Singer Gene Pitney Dies at 65

AP via Yahoo! News ^ | 04/05/2006

[GeneD]

LONDON - Gene Pitney, a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame whose hits included "Town Without Pity" and "Only Love Can Break a Heart," died Wednesday at a hotel in Wales after playing a show, his agent said. He was 65.

Pitney was found dead in his hotel room in Cardiff, Wales. Police said the death did not appear suspicious.

"We don't have a cause of death at the moment but looks like it was a very peaceful passing," said Pitney's tour manager, James Kelly.

"He was found fully clothed, on his back, as if he had gone for a lie down. It looks as if there was no pain whatsoever."

He added: "Last night was generally one of the happiest and most exuberant performances we've seen out of him. He was absolutely on top of his game and was really happy with the show."

Born in Hartford, Conn., on Feb. 17, 1941, Pitney had his first success as a songwriter with "Rubber Ball," a Top 10 hit for Bobby Vee in 1961. Later that year, Ricky Nelson had a hit with Pitney's "Hello Mary Lou."

As a performer, Pitney had his first success that same year with "Love My Life Away."

But Burt Bacharach and Hal David provided the songs that put Pitney in the Top 10: "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" and "Only Love Can Break a Heart."

"Only Love Can Break a Heart" was Pitney's biggest U.S. hit, peaking at No. 2 on the charts in 1962. The No. 1 song at the time was The Crystals' "He's a Rebel," written by Pitney.

He had more than a dozen Top 40 hits and even contributed to an early Rolling Stones recording session.

Pitney waited until 1990 for his first British No. 1 — he rerecorded "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" with Marc Almond.

Pitney also had some success as a country singer, pairing with George Jones to record "I've Got Five Dollars and It's Saturday Night" and "Louisiana Man."

He recorded in Italian and Spanish, and twice took second place at the San Remo Song Festival in Italy. He also had a regional hit with "Nessuno Mi Puo' Giudicare."

Pitney was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.

___

On the Net:

http://www.allmusic.com

[speedy]

don't forget My Dad from 1963

There was also "She Can't Find Her Keys" and his Beach Boys imitation "She Rides With Me."

But I was always more focused on Shelley Fabares. My first pre-teen crush.

[speedy]

My favorite tune by that group is "The Clock."

Phew, you know your stuff if that is your favorite Lee Andrews. That was the flip side of their biggest hit, "Long Lonely Nights." I think my favorite of theirs is "Maybe You'll Be There." I also liked a song Lee did solo late in the day, "I'm Sorry Pillow."

You're right about the versatility of The Skyliners -- from doo wop to show tunes to pop ballads, they could handle them well. I especially like "It Happened Today." And the beautiful a cappella version of "Since I Don't Have You."

I think if Clyde McPhatter had come along 15-20 years later, he would have been a millionaire and a household name instead of a cult hero. "Without Love" is indeed one of the great dramatic songs ever. "The Treasure Of Love" is not too shabby either. I got to know Hank Ballard and his wife in the late 1980s; wonderful people. Anyway, Hank said that his inspiration for "The Twist" was McPhatter's "Whatcha Gonna Do," which does in fact sound quite similar.

All of this is reminding me how out of touch with my old records I have become. This will finally inspire me to get the new turntable. Some more old favorites bubbling up in the back of my brain -- Otis Williams and the Charms "Hearts Of Stone" and "Two Hearts"; Earl Lewis and the Channels "The Closer You Are"; Pastels "So Far Away" and "Been So Long"; almost anything by The Chantels or The Harptones. Sigh.

A few more Pittsburgh groups were The Dell Vikings and The Monotones. "Cool Shake" by The Dell Vikings must be one of the most obscure songs to ever get as high as number 12 on Billboard. Another Pittsburgh lad was Scott English of "High On A Hill" fame.

[Fiji Hill]

I haven't heard 'Maybe You'll Be There" by Lee Andrews & The Hearts, but the 1948 version by Gordon Jenkins & his Orchestra is one of my favorite songs from that year. My favorite song that Clyde McPhatter recorded with The Drifters is '"Lucille" (1954).

I believe Bill Haley & The Saddlemen--also a Pennsylvania act--had the original version of "Whatcha Gonna Do" in 1953. Speaking of original versions, The Jewels, a group from San Bernardino, Calif., waxed the first version of "Hearts of Stone."

As for Pittsburgh acts, Scott English's "High On a Hill" was a hit in LA in 1964. In an age when The Beatles and The beach Boys were dominating the charts, this doo-wop ballad may have sounded anachronistic, but I think it sold espeically well in East LA. My favorite recording from The Monotones is "Tom Foolery," which contains the following lines:

Now, who wants to waltz and minuet?
Two hundred years ago, you bet.
But this is 1958,
And we want to dance right up to date.

[Fiji Hill]

I don't know why doo wop oldies retained their appeal to Latino kids, but in 1970, Huggy Boy had a program on KTYM, a low-wattage station out of Inglewood, Calif., that seemed to be aimed at the Latino audience. Along with the oldies, he would play tunes such as "Viva Tirado" by El Chicano, and he frequently used the phrase "Chicano power," although he's not a Chicano.

Besides Huggy Boy, KTYM, which I believe was at 1580 kilocycles on the AM band, carried a lot of right-wing and conservative programming. These included "Verite," a fifteen-minute broadcast from announcer Ron Wright, which followed the John Birch Society's party line, "Richard Cotton's Conservative Viewpoint, which was hard-hitting and occasionally Judeophobic, the Reverend Carl McIntire, a Presbyterian minister who led rallies calling for victory in Vietnam, and Lifelines, a conservative broadcast backed by Texas oil zillionaire H. L. Hunt and narrated by Melvin Munn. At the time, I was at Occidental College--on the slopes of Fiji Hill.

In December, 1970, i made a pilgrimage to East LA to visit Hollywood Discount Records, which carried a lot of oldies and doo wop. This was ground zero for the "Chicano Moritorium" riot of August, 1970--the Silver Dollar bar, where journalist Ruben Salazar was shot and killed during the riot, was practically across the street. Nonetheless, the store lived up to its reputation, and I left with an armload of sound discs.

[Riverman94610]

Man,your knowledge is off the hook!
Your Birch Society reference tickled me.I used to "kick it"with them back in the 1965-66 era.In fact,one of the Southern California Chapter leaders used to hold court with me in his palatial Lake Tahoe vacation home and regale me with stories about how"the niggers"were going to burn Pasadena to the ground July Fourth!
Back then I was seeking some cool conservatives to hang out with but the racism and anti-Semitism was stifling!Got into libertarain-anarchist Karl Hess for a while later.Now,I don't join groups.
Or at least found one I was totally comfortable with.

[Riverman94610]

Ah,you mention Ruby and the Romantics.Do you remember a tune they had a minor hit with in 1966 called We Can Make It?Goes something like;
"If we just hang on a little longer
I know that our love will be that much stronger
We can make it
Wishing,hoping and dreaming is all we have now
Girl,we'll have the world on a string
Let me show you how"
or something like that!Great tune tho.

[Fiji Hill]

For all their faults, none of the Birchers with whom I "kicked it" in the early 1970's were either white supremicists or Judeophobic. The chapter that I hung out with met in a home in Highland Park, a lower middle-class community in northeast Los Angeles and was headed by a professional cook. She was a solid conservative, described herself as "anti-Communist to the core," and was a grass-roots political activist.

This chapter helped me to wage guerrilla warfare on the Left, which dominated nearby Occidental College, which I was attending. On one occasion, we put up some protest banners the night before former Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren made an appearance, and on another, we arranged for a black activist to come on campus and distributed fliers throughout the school for the event.

I didn't hang around the Birch Society very long. Their insistance that a shadowy "master conspiracy" is responsible for all the world's troubles was something I just couldn't swallow.

[patriot_wes]

"The result was his first hit "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away" (#39, 1961).

Interesting that this song was "all Pitney" every instrument and 7 tracks of voicings all done by the artist himself - that's talent!

[speedy]

Riverman -- I'm afraid I don't remember "We Can Make It" by Ruby and the Romantics. I checked my R&R album and it isn't on there, either. Besides "Our Day" I do remember "Young Wings Can Fly" and "My Summer Love" and "Our Everlasting Love" as well as their very nice versions of "Hey There Lonely Boy" (very different from the Eddie Holman take) and "When You're Young And In Love." All on glorious Kapp Records.

You know who I liked? Patty and the Emblems. And the Drew-Vels. And especially Baltimore's very own Royalettes -- "It's Gonna Take A Miracle" and "I Want To Meet Him."

And why Baby Washington wasn't a household name, I could never tell you. Ditto Garnett Mimms.

[Riverman94610]

I checked on We Can Make It and it is on a Best Of Cd.
Man,I forgot about the Drevells!They had a song that went someting like"tell him that I love him,tell him that I care"What was the TITLE of that jam?
Sure,I remember the Royalettes.Kinda funny that Deniece Wiliams had a much bigger hit out of Gonna Take A Miracle than they did!And the Royalettes had the better version.

[speedy]

Riverman -- the title of the song by the Drew-Vels was, in fact, "Tell Him." If you ever see, the boy for me, tell him that I love him, tell him that I care. Not to be confused with The Exciters song of the same name. Actually, it was released twice, once by the Drew-Vels and then a few years later by the lead singer Patty Drew.

Agree The Royalettes version of "Miracle" was far superior to Deniece Williams's. Wonder if you recall either of these Philly songs -- "Michael" by the CODs and "You Gave Me Somebody To Love" by the Dreamlovers.

[Riverman94610]

Ok,speedy.
Michael?Is that the song that went"Michael the lover,after him there was no other"?
All I remember by The Dreamlovers was When We Get Married,a song covered by The Intruders a few years later.

[speedy]

Wow, excellent Riverman. That is indeed the "Michael" I was referring to, not to be confused with the one who rowed the boat ashore or the one The Peppermint Rainbow sang about as in "Don't Wake Me Up In The Morning Michael." I guess The Dreamlovers are pretty hardcore Philly, their stuff got played a lot there. You probably know they did backup for Chubby Checker on a lot of hits. Remember "Hooka Tooka" by Chubby?

Another LA group from that day was The Vibrations -- "The Watusi" and "My Girl Sloopy." I believe the Blendells were from LA, too. "La La La La La." And the aforementioned Premiers of "Daughter" fame. Of course, Cannibal and the Headhunters. Almost neglected Little Caesar and the Romans.

Until the 70s, not a whole lot of rock or soul coming out of Boston, as far as I know. Freddy Cannon. I think The Barbarians. I know Little Joe (of Little Joe and the Thrillers) performs every weekend at a small bar in Cambridge, but he's originally from NYC.

[sushiman]

"Until the 70s, not a whole lot of rock or soul coming out of Boston, as far as I know. Freddy Cannon. I think The Barbarians. I know Little Joe (of Little Joe and the Thrillers) performs every weekend at a small bar in Cambridge, but he's originally from NYC."

The Beacon Street Union ...

[sushiman]

The Remains ...

[sushiman]

http://www.rockinboston.com/ ...might wanna check out this site ...BTW ...my buddy Jerome was the original drummer for Boston band MORPHINE . You can catch him playing with various bands in Cambridge ...

[speedy]

Ah yes, Barry and the Remains, always referred to as "the great lost band" of Boston. I have something by them on one of those "Nuggets" albums that Rhino put out. Thanks for reminding me! I think there are assorted folkie types from Boston, but I don't listen to that. Well, maybe The Rooftop Singers every ten years or so, just so I don't completely lose touch.

[Jayles1015]

Better do a little more "homework" before you post another "Rock 'n' Roll History Lesson" - Phil Margo and Mitch Margo are alive and (very) well, thus deeming Jay Seigel not the "only original Token" - How do I know this? Because when in the late 80's promoters were wondering where the group has been, I helped put it back together with Mitch & Phil (on the West Coast), and to this day still perform with them as a Token AND also with Jay for certain east coast and corporate dates-we have "reunited" on more than a few occasion, to boot.

OK - time for recess and dance to "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
Jayles1015@aol.com