Albert Hammond – It Never Rains In Southern California

“It Never Rains in Southern California” – Single by Albert Hammond from the album It Never Rains in Southern California
B-side: “Anyone Here in the Audience”
Released: 1972
Label: Mums
Songwriters: Albert Hammond, Mike Hazlewood
Producers: Albert Hammond, Don Altfeld
Charted #2 in US (Billboard Easy Listening), No.5 in US (Billboard HOT 100), No.9 in West Germany, No. 2 in Canada

Hammond wrote “It Never Rains in Southern California” with lyricist Mike Hazlewood, and the song would become the title track of his debut album. It is sung from the perspective of someone who tries but fails to make it in show business, and for the most part, it’s a true account of things that happened to Hammond. One important detail—the song’s location—is fictional. Ironically, Hammond’s song about failure became the biggest success of his recording career, but it took an encounter with one of the most powerful executives in the recording industry to give it a boost.

Once the Columbia Records subsidiary Mums released “It Never Rains in Southern California” as the second single from Hammond’s debut album, it didn’t take long for it to connect with listeners. Yet Hammond’s big break almost didn’t happen. As he recalled in a 2017 interview with Music-News.com, it was a meeting with legendary music executive Clive Davis—then the president of Columbia Records—that was instrumental to “It Never Rains in Southern California” becoming a hit.

Hammond played several of his songs for Davis, including “The Air that I Breathe,” but he consciously chose not to play “It Never Rains in Southern California.” It wasn’t until Davis asked him if he had any other songs that Hammond brought up his future hit. He told Davis, “When I played it to all these wonderful artists, they told me it was a terrible song. That’s why I didn’t play it.” Upon hearing “It Never Rains in Southern California,” Davis replied, “That’s going to be your biggest single, and that’s going to be the title of your album.”