What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, Kelly Clarkson sang on her massive worldwide hit. But she didn’t write that line. Greg Kurstin did. He’s the 46 year old L.A. based songwriter who’s been having hits for the last few years with Clarkson, Katy Perry, Lily Allen, and Pink. He produced, engineered, and mixed my all time favorite Pink song, “Try.” This guy knows what he’s doing.

And now Greg Kurstin is Adele’s collaborator. For better or worse he wrote “Hello,” the endless sob story of a single that’s propelled her back to number 1 since Friday morning. “Hello” is everywhere, and we have Greg Kurstin to thank for it. Adele met with a lot of songwriters last year looking for “collaborators”– people she could share ideas with who actually write songs. They have another song on the album as well.

Adele’s other collaborators for this album are the creme de la creme, from her own Paul Epworth, to Ryan Tedder, and the ubiquitous Max Martin.

Here’s “Try,” a great record:

Updated with a tip of the hat to Amir Syarif Siregar ‏@Sir_AmirSyarif

This week Janet Jackson’s “Unbreakable” album only dropped 3% since last week and sold 18,888 copies according to hitsdailydouble.

That’s a marked change from the prior week, when “Unbreakable” dropped either 81% or 74% depending on which calculation you accept. Either way, “Unbreakable” careened down from 105,000 copies in its debut to 19,000 the second week.

It’s great that sales stabilized, but what happened? It turns out Janet has been selling physical CDs, vinyl, and digital downloads as part of a package with T shirts and merchandise. For either $29.99 or $39.99 you get a nice T shirt plus three or four different kinds of recordings. And those recordings count toward sales.

Is it fair? Well, both Prince and Madonna have been selling CDs bundled with concert tickets for some time. Initially it inflates sales of the music and puts them on the charts. It doesn’t always work, however, and hasn’t very much for those two artists. In Janet’s case it looks like it helped a lot. Her tour is going well, and everyone wants a T shirt. Bundled with the music, the whole thing thing a bargain.

Is it kosher? The business is tough, so every marketing idea is welcome now. Janet’s people are treating it like a concert souvenir. Even with all this, BMG is losing money on that album.

Are things this melodramatic and somber in the UK these days? First Sam Smith released “Writing’s on the Wall,” a listen-to-me once single. Now Adele returns after rolling in the deep for four years with a soap opera of a new ballad that sounds like it could be a commercial for a cell phone company.

Adele has blues, but no rhythm on “Hello,” the lead off single from her new album. It’s a good thing we don’t have to depend on vinyl anymore– you’d have to get up and move the needle to the second track after a couple of minutes. There’s nothing wrong with Adele’s voice. It’s just as rich as ever. But the song–sheesh. Plus Lionel Richie may be thinking he already wrote this.

Here’s hoping the rest of “25” is a little more upbeat.

I think Rod Stewart’s people forgot about me. But what the heck– here’s his new album. I found it myself. I’d worry about that marketing. Anyway. I think it comes out October 23rd. Good luck!

Cory Wells is the second member of Three Dog Night to die this year. He was 74, was a founding member of the group that was once fronted by Chuck Negron. Three Dog Night had a lot of top 10 hits and introduced songs by songwriters who went on to fame, like Randy Newman and Hoyt Axton. They covered Stevie Wonder’s “Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer.” This was before Stevie’s huge mid 70s Grammy run. Yet the idiots at the Rock Hall and the folks at the Songwriters Hall of Fame don’t get their influence. So sorry about Cory Wells. Condolences to his family and friends.

from Three Dog Night’s website:

For Immediate Release:

Los Angeles, CA (October 21, 2015) “It is with deep sadness and disbelief that I must report the passing of Cory Wells, my beloved band mate for over 45 years,” announced Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night. “Cory was an incredible singer – a great performer, he could sing anything.”

Wells, one of the three lead singers of iconic American pop band Three Dog Night, died unexpectedly yesterday in Dunkirk, NY. Wells had been with Three Dog Night from the beginning and continued performing with the band up until September of this year when he developed a problem with severe back pain.

“Cory was like a brother in so many ways,“ said Hutton. “We had been together since 1965 and I am in shock at this sudden loss.”

Los Angeles, CA (October 21, 2015) “It is with deep sadness and disbelief that I must report the passing of Cory Wells, my beloved band mate for over 45 years,” announced Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night. “Cory was an incredible singer – a great performer, he could sing anything.”

Wells, whose band The Enemys was the house band at Whisky A Go-Go, met Hutton, a solo artist and a writer/producer at Hanna Barbera Records, when they had both been invited to tour with Sonny and Cher. After that tour, Hutton contacted Wells about forming a group with three lead singers.

Three Dog Night went on to have 21 consecutive Top 40 hits. The band recorded the music of the best (and mostly undiscovered) songwriters of their time including Randy Newman, Harry Nilsson, Elton John, Laura Nyro, Paul Williams and Hoyt Axton among many others. The group’s eclectic taste, combined with their ability to recognize and record hits in a unique, distinctive and appealing style, resulted in Three Dog Night dominating the charts for years.

Cory Wells was born Emil Lewandowski on February 2, 1941 to a single mother in Buffalo, NY. Seeking a way out of his hard-scrabble youth in Buffalo, Wells joined the United States Air Force directly out of high school. While in the Air Force, he formed a band of interracial performers, inspired by his boyhood love of a popular band called The Del-Vikings. Following his military tour of duty, Wells returned to Buffalo and formed a few bands, like the Fidelitones and Satellites. In the early 60’s he became the singer of a band named the Vibratos that migrated to California and finally evolved into Cory Wells and the Enemys.

Though he devoted most of his life to music and Three Dog Night. Wells did balance out his professional life with family and leisure pursuits. An avid fisherman, Wells appeared on national TV, filming several episodes on The American Sportman in New Zealand and the Amazon. He also participated in charity fishing tournaments around the country and took time whenever he could to teach his grandchildren to fish and enjoy the natural beauty of the Great Lakes and Western New York. Wells is survived by Mary, his wife of 50 years; daughters Coryann Wells and Dawn Marie Cussins (William), and 5 grandchildren.