Loggins And Messina Back Together

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.

Loggins was born in Everett Washington, moved to Los Angles when he was 6. For him, singing always came naturally.

"I worked in a grocery store and got fired as a bag boy for humming on the job," he said. "Some of the people complained about the fact that you can't sing when you're working. Well, you know that was a clue. I was in the wrong line of work."

He landed a steady job, writing music for a publishing company, and then one day he auditioned for Jim Messina:

"He came over--didn't have a guitar, didn't own one, you know, these were poor days for a lot us," recalled Messina. "And I thought, well, this is weird. Do you have a tape? No, I don't have a tape."

"I had a hole in the back of my guitar and I didn't want to bring it," said Loggins.

"So I set up a couple of stereo microphones. And I hand him one of my guitars and I said, leat's hear your songs," said Messina

And what Messina heard made him realize that he was discovering a true talent. But when they started to work on Loggins's first album--with Messina producing and sitting in on some vocals--it turned out that the two had a great sound together.

Eventually they put out a joint release that included songs Messina had written too, like "Nobody But You." Suddenly they were stars.

What was that like?

"Shocking," said Messina.

Recalled Loggins: "I remember I'd pull in my buddies. It'd be before a big show where we'd have like 10,000 people in the audience. And I'd say, just climb up the stairs with me, just come up, feel that. And the audience would go whoooo."

The audiences kept coming. Loggins was usually the lead singer, but Messina was the one running the show. At first, Kenny considered Jim his mentor.

"I think that's inevitable in a teacher student relationship. The student has to grow to the point where the teacher has got to go, you go now."

"I never felt like a teacher," said Messina. "I felt like the producer, which is what my role was. He's right. It was inevitable that as he grew, whatever labels he put on it, he needed to get away to have new experience with these new ideas."

Loggins music was in fact going in new directions. After the split, he had a string of hits…including "This Is It," co-written with Michael McDonald, which earned Loggins one of his two Grammy awards.

And he became a familiar voice in films, singing "Danger Zone," for "Top Gun," and co-writing and singing the theme for "Footloose."

And when Loggins sang "For the first Time," in the film "One Fine Day," he was nominated for an Oscar nomination.

Meanwhile Jim Messina was releasing his own solo albums, reuniting with Poco, and even indulging his passion for painting, all very low key compared to Loggins.

Was he jealous of Loggins' success?

"I was glad that he was successful, but I was also unhappy that I was not able to get the attention on my records," said Messina. "I had no promotion on my records, and after going through that a couple of times, it really was a setback. But from that standpoint, I was disappointed, not in him, but just the business."

Loggins admitted his success made him feel vindicated.

"But the for the most part I was busy with my life. People would ask, are you going to do a Loggins and Messina reunion? And I'd say, why would I? I was having so much fun."

So how did Loggins and Messina end up in a rehearsal studio, preparing for a national tour with a just released CD called, "The Best: Loggins and Messina Sittin' in Again," a composite of their favorite recordings from past albums.

It all began when the two sang together at some charity benefits. At the time, Loggins was going through a painful divorce (his second), and Messina, who'd weathered a divorce himself, invited Loggins to visit his home.

"I'm going to cook steaks, and you can just hang out there and spend the night," Loggins remembered Messina telling him. "And it was like, oh yeah, I'd forgotten that not only was there a business partner there, but there was a friend there."

So far they haven't written any new songs together. At this point they just want to see what it feels like to go back on tour as Loggins and Messina.

"We're going to (shoot pool) a lot on the road," said Loggins. "This is how we ease the tension."

Can they still attract new fans?

"If the music is there, which I think it is, it will continue to filter down through the generations," said Messina.