scarbury, undaunted by what happened, stayed in music up through the 1970s singing backup for artists like loretta lynn, and occasionally recording his own material. although he had a minor chart single with "mixed up guy" in 1971, real chart success eluded him for the rest of the decade. this was to change when he started working for record producer and composer mike post. post was hired along with stephen geyer to write the theme tune for a new tv series dubbed "the greatest american hero", about a high school teacher who comes into possession of a superhero outfit, and scarbury was chosen to record it. an extended version of the song (3:15 compared to the television theme's minute-long length), released by elektra records, shot up to #2 on the billboard hot 100.