
• Paul Williams^[10] (guest host)
• Rare Earth
• The Penguins
• Ramblin' Jack Elliott
• The Raspberries
• Ravi Shankar
• Ray Charles (guest host)
• Richard Pryor (guest host)
• Rita Coolidge
• Robert Klein
• Ronnie Dyson
• Savoy Brown
• Seals & Crofts - "Summer Breeze"
• The Searchers
• Sha Na Na
• Shawn Phillips
• The Shirelles
• Skeeter Davis
• Skylark
• The Skyliners
• Slade
• Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee
• The Spinners^[11]
• Smokey Robinson (guest host)
• The Staple Singers
• The Statler Brothers
• Steely Dan - "Reelin' In The Years"
• Steve Goodman
• Steve Martin
• Steve Miller Band
• Stories
• The Stylistics
• Tanya Tucker
• Taj Mahal
• Tammy Wynette
• Timmy Thomas
• Todd Rundgren - "Hello, It's Me"^[12]
• Tom T. Hall
• Tower of Power
• T. Rex - "Bang-A-Gong (Get It On)"^[13]
• War - "The Cisco Kid"
• Waylon Jennings
• Wilson Pickett
• Wishbone Ash
• Vicki Lawrence

1974[]

• Aerosmith - "Train Kept A-Rollin'" and "Dream On"
• Ann Peebles
• Barry White - "Can't Get Enough of Your Love, Babe" and "Never, Never Gonna Give You Up"
• Billy Joel
• Bill Withers - "Ain't No Sunshine"
• Bonnie Tyler - "It's a Heartache" (This must be an error—song was not released until 1977)
• Brownsville Station - "Smokin' in the Boys Room"
• Charlie Rich - "Behind Closed Doors"
• Curtis Mayfield - "Superfly"
• David Brenner^[14]
• David Essex - "Rock On"
• Dobie Gray - "Drift Away"
• Eddie Kendricks - "Keep On Truckin'"
• Edgar Winter Group - "Frankenstein"
• Edwin Starr
• El Chicano
• Freddie Prinze^[14]
• Genesis
• Gladys Knight & B.B. King - "The Thrill is Gone"^[6]
• Gladys Knight & the Pips - "Best Thing That Ever Happened To Me"
• Golden Earring - "Radar Love"
• Gordon Lightfoot - "Sundown" and "If You Could Read My Mind"
• The Guess Who - "American Woman" and"Undun"
• Hot Tuna - "Hamar Promenade", "Day to Day Out the Window Blues" and "I See the Light"
• Humble Pie - "Oh La-De-Da" and "30 Days in the Hole"
• Ike & Tina Turner - "Proud Mary"^[7]
• James Brown - "The Payback"
• Jo Jo Gunne
• Jobriath - "I'maman" and "Rock of Ages"
• Kool And The Gang - "Hollywood Swinging and Jungle Boogie"
• Leo Sayer^[15]
• Loggins and Messina- "Your Mama Don't Dance"
• Lynn Anderson
• The Main Ingredient - "Just Don't Want To Be Lonely"
• Maria Muldaur - "Midnight at the Oasis"
• Marvin Gaye - "Let's Get It On and What's Going On"
• Montrose - "Paper Money" and "I Got the Fire"
• Neil Sedaka - "Laughter in the Rain"
• The New York Dolls
• The O'Jays - "Love Train"^[9]
• Ohio Players - "Skin Tight"
• Olivia Newton-John^[16] - "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)"
• The Spinners^[11]
• Phil Ochs and Jim Glover - "The Power and the Glory" and "Changes"
• Redbone - "Come and Get Your Love"
• Robert Palmer - "Bad Case Of Lovin' You (Doctor, Doctor)" (This must be an error—song was not released until 1979)
• Rufus Featuring Chaka Khan - "Tell Me Something Good"
• Shirley & Lee - "Let the Good Times Roll"
• Sly & the Family Stone - "Everybody is a Star" and "Thank You (Falletin Me be Mice-Elf Again)^[14]"
• Stories - "Brother Louie"
• The Stylistics - "You Make Me Feel Brand New"
• Todd Rundgren - "Couldn't I Just Tell You?" & "A Dream Goes On Forever"^[12]
• War - "Cisco Kid"

1975[]

• ABBA - "SOS" and "I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do, I Do"
• Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles - "It Takes Two to Tango"
• Barry Manilow - "Mandy" and "Could It Be Magic?"
• The Bee Gees - "Nights on Broadway", "Jive Talkin'" and "To Love Somebody" (Duet With Helen Reddy)
• Captain & Tennille - "Love Will Keep Us Together (Duet With Neil Sedaka)"
• David Steinberg^[17]
• Dolly Parton^[18]
• Earth Wind and Fire - "Shining Star"
• Electric Light Orchestra (guest hosts) - "In the Hall of the Mountain King", "Great Balls of Fire", "Can't Get It Out of My Head", "Orange Blossom Special", "Laredo Tornado", "Flight of the Bumble Bee" & "Roll Over Beethoven"
• Frankie Valli (Guest Host) - "Can't Take My Eyes Off You"
• Glen Campbell - "Rhinestone Cowboy"
• Helen Reddy - "I Am Woman", "Delta Dawn" and "Angie Baby" ^[2]
• The Hollies - "Long Cool Woman (In A Black Dress)"
• Jack Burns & Avery Schreiber^[17]
• KC and the Sunshine Band - "That's the Way (I Like It)"^[19]
• KISS - "Black Diamond", "Deuce", & "She"
• Kraftwerk - "Autobahn"
• Labelle - "Lady Marmalade", “What Can I Do for You?”
• Leo Sayer^[15]
• Linda Ronstadt^[3]
• Minnie Riperton - "Lovin' You"
• Natalie Cole - "This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)"
• Neil Sedaka - "Bad Blood and Breaking Up Is Hard To Do"
• Ohio Players - "Love Rollercoaster"
• Olivia Newton-John - "Have You Never Been Mellow"^[16]
• Orleans - "Dance with Me"
• Peter Frampton - "Show Me the Way", "Do You Feel Like We Do", "Baby, I Love Your Way"
• PFM - "Celebration" and "Alta Loma Nine Till Five"'
• Rod Stewart - "You Wear It Well"
• Roxy Music - "Out Of The Blue", "The Thrill Of It All", "A Really Good Time" (aired 05/09/1975, synched to the studio tracks from the Country Life album with live vocals from Bryan Ferry and John Wetton)
• Todd Rundgren - "Real Man", "Freedom Fighters" & "Seven Rays"^[12]
• The Whitney Family

1976[]

• Aretha Franklin - "Respect", "Something He Can Feel"
• Bill Haley & His Comets "Rock Around the Clock", "See You Later Alligator" (archive footage from the movie Rock Around the Clock)
• Diana Ross - "Love Hangover"
• Donna Summer - "Love to Love You Baby"^[20]
• Electric Light Orchestra - "Evil Woman", "Nightrider" & "Strange Magic"
• Elton John - "Your Song"
• Electric Light Orchestra - "Evil Woman", "Can't Get It Out of My Head" and "Strange Magic"
• England Dan and John Ford Coley - "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight"
• Eric Carmen - "All By Myself"
• Fleetwood Mac - "Over My Head", "Rhiannon", "World Turning",^[21] "Why"
• Gary Wright - "Dream Weaver", "Love Is Alive"
• George Benson - "This Masquerade"^[22]
• Heart - "Magic Man", "Crazy On You", "Dreamboat Annie"
• Helen Reddy^[2]
• Hot Chocolate - "You Sexy Thing"
• Janis Ian - "At Seventeen"
• Joan Baez - "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down"
• LaBelle - "Lady Marmalade"
• Minnie Riperton - "Lovin' You"
• The Miracles - "Love Machine"
• Michael Murphey - "Wildfire"
• Peter Frampton - "Show Me the Way"
• Ray Charles - "Georgia on My Mind"
• Spinners - "The Rubberband Man"
• Starbuck - "Moonlight Feels Right"
• Tom Jones - "Delilah, "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" w/Lynn Anderson
• Walter Murphy and The Big Apple Band - "A Fifth of Beethoven"
• Wild Cherry - "Play That Funky Music"

1977[]

• Andrew Gold - "Lonely Boy"
• Andy Gibb - "I Just Want To Be Your Everything"
• Andy Kaufman - "I Trusted You"
• Bonnie Raitt - "Runaway"
• Bread (hosts) - "Make It With You"
• Dave Mason - "We Just Disagree"
• Eddie Rabbitt - "Rocky Mountain Music"
• Electric Light Orchestra (hosts) - "Rockaria!", "Livin' Thing", "Do Ya", "Telephone Line" & "Livin' Thing (reprise)"
• Emmylou Harris^[23]
• The Emotions - "Best Of My Love"
• Gino Vannelli - "Summers of My Life"
• James Brown - "Get Up Offa That Thing"
• Jennifer Warnes - "Right Time of the Night"
• Jesse Winchester -^[23]
• Johnny Rivers - "Slow Dancin'"
• Journey "Feeling That Way " "Anytime" "Wheel in the Sky"
• Leo Sayer - "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing"
• Little Feat - "Dixie Chicken"
• Lou Rawls - "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine"^[8]
• Manfred Mann's Earth Band - "Blinded by the Light"
• Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr. - "You Don't Have To Be A Star (To Be In My Show)"^[24]
• Marvin Gaye - "What's Going On", "Got to Give It Up"
• Player
• Renaissance - "Midas Man" & "Carpet of the Sun"
• Sanford-Townsend Band - "Smoke from a Distant Fire"
• Thelma Houston - "Don't Leave Me This Way"
• Van Morrison - "Domino"
• Weather Report - "Birdland"

1978[]

• AC/DC - "Sin City"
• Aerosmith - "Come Together"
• Ambrosia - "How Much I Feel"
• Andy Gibb - "I Just Want To Be Your Everything"
• Billy Preston^[4] "Nothing From Nothing"
• The Cars - "Just What I Needed"
• Cheap Trick - "Surrender"
• Chic - "Le Freak"
• Chuck Mangione - "Feels So Good"
• Crystal Gayle - "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue"
• Dan Hill - "Sometimes When We Touch"
• David Bowie^[5]
• Dolly Parton^[18]
• Donna Summer - "Last Dance", "I Feel Love", "Heaven Knows"^[20]
• Eddie Money - "Baby Hold On," "Two Tickets to Paradise"
• Electric Light Orchestra - "Telephone Line"
• The Emotions - "Best Of My Love"
• Evelyn Champagne King - "Shame", "I Don't Know If It's Right"
• Exile - "Kiss You All Over"
• Four Tops - "Ain't No Woman (Like The One I've Got)"
• George Benson^[22]
• Hall & Oates - "Rich Girl"
• KC and the Sunshine Band^[19]
• Leo Sayer - "When I Need You"
• Nick Lowe- "So It Goes"
• Peaches & Herb^[25]
• Player
• REO Speedwagon - "Roll With The Changes"
• Rick James - "Mary Jane"
• Robert Palmer - "Every Kinda People"
• Ronnie Montrose - Town Without Pity & "My Little Mystery"
• Starland Vocal Band - "Afternoon Delight"
• Sylvester - "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)", "Dance (Disco Heat)", and "Grateful"
• Ted Nugent - "Cat Scratch Fever", "Need You Bad", "Free For All" (Hosted this Show)
• The O'Jays^[9] - "For The Love Of Money"
• Sammy Hagar - "You Make Me Crazy"
• Thin Lizzy - "The Cowboy Song", "Live From the Rainbow London"
• Todd Rundgren - "Can We Still Be Friends" & "Bread" (with the Hello People)^[12]
• Todd Rundgren's Utopia - (guest host) "Real Man", "You Cried Wolf", "Love in Action", "Sometimes I Don't Know What to Feel" & "Just One Victory"
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "American Girl", Listen To Her Heart and I Need to Know"
• The Trammps - "Disco Inferno"
• Village People^[26]
• Yvonne Elliman - "If I Can't Have You"

1979[]

• Alice Cooper - "Medley: Eighteen/Only Women Bleed/Billion Dollar Babies," "Inmates (We're All Crazy)"
• Amii Stewart - "Knock on Wood"
• The Babys - "Everytime I Think of You"
• The Beach Boys - "Good Vibrations"
• Bonnie Pointer - "Heaven Must Have Sent You"
• Blondie - "One Way or Another," "Dreaming," "Heart of Glass"
• The Cars - "Let's Go," "Just What I Needed," "Dangerous Type, "My Best Friend's Girl"
• The Charlie Daniels Band - "The Devil Went Down to Georgia"
• The Commodores - "Three Times a Lady", "Brick House"
• Crystal Gayle - "Cry Me a River"
• Dolly Parton - "I Will Always Love You"^[18]
• Gloria Gaynor - "I Will Survive," "Never Can Say Good-bye"
• Grace Jones - "Below the Belt", "Do or Die"
• Journey - "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'," "Wheel in the Sky," "City of The Angels"
• KC and the Sunshine Band^[19]
• Minnie Riperton - "Lovin' You" (memorial replay of her 1975 appearance)
• Nick Gilder - "Hot Child in the City"
• Peaches & Herb - "Reunited," ^[25] "Shake Your Groove Thing"
• The Pointer Sisters - "Fire"
• Randy Jones^[26]
• Rick James - "You and I"
• Robert Fripp - "Frippertronics"
• Rupert Holmes - "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)"
• The Three Degrees - "Giving Up Giving In", The Runner"
• The Jacksons - "Shake Your Body Down To The Ground"
• Tina Turner^[7]
• Todd Rundgren^[12]
• Village People^[26]

1980[]

• America - "Sister Golden Hair"
• Benny Mardones - "Into the Night"
• Billy Preston^[4]
• Christopher Cross^{[citation needed]}
• David Bowie^[5]
• Eddie Rabbitt - "Drivin' My Life Away"
• Frankie Valli & Commodores - "Grease"
• Gladys Knight & the Pips^[6]
• Hall & Oates - "Kiss on My List"
• Leo Sayer^[15]
• Olivia Newton-John - "Magic", "Dancin'"^[16]
• Randy Jones^[26]
• REO Speedwagon - "Keep on Loving You"
• Roy Orbison - (Host, Season 8, Episode 25) "Oh, Pretty Woman", "Only the Lonely", "Crying", "Running Scared", "Hound Dog Man", "Blue Bayou" & "The Eyes of Texas"
• The Oak Ridge Boys - "Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight"
• The Spinners^[11]
• Dr. Hook
• Prince

1981[]

• 707 - "Tonite's Your Night"
• Andy Kaufman
• David Bowie^[5]
• Freddy Cannon - "Tallahassee Lassie"
• Slim Whitman - "I Remember You"
• The Spinners^[11]
• Tony Clifton

References[]