Valerie Carter -

Valerie Carter (Feb. 5, 1953 — March 4, 2017) was an American pop singer active on the 1970s Laurel Canyon scene. She cut an album with the folk-trio Howdy Moon and made the 1977/78 Columbia solo albums Just a Stone’s Throw Away and Wild Child.

Background

Valerie Carter was born Valerie Gail Zakian Carter on February 5, 1953, in Winter Haven, Florida, and raised in small Southern towns. As a teenager during the folk revival era, she gravitated toward politically tinged acoustic music, though she described herself as shy and self-taught. Around age 18, she left home and relocated to New York City, where she began performing folk sets in a Greenwich Village restaurant while working as a waitress between sets. During this period, she began writing songs and developing a personal voice as a singer-songwriter.

After several months in New York, she hitchhiked across the country and settled in Northern California. Living in a small commune in Lagunitas, she met fellow singer-songwriter Jon Lind (b. April 14, 1948; Brooklyn), who studied classical guitar at the Mannes College of Music. Along with Richard Hovey, they formed the trio Howdy Moon and performed original material with close harmonies in San Francisco coffeehouses. The group soon relocated to Los Angeles and signed with A&M Records.

Howdy Moon

Howdy Moon released their self-titled album in 1974 on A&M.

The album presents a harmony-rich set of soft folk rock with understated instrumental flourishes. Electric guitarists Andrew Gold and Arthur Adams trade restrained accents with keyboardists Bill Payne and Mike Utley, while flute and slide guitar passages by Lowell George add subtle shifts in color.

They’re backed by members of Little Feat—George, Bill Payne, Richie Hayward, Roy Estrada, and Sam Clayton—along with an extended lineup of supporting players, including Van Dyke Parks, John Sebastian, and Chuck Rainey. George also contributed Moog synthesizer, flute, and vocal support, while David Paich handled string arrangements.

A1. “Lovelight” (2:53) – Hovey
A2. “Cheyenne Autumn” (3:14) – Lind
A3. “I’m Alone” (3:18) – Carter, Hovey
A4. “Nora Lee” (3:39) – Eisner
A5. “Runaway” (2:35) – Hovey

B1. “And You Never Knew” (3:45) – Brandon, Carter
B2. “Machine” (2:28) – Hovey
B3. “Cook With Honey” (4:16) – Carter
B4. “For Tonight” (3:59) – Hovey
B5. “Mill Stream” (2:35) – Lind, Tacker

Howdy Moon recorded the album at Sunset Sound, Sound Labs, and Clover Recorders in Hollywood with Lowell George as principal producer alongside Robert Appère and Michael James Jackson. Engineers included Brian Dall’Armi, Ric Tarantini, and Tommy Vicari, with mixing by John Haeny.

A&M issued “Nora Lee” as a single. “Cook With Honey gained wider attention that same year through a hit version by Judy Collins. After the album’s release, the group disbanded, and Carter sang on numerous high-profile sessions. Between 1975 and 1976, she appeared on albums by James Taylor (Gorilla, In the Pocket), Little Feat (The Last Record Album), Michel Polnareff, Jorge Calderón, Hoyt Axton, Cliff DeYoung, Tom Snow, and Tom Jans (The Eyes of an Only Child, Dark Blonde). These credits laid the groundwork for her solo career.

Just a Stone’s Throw Away

Valerie Carter released her debut solo album, Just a Stone’s Throw Away, in February 1977 on Columbia.

The album moves between sparse acoustic settings and arranged electric material, shaped by three alternating production teams. Slide guitarist Lowell George and electric pianist Bill Payne interweave on the folk-rooted tracks, while Maurice White, Al McKay, and Larry Dunn of Earth, Wind & Fire shape the denser arrangements with brass counterpoint and clustered keyboard voicings; pieces such as “Face of Appalachia” foreground modal folk writing and woodwind color, while “Back to Blue Some More” extends into electric piano passages supported by blues-inflected horns.

A1. “Ooh Child” (2:56) – originated as a 1970 soul-pop ballad by the Five Stairsteps, written by serial hit composer Stan Vincent. In the 1990s, the Stairsteps version became cinematic shorthand for ’70s-period innocence and the “flower child” aesthetic, typically used to convey hope and optimism amid urban struggle.
A2. “Ringing Doorbells in the Rain” (2:40) – Carter, Ron Koss
A3. “Heartache” (2:55) – George, Ivan Ulz
A4. “Face of Appalachia” (4:15) – originated on Tarzana Kid, the 1974 third solo studio album by former Lovin Spoonful frontman John Sebastian, who co-wrote the song with Lowell George.
A5. “So, So, Happy” (3:42) – Skip Scarborough

B1. “A Stone’s Throw Away” (3:59) – originated on the 1972 solo album by ex-Kangaroo singer Barbara Keith, co-written with her husband Doug Tibbles.
B2. “Cowboy Angel” (3:51) – Carter, George
B3. “City Lights” (3:18) – group-written by Earth, Wind & Fire
B4. “Back to Blue Some More” (5:49) – Carter, George, Payne

Carter recorded the album in 1976 at Wally Heider Recording, Sunset Sound, Hollywood Sound Recorders, and Westlake Audio, with George Massenburg producing and engineering most sessions. Lowell George co-produced the title track and “Cowboy Angel,” while Maurice White co-produced “So, So, Happy” and “City Lights.” Sessions drew on members of Little Feat and Earth, Wind & Fire, alongside West Coast players including guitarist John Hall, keyboardist Mike Utley, saxophonist Don Myrick, and arranger David Campbell. Guest vocal appearances include Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Deniece Williams, and Maurice White.

Columbia issued “Ooh Child” backed with “Heartache” as the lead single in March 1977. Carter’s version later appeared in the final scene of the 1979 coming-of-age film Over the Edge. George recorded his own version of “Heartache” for his 1979 solo album Thanks, I’ll Eat It Here.

Between albums, Valerie did vocal backing on albums by Glenda Griffith, Nicolette Larson, and Eric Carmen. Under the pseudonym Lauren Runn, she did the singing parts for Jan Mouse, a character in The Devil and Daniel Mouse, a 1978 Canadian animated Halloween television special with Sebastian voicing the title character.

Wild Child

Valerie Carter released her second album, Wild Child, in December 1978 on Columbia.

The album centers on tightly arranged West Coast studio interplay, with James Newton Howard leading on keyboards and charts, Jeff Porcaro driving syncopated rhythm lines, and Steve Lukather shifting between electric and acoustic guitar parts. Guest soloists—including Ray Parker Jr., Jay Graydon, and Davey Johnstone—add texture across tracks that frame Carter’s first-person lyrics with brass voicings, layered keyboards, and shifting instrumental dynamics. Songs like “Crazy” and “The Story of Love” emphasize personal reflection within modulated settings.

A1. “Crazy” (4:30) – Carter, Howard, Bell
A2. “Da Doo Rendezvous” (4:37) – originated on Be Bop ‘n’ Holla, the 1976 third solo album by Welsh blue-eyed soul songwriter Andy Fairweather Low.
A3. “What’s Become of Us” (3:37) – Carter, Bell
A4. “Taking the Long Way Home” (3:32) – Carter, Howard
A5. “Lady in the Dark” (4:42) – Carter, Howard, Lukather

B1. “The Story of Love” (4:09) – Carter, Bell
B2. “The Blue Side” (3:28) – written by David Lasley and Allee Willis, the team behind hits for Earth Wind & Fire (“September”) and the Pointer Sisters (“Neutron Dance”).
B3. “Change in Luck” (4:49) – originated on the 1975 Capitol release Taking It All In Stride by singer Tom Snow, who also wrote hits for Leo Sayer (“Thunder In My Heart”) and the Pointer Sisters (“He’s So Shy”).
B4. “Trying to Get to You” (4:10) – originated as a title track of the 1978 second solo album by songwriter Eugene Record, the former Chi-Lites frontman.
B5. “Wild Child” (4:47) – submitted by Bostonian songwriter David Batteau, a sporadic artist who originated the 1978 Manhattan Transfer hit “Walk In Love.”

Carter recorded Wild Child in 1978 at Sunset Sound in Hollywood with James Newton Howard as producer. The sessions featured a core team of Toto members—Lukather, Porcaro, Hungate, and Porcaro—supported by musicians from Earth, Wind & Fire, Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band, and the Elton John group. Howard arranged the string sections, with Jimmy Haskell conducting and horn charts by Thomas “Tom Tom 84” Washington. Backing vocals appear on select tracks by David Lasley, Wendy Haas, and Vini Poncia. Bill Schnee mixed the album; Doug Sax and Mike Reese mastered it.

Columbia paired “Da Doo Rendezvous” with “Trying to Get to You” for a single release in December 1978. The label promoted Wild Child with a billboard sign on Sunset Boulevard, viewable from Valerie’s West Hollywood apartment. Crystal Gayle covered “The Blue Side” on her 1979 album Miss the Mississippi.

Discography: