[citation needed] Having survived childhood in a low-income, blue-collar neighborhood and an even more brutal home environment fueled by an abusive stepfather, this according to manager Joel Cohen's band biography, Three Dog Night And Me,[6] Wells joined the United States Air Force directly out of high school.

[7] They were also featured in the television shows The Beverly Hillbillies, Burke's Law, Riot on Sunset Strip, and the film Harper, with Paul Newman.

In 1968, Wells returned to Hollywood where he "couch-surfed" while Danny Hutton worked to convince him of the feasibility of forming a group with three lead singers and a back-up band.

Having perfected their three-part harmony sound, Wells, Hutton and Negron added a four-piece backing group consisting of guitarist Michael Allsup, organist Jimmy Greenspoon, bassist Joe Schermie, and drummer Floyd Sneed.

In 1985, a falling out with Negron left Hutton and Wells with the name "Three Dog Night" as an entity, and the pair (along with original member Mike Allsup) toured regularly each year.

Original member Jimmy Greenspoon also toured with Three Dog Night until a diagnosis of metastatic melanoma in late 2014, which led to his death on 11 March 2015.

His family later confirmed he had been fighting multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer, since September, which had led to Three Dog Night cancelling a string of performances for the remainder of the year.