With Badfinger!
Posted on 04/05/2006 5:41:25 AM PDT by 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.
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On the Net:
God rest his soul, I loved his songs, all of them.
A lot of the "good ones" in music have died recently.
Sad news. His music is associated with some good memories for me. Prayers for his loved ones.
Click HERE to listen.
24 Hours From Tulsa - Baby the Rain Must Fall
Half Heaven Half Heartache - I'm Gonna Be Strong
It Hurts To Be In Love - Town Without Pity
Thank You for Gene's Music. He was a wonderful artist. I enjoyed the unique sound of his voice.
I just listened to every song on that link. Thanks for posting it. Loved his music.
Thanks for posting that!
Although, "Baby the Rain Must Fall" is Glenn Yarbrough.... it does sound A LOT like Gene, though.
"The Rockville Rocket"
Rockville, CT
My initial thought too was he was young.
Then I thought to myself, He was 65 and I just called that young.
When I met my husband 38 years ago, our first dance was to Town Without Pity...which became our themesong...It was us against the world!! and against our parents...who said it would never last longer than a year...fooled them didn't we?
Nothing to be ashamed of, it's a good one in the awful way of a pun. Claim it!
For years I would sing "Down and Out City." I saw the words once and realized it was "Town Without Pity."
| Pitney also assisted in the recording of the Stones' "12 X 5" album. ... Gene Pitney was back with a vengeance, even though he'd never been away. ... www.classicbands.com/pitney.html - 9k - |
When you're young and so in love as we
And bewildered by the world we see
Why do people hurt us so
Only those in love would know
What a town without pity can do
If we stop to gaze upon a star
People talk about how bad we are
Ours is not an easy age
We're like tigers in a cage
What a town without pity can do
The young have problems, many problems
We need an understanding heart
Why don't they help us, try and help us
Before this clay and granite planet falls apart
Take these eager lips and hold me fast
I'm afraid this kind of joy can't last
How can we keep love alive
How can anything survive
When these little minds tear you in two
What a town without pity can do
How can we keep love alive
How can anything survive
When these little minds tear you in two
What a town without pity can do
No, it isn't very pretty what a town without pity
Related:
Gene Pitney Lyrics
More Gene Pitney Music Lyrics:
Gene Pitney - Half Heaven Half Heartache Lyrics
Gene Pitney - I Wanna
music ping
Ouch. Every time I see those commercials for the compilation CDs called "NOW That's What I Call Music!" filled with the hits of the past three months, it makes me sad. Most of the performers on that album are barely talented, and some not talented at all (hello, Lil Kim! Hello, Ashlee Simpson!) .
I guess I'm officially old now, because I can't understand how kids can't appreciate that you used to have to be able to actually SING to be in the music business (most of the time). "Town Without Pity" has to rank among the greatest pop recordings in history. Whose heart isn't touched by it, remembering the first time they shared a thrill with someone their parents wouldn't approve of?
RIP, Gene.
One of the most interesting and difficult-to-categorize singers in '60s pop, Gene Pitney had a long run of hits, distinguished by his pained, one-of-a-kind melodramatic wail. Pitney was a successful '60s artist, scoring 16 top forty songs in the USA from 1961 to 1968, and forty such songs in the UK, all the way up to 1974.
Gene Francis Alan Pitney was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1941, but spent most of his youth in Rockville, Connecticut. Pitney studied piano, guitar, and drums while at Rockville High School while performing with his group, "The Genials" and had written and published some songs. By the time he had dropped out of the University of Connecticut, he was performing with Ginny Arnell as the male half of Jamie and Jane, then as singer/songwriter under the name Billy Brian for "Blaze Records" and under his own name for "Festival Records" in 1961. Pitney broke into the music business as a songwriter in his late teens, getting his first taste of success when Rick Nelson had a hit with "Hello Mary Lou" and "Rubber Ball" for Bobby Vee in 1961. In 1962, he wrote "He's a Rebel" for the Crystals and became friends with producer Phil Spector. He also wrote for Roy Orbison and Tommy Edwards.
Yearning for a hit of his own, in 1961 Pitney went into a small four-track studio on 7th Avenue in New York, and for a cost of thirty dollars, played and overdubbed every instrument and multitracked his vocals.
The result was his first hit "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away" (#39, 1961). This attracted the attention of songwriting team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David who co-wrote "Only Love Can Break a Heart", "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" and "24 Hours from Tulsa" for him. Other than Dionne Warwick, he was the best interpreter of Bacharach and David's early compositions. Another 1961 single, Goffin-King's "Every Breath I Take," was produced by Phil Spector, and is one of the very first examples of his pull-out-the-stops Wall Of Sound productions. Pitney didn't really find his groove, however, until late-1961's "Town Without Pity," which became his first Top 20 entry. Pitney's label, "Musicor Records" was primarily involved in country and western music and Pitney began recording material in that vein.
In 1964, Pitney's publicist, Andrew Loog Oldham, introduced him to the Rolling Stones, whom he produced. He recorded the Jagger-Richards composition "The Girl Belongs to Yesterday". Pitney also assisted in the recording of the Stones' "12 X 5" album. With Phil Spector, Pitney sat in on a 1964 Rolling Stone recording session, during which they recorded "Not Fade Away", had a brief fling with a teenage Marianne Faithfull, and recorded songs by Randy Newman and Al Kooper, long before those musicians became famous.
Pitney withstood the initial onslaught of the British Invasion fairly well, scoring Top 10 hits in 1964 with "It Hurts To Be In Love" and "I'm Gonna Be Strong." The same year he began recording albums in foreign languages. In 1965 and 1966, Pitney recorded country albums with George Jones and Melba Montgomery, scoring country hits with "I've Got Five Dollars And It's Saturday Night" and "Louisiana Mama" with Jones and "Baby Ain't That Fine" with Montgomery. By 1966 though, his popularity was fading stateside. Ironically, by this time he was a much bigger star in Britain, making the UK Top 10 six times in 1965-66. He could also depend on a faithful international audience throughout Europe, and frequently recorded in Italian and Spanish for overseas markets. In 1966, he became one of the first artists to reach success with Randy Newman compositions, taking "Nobody Needs Your Love" and "Just One Smile" into the British Top 10.
Pitney remained a prolific recording artist, putting out many albums a year in America in the mid-Sixties. Tremendously popular in Italy too, he recorded albums of country tunes in Italian. His last chart hit in America was in 1969 with a song called "Heartbreaker", but he continued to hit the UK. charts until 1974, and to tour Britain and Europe, avoiding the U.S. oldies revival shows.
In 1970, after spending nearly a decade on the road (eleven months of every year), Gene decided to drastically cut back on his touring commitments. "I had a family at home, two boys starting to grow up, and I was getting a guilt complex about not being there with them. So I decided to make a six-month commitment to touring and spend the rest of the time at home with the family." He decided to quit the long tours of the US and, without meaning to, increasingly found himself in countries other than America due to his love of exotic travel. "There is nothing more exciting to me than to get on that airplane and know I'm going to get off in a totally different country, in a different part of the world." His annual tours of Britain, Europe, and Australia became a way of life. With every tour proving a sellout, the plan was an outstanding success.
In 1983, when an agent gently twisted his arm, Gene embarked on his first North American Tour in over a dozen years. It became a huge personal triumph. Gene Pitney was back with a vengeance, even though he'd never been away.
During the 1990s, many exciting things have happened to Gene in both the studio and on stage. In 1993, Gene played the prestigious Carnegie Hall in New York City the day The World Trade Center was bombed. Gene Says, "New Yorkers, being New Yorkers, still gave us a sold-out show. No one stayed away!" The tour of the UK in the same year completely sold out, closing at the beautiful London Palladium.
1994 Gene saw tours in the UK and Australia.
In 1995, Gene worked the crowds at The Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, NJ, and did a two-part, 46-day tour in the UK in May/June and Oct/Nov.
During 1996, he performed at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles and then moved onto a twenty-city concert tour of Australia, followed by a quick trip to Catania, Italy.
1997 was another busy year with shows in Las Vegas, Atlantic City, St. Louis, Kansas City, Boston and another twenty-city concert tour of Australia.
1998 saw Pitney continuing to tour as his composition, "He's A Rebel" received a BMI Award for having surpassed one million airplays in the U.S.
1999 saw another sell-out tour of Australia and ended with a twenty-four-city concert tour of England.
As the year 2000 rolled around, Gene was living in Connecticut, not far from where he was raised, in a big rambling Dutch Colonial house set in an old apple orchard, with his wife, Lynne, whom he married in 1966. Gene divides his time between touring, mostly overseas and his business interests, which include the Crystal Lake Beach and Boat Club in Connecticut where he worked as a youth.
Be sure to read Gary James' Interview With Gene Pitney
http://www.classicbands.com/pitney.html
Happens all the time...I had a friend of the family go to bed one night and never woke up..
With Badfinger!
The man who shot Liberty Valance is one of my favorite songs and movies. I wonder why it wasn't in the movie?
Another one, from our youth, is gone.
What wonderful memories he gave us.
May he rest in peace.
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