Gene Pitney.
Photo: January 1965.
Author: Unknown.
(Wikimedia Commons)
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Gene Francis Alan Pitney (17 February 1940 – 5 April 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and musician.[1]
Pitney charted sixteen Top-Forty hits in the United States, and four in the Top-Ten.
“The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
In the United Kingdom, he had twenty-two Top-Forty hit singles, including eleven in the Top-Ten.
Among his most famous hits are:
“Town Without Pity”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney”.
Available on YouTube
“Something’s Gotten Hold Of My Heart”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
He also wrote the Early-1960s hits:
"Rubber Ball", recorded by Bobby Vee;
"Hello Mary Lou", by Ricky Nelson;
"He's a Rebel", by the Crystals.
In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Pitney was born in Hartford, Connecticut, United States,[2] on 17 February 1940,[3][4] the son of Anna A., née Orlowski, and Harold F. Pitney.[4]
What Happened To Gene Pitney ?
Available on YouTube
Pitney’s early influences were Clyde McPhatter, and doo-wop groups such as The Crows. He attended Rockville High School where he formed his first band.
Gene’s first recordings were in 1958 with a Connecticut singing group called the Embers. Those recordings were not released until 1990.
“That Girl Belongs To Yesterday”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
In early 1959, he released two records on the Decca label, “Snuggle Up Baby” and “Classical Rock and Roll”, as part of a duo called Jamie and Jane with Ginny Arnell.
Later that year, he had his first solo release “Cradle Of My Arms”, under the name Billy Bryan, on the Blaze record label.
His first release under his real name was in 1960 on the Festival label titled “I'll Find You”.
“I Really Don’t Want To Know”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
Signed to songwriter Aaron Schroeder’s newly-formed Musicor label in 1961, Pitney scored his first chart single, which made the Top-Forty, the self-penned “(I Wanna) Love My Life Away”, on which he played several instruments and multi-tracked the vocals.
He followed that same year with his first Top-Twenty single, “Town Without Pity”, from the 1961 film of the same title. Written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, the song won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song, but lost to “Moon River”. Pitney performed the song at the Oscars ceremony on 9 April 1962.
“24 Hours From Tulsa”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
Meanwhile, Pitney wrote hits for others, including: “Today’s Teardrops”, for Roy Orbison;
“Hello Mary Lou”, for Ricky Nelson;
“He's a Rebel”, for the Crystals (later recorded by Vikki Carr and Elkie Brooks);
“Rebel” kept Pitney’s own Number Two hit “Only Love Can Break a Heart”, his highest-charting single in the U.S., from the top spot on 3 November 1962, the only time that a writer shut himself out of the Number One position.[5]
“Princess In Rags”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
He followed up in December 1962 with “Half Heaven, Half Heartache”, which reached Number Twelve on the Billboard chart.
Pitney’s popularity in the U.K. was ensured by the success of “Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa”, a Bacharach and David song, which peaked at Number Five at the start of 1964. It was Pitney’s third single release in the U.K. to reach the singles chart, and the first to break into the Top-Twenty; it was also a hit in the U.S., peaking at Number Seventeen on the Hot 100.
Pitney was present with Phil Spector at some of The Rolling Stones’ early recording sessions in London, including “Little by Little” and other tracks for their debut album;[6] He played piano, though the extent of this is uncertain.
“It Hurts To Be In Love”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
The Jagger/Richards song “That Girl Belongs to Yesterday” was a Number Seven U.K. hit for Pitney in 1964; it was the first tune composed by the duo to become a Top-Ten hit in the U.K.[7] In the U.S., the single stalled at Number Forty-Nine, ending a run of seven Top-Forty singles for Pitney.
After another low-charting single, 1964’s “Yesterday’s Hero”, Pitney rebounded with another string of hits in the mid-1960s, including the 1964 singles “It Hurts to Be in Love” and “I'm Gonna Be Strong”, and 1966’s “Nobody Needs Your Love”.
“I’m Gonna Be Strong”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
“It Hurts to Be in Love” had been planned for and recorded by Neil Sedaka, but RCA refused to release it because Sedaka had recorded the song outside RCA Victor in violation of his contract. The writers, Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller, presented the song to Pitney. Miller replaced Sedaka’s voice with Pitney’s, though Sedaka’s trademark backing harmonies were left intact.
In 1965, Pitney recorded two albums with country singer George Jones. They were voted the most promising country-and-western duo of the year. Pitney also recorded songs in Italian, Spanish, and German and twice finished second in Italy’s annual Sanremo Music Festival, where his strong vibrato reminded older listeners of the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. He had a regional hit with "Nessuno mi può giudicare".
In 1965, Pitney recorded two albums with country singer George Jones. They were voted the most promising country-and-western duo of the year. Pitney also recorded songs in Italian, Spanish, and German and twice finished second in Italy’s annual Sanremo Music Festival, where his strong vibrato reminded older listeners of the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. He had a regional hit with "Nessuno mi può giudicare".
“Looking Through The Eyes Of Love”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
Pitney’s career in the U.S. took a downturn after mid-1966, when “Backstage” ended another run of Top-Forty hits. He returned one last time to the Top-Forty in April 1968 with “She’s a Heartbreaker” and placed several singles in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 after that, but, by 1970, he was no longer a hit-maker in the United States.
Pitney maintained a successful career in Britain and the rest of Europe into the 1970s, appearing regularly on U.K. charts as late as 1974.
Pitney continued to place records in the Australian charts through 1976, including the hit “Down This Road”, written and produced by distant relative Edward Pitney. They also collaborated in the production of the hit song “Days of Summer”.
“True Love Never Runs Smooth”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
Pitney’s last hit on the U.K. charts came in 1989, after an absence of 15 years, when he and Soft Cell singer Marc Almond recorded a duet version of “Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart” by British writers Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway.
“Backstage”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
The song had been a U.K. Number Five for Pitney in 1967. The duet brought him his first U.K. Number One in January 1989. The single remained at the top for four weeks, and also went to Number One in Germany, Finland, Switzerland, and Ireland. Pitney and Almond appeared on the Terry Wogan television show in Britain.
In 2000, Pitney sang harmony vocals on Jane Olivor’s recording of his 1962 hit “Half Heaven – Half Heartache”, which was released on her comeback album Love Decides.[8]
In 2000, Pitney sang harmony vocals on Jane Olivor’s recording of his 1962 hit “Half Heaven – Half Heartache”, which was released on her comeback album Love Decides.[8]
“Half Heaven, Half Heartache”
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
On 18 March 2002, Pitney was inducted by singer Darlene Love into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.[9]
At the height of his fame in 1967, Pitney married his childhood sweetheart, Lynne Gayton, and the couple had three sons, Todd, Christopher, and David.[14][15]
“Every Breath I Take”.
Sung by: Gene Pitney.
Available on YouTube
Pitney was touring the U.K. in the Spring of 2006 when his manager found him dead in his hotel room following a concert in Cardiff, Wales, on 5 April. An autopsy found the cause of death to be a heart attack and that he had severely occluded coronary arteries.[2] His final show at Cardiff’s St David's Hall had earned him a standing ovation; he ended with “Town Without Pity”.[16] He was laid to rest at Somers Center Cemetery in Somers, Connecticut.[17]
Marc Almond recorded “Backstage (I’m Lonely)” for his 2007 covers album Stardom Road.
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