Loggins And Messina Back Together

(CBS)  The two guys hanging out in a Santa Barbara, Calif., pool hall may look a bit familiar to some older music fans. But others may not recognize the self-described "old guys" without guitars strapped over their shoulders.

In their younger years, Kenny Loggins and Jim Messina, both 57, were a huge success. They co-wrote the rock classic, "Your Mama Don't Dance" and made a string of big selling albums in the 1970's--four platinum, two gold--garnering a Grammy nomination for Best New Artists in 1972.

Now, almost 30 years after their 1976 breakup, they are preparing to take their show on the road once more.

CBS News Correspondent Rita Braver asked the duo had it felt to be back together.

"It feels good," said Loggins

"It feels OK. It feels better," added Messina.

The camaraderie is especially surprising considering their split was so dramatic.

"We were on stage rehearsing and I had a certain moment in the sound check where I lost my temper," recalled Loggins. "And I took my harmonica and threw it up into the grandstands behind us. And then when the smoke settled Jimmy comes over to me and he says, 'I've been here before. He said we'd better break up before we can't speak to each other."

"I remember walking away after I said it," remembered Jim, "not feeling disappointed, but knowing that it had to happen."

It had always been an unexpected pairing. Jim Messina grew up in Texas and California, learning to play the guitar by the time he was 5 and playing in a high school band.

His stepfather tried to point him in a different direction.

"(He) always wanted me to learn refrigeration, or some silly thing. And I think I rebelled against that. I helped him one summer and almost broke my back picking up refrigerators. And I said this is not what I want to do."

After knocking around in the music business for several years, Messina ended up first as an engineer and then as a member of "Buffalo Springfield," the legendary rock band that included Neil Young and Steven Stills.

"It couldn't have been better. I was doing music with people near my age, music that I loved, and was having a ball."

But the band broke up after just a few years, and Messina co-founded Poco, a country-rock group. He left after two years and landed a job as a producer for CBS Records. And that's where Kenny Loggins enters the scene.

• 1
• 2
• Next Page »