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Christopher Cross
Christopher Cross's 1979 self-titled debut album swept the four major Grammy Awards categories — Album, Record, and Song of the Year, plus Best New Artist — becoming the first album in Grammy history to win all four major awards, an achievement that remains one of the most statistically dominant single-album award sweeps in Grammy history. His single "Sailing," with its smooth, gentle production and nautical lyrical imagery, became one of the songs most directly associated with the later-coined "yacht rock" genre label, its literal boating theme making it a frequently cited archetypal example of the style. Cross's 1981 Academy Award-winning song "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)," co-written with Burt Bacharach for the film Arthur, extended his commercial success into film songwriting, adding an Oscar to his already substantial Grammy collection. His combination of that historic Grammy sweep and his enduring association with "Sailing" specifically as a genre-defining song has made Cross one of the most immediately recognized figures when discussing the smooth, soft-rock "yacht rock" sound of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
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The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers built their earlier 1970s sound around a rootsier, guitar-driven boogie rock style before undergoing a significant stylistic shift following Michael McDonald's addition to the band, whose distinctive soulful, keyboard-driven sound moved the group toward the smoother, R&B-influenced style later associated with yacht rock. Their 1979 song "What a Fool Believes," co-written by McDonald and Kenny Loggins, won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year and became one of the definitive songs of the smooth, sophisticated pop-rock sound that dominated late-1970s adult contemporary radio. The band's ability to successfully reinvent their commercial sound mid-career, moving from their earlier Southern rock-influenced boogie style to McDonald's smoother soul-pop direction, reflected an unusual stylistic flexibility that kept the band commercially relevant across two genuinely distinct musical eras. The Doobie Brothers' combination of their earlier rootsy rock sound and their later McDonald-led smooth pop period has made them one of the few major acts genuinely spanning two different stylistic eras within the broader classic rock and yacht rock landscape.
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