Oliver

There are at least seven artists with this name, the most important being William Oliver Swofford, who rose to fame as “Oliver” singing “Good Mornin’ Starshine” in the late 1960’s.
Born in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, William Oliver Swofford began singing as an undergraduate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the early 1960s. He was a member of two music groups: The Virginians and, later, The Good Earth.

Oliver’s clean-cut good looks and soaring baritone were the perfect vehicle for his July 1969 #3 single “Good Morning Starshine”, from the pop-rock musical Hair. In October 1969 Oliver reached #2 with Rod McKuen’s melodious ballad “Jean”, the theme from the Oscar-winning film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. Oliver performed both hits on a number of TV variety shows and specials in the late 1960s, including the Ed Sullivan Show. Later recordings had much less commercial success: “Sunday Mornin’” peaked at #35 in December 1969, and “Angelica” stalled at #97 in April 1970. His follow-up “I Can Remember” from July 1970 missed the Hot 100.

Despite his vocal talents, Oliver could not sustain more hits and he later made a career in business. A short-lived attempt to team up with Karen Carpenter in the late 1970s was unsuccessful. In 1983, People magazine ran a feature article on Oliver, describing a happily married father who kept his distance from the music business. In the late 1990s Oliver was diagnosed with cancer, and he died in Shreveport, Louisiana, on the same date that Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Charles Schulz, and Tom Landry all died.