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Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 hit singles, including 11 in the top ten. Among his most famous hits are " Town Without Pity", "
(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, which was released by Gene Pitney in 1962. It spent 13 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 4, while reaching No. 2 on Canada's CHUM Hit ...
", "
Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and was originally a hit in 1963 for Gene Pitney. Production The song's lyrics tell of a traveling man who detours to a romance in a motel and ends up never retur ...
", "
I'm Gonna Be Strong "I'm Gonna Be Strong" is a song written by the songwriting duo Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. It was first recorded by Frankie Laine in 1963 and released as a single on Columbia Records. However, the song did not become a major hit until 1964, wh ...
", " It Hurts to Be in Love", and " Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart". He also wrote the early-1960s hits "
Rubber Ball A bouncy ball or rubber ball is a spherical toy ball, usually fairly small, made of elastic material which allows it to bounce against hard surfaces. When thrown against a hard surface, bouncy balls retain their momentum and much of their kinet ...
" recorded by Bobby Vee, " Hello Mary Lou" by Ricky Nelson, and " He's a Rebel" by the Crystals. In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


Early years

Pitney was born in
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...
, United States, the son of Anna A. (Orlowski) and Harold F. Pitney. The third of five children of a lathe operator, Pitney lived with his family in Rockville, Connecticut, during his formative years. He grew up in Rockville, now part of Vernon, Connecticut. Pitney's early influences were Clyde McPhatter and
doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...
groups such as The Crows. He attended Rockville High School where he formed his first band, Gene & the Genials. Gene's first recordings were in 1958 with a Connecticut singing group called the Embers. Those recordings were not released until 1990. 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".


Career


Rise to fame (1961–1964)

Signed to songwriter Aaron Schroeder's newly formed Musicor label in 1961, Pitney scored his first chart single, which made the Top 40, 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 20 single, " Town Without Pity", from the 1961 film of the same title. Written by
Dimitri Tiomkin Dimitri Zinovievich Tiomkin (, ; May 10, 1894 – November 11, 1979) was a Russian-born American film composer and conductor. Classically trained in St. Petersburg, Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution, he moved to Berlin and then New York Ci ...
and Ned Washington, the song won a
Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...
and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song, but lost to "
Moon River "Moon River" is a song composed by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Johnny Mercer. It was originally performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie '' Breakfast at Tiffany's'', winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song. The song also won the ...
". Pitney performed the song at the Oscars ceremony on April 9, 1962. He is also remembered for the Burt BacharachHal David song "
(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, which was released by Gene Pitney in 1962. It spent 13 weeks on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 4, while reaching No. 2 on Canada's CHUM Hit ...
", which peaked at No. 4 in 1962. Though it shares a title with the John Wayne western, the song was not used in the film because of a publishing dispute. Meanwhile, Pitney wrote hits for others, including "Today's Teardrops" for Roy Orbison, "Rubber Ball" for Bobby Vee, " Hello Mary Lou" for Ricky Nelson, and " He's a Rebel" for the Crystals (later recorded by Vikki Carr and Elkie Brooks). "Rebel" kept Pitney's own No. 2 hit " Only Love Can Break a Heart", his highest-charting single in the US, from the top spot on 3 November 1962, the only time that a writer shut himself (or herself) out of the No. 1 position. He followed up in December with " Half Heaven, Half Heartache", which reached No. 12 on the '' Billboard'' chart. Because of his success on the music charts, and as he explained to his friend, oldies DJ 'Wild' Wayne, an unknown radio disc jockey at the time gave Pitney the nickname 'The Rockville Rocket', which caught on. Pitney's popularity in the UK market was ensured by the breakthrough success of "
Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and was originally a hit in 1963 for Gene Pitney. Production The song's lyrics tell of a traveling man who detours to a romance in a motel and ends up never retur ...
", a Bacharach and David song, which peaked at No. 5 in Britain at the start of 1964. It was only Pitney's third single release in the UK to reach the singles chart, and the first to break into the Top Twenty there; it was also a hit in the US, peaking at No. 17 on the Hot 100.


Involvement with the Rolling Stones (1964)

Pitney was present with
Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (born Harvey Philip Spector; December 26, 1939January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter, best known for his innovative recording practices and entrepreneurship in the 1960s, followed decades later by ...
at some of
the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically dr ...
' early recording sessions in London, including " Little by Little" and other tracks for their debut album; he played piano, though the extent of this is uncertain. The Jagger/Richards song "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday" was a No. 7 UK hit for Pitney in 1964; it was the first tune composed by the duo to become a Top 10 hit in the UK. In the US, the single stalled at No. 49, ending a run of seven Top 40 singles for Pitney as a performer.


Maintaining popularity

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 "I'm Gonna Be Strong" is a song written by the songwriting duo Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. It was first recorded by Frankie Laine in 1963 and released as a single on Columbia Records. However, the song did not become a major hit until 1964, wh ...
", which reached No. 7 and No. 9, respectively, in the US, and 1966's "Nobody Needs Your Love", which peaked at No. 2 in the UK, matching the No. 2 UK peak of "I'm Gonna Be Strong". "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 successful 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 The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annua ...
, where his strong vibrato reminded older listeners of the Italian tenor
Enrico Caruso Enrico Caruso (, , ; 25 February 1873 – 2 August 1921) was an Italian operatic first lyrical tenor then dramatic tenor. He sang to great acclaim at the major opera houses of Europe and the Americas, appearing in a wide variety of roles (74) ...
. He had a regional hit with " Nessuno mi può giudicare".


UK, Australian and European stardom (1966–1970s)

Pitney's career in the US took a downturn after mid-1966, when "Backstage" ended another run of Top 40 hits. He returned one last time to the Top 40 with "She's a Heartbreaker" in mid-1968 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 US. Pitney maintained a successful career in Britain and the rest of Europe into the 1970s, appearing regularly on UK charts as late as 1974. UK pianist Maurice Merry was his musical director from 1970 onwards. In Australia, after a fallow period in the early 1970s, Pitney returned to the Top 40 in 1974, when both "Blue Angel" (No. 2) and "Trans-Canada Highway" (No. 14; production by David Mackay) were substantial hits. 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". In the early 1970s, Pitney decided to spend only six months each year on the road in order to spend more time with his family.


Later career

Pitney's last hit on the UK charts came in 1989, after an absence of 15 years, when he and
Soft Cell Soft Cell are an English synthpop duo who came to prominence in the early 1980s. The duo consists of vocalist Marc Almond and instrumentalist David Ball. The band are primarily known for their 1981 hit version of " Tainted Love" and their pl ...
singer
Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. ...
recorded a duet version of " Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" by British writers Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. The song had been a UK No. 5 for Pitney in 1967. The duet brought him his first UK No. 1, in late January 1989. The single remained at the top for four weeks, and also went to No. 1 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 Jane Olivor (born May 18, 1947) is an American singer. After releasing five albums from the late 1970s through the early 1980s, her stage fright, anxiety over her rapid success, and her husband's illness and death caused her to take a 10-year hia ...
's recording of his 1962 hit " Half Heaven – Half Heartache", which was released on her 'comeback' album ''Love Decides''. On 18 March 2002, Pitney was inducted by singer Darlene Love into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.


''This Morning'' incident

Pitney was involved in a gaffe on ITV's '' This Morning'' in 1989, owing to a "technical mishap".
Phillip Schofield: "Well, today we're live from the Albert Dock where 24 years ago, this happened."
''
lip rolls The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...
'
Holly Willoughby Holly Marie Willoughby ( ; born 10 February 1981) is an English television presenter, author and model. She is currently the co-presenter of ITV's '' This Morning'' (2009–present) and ''Dancing on Ice'' (2006–2011, 2018–present) alongsid ...
: "Oh my goodness. I just broke out into a cold sweat, watching that...Gene Pitney's technical mishap."
Giving a performance of his track "You're the Reason", Pitney missed his cue and was seen "failing dismally to mime along in time to his backing track"; he continued with the song, and found humor in the incident. It has been repeated on television over the years, notably on a 2002 episode of
BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, ...
series ''
Room 101 The Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty are the four ministries of the government of Oceania in the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell. The use of contradictory ...
'', in which host Paul Merton described it as a "very funny moment" in which Pitney came in "unbearably late". It was re-aired on the 25th anniversary edition of ''This Morning'' in 2013, in which presenter
Holly Willoughby Holly Marie Willoughby ( ; born 10 February 1981) is an English television presenter, author and model. She is currently the co-presenter of ITV's '' This Morning'' (2009–present) and ''Dancing on Ice'' (2006–2011, 2018–present) alongsid ...
"broke out into a cold sweat" while reliving the moment.


Personal life

At the height of his fame in 1967, Pitney married his childhood sweetheart, Lynne Gayton, and the couple had three sons, Todd, Chris, and David.


Death

Pitney was touring the UK in the spring of 2006 when his manager found him dead in his hotel room following a concert in
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...
, Wales, on April 5. An autopsy found the cause of death to be a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
and that he had severely occluded
coronary arteries The coronary arteries are the arterial blood vessels of coronary circulation, which transport oxygenated blood to the heart muscle. The heart requires a continuous supply of oxygen to function and survive, much like any other tissue or organ ...
. His final show at Cardiff's St David's Hall had earned him a standing ovation; he ended with "Town Without Pity". He was laid to rest at Somers Center Cemetery in Somers, Connecticut.


Posthumous tributes

Marc Almond Peter Mark Sinclair "Marc" Almond, (born 9 July 1957) is an English singer. Almond first began performing and recording in the synthpop/ new wave duo Soft Cell where he became known for his distinctive soulful voice and androgynous image. ...
recorded "Backstage (I'm Lonely)" for his 2007 covers album '' Stardom Road''. On September 20, 2007, a plaque to Pitney was unveiled at the town hall in his hometown of Rockville, Connecticut. Members of the family attended. The event was emceed by oldies radio DJ and Pitney friend "Wild" Wayne. Governor
Jodi Rell Mary Carolyn "Jodi" Rell (née Reavis; born June 16, 1946) is an American former Republican politician and the 87th governor of Connecticut from 2004 until 2011. Rell also served as the state's 105th lieutenant governor of Connecticut. Rell was ...
also declared September 20, 2007, as Gene Pitney Day in the state of Connecticut. The Gene Pitney Commemorative Committee established a music scholarship in Pitney's name. It is awarded annually to Rockville High School. In October 2008, an international fan convention was held in Rockville.


Discography


Albums

* ''
The Many Sides of Gene Pitney ''The Many Sides of Gene Pitney'' is the debut album of Gene Pitney, released on the Musicor label in 1962. It was mostly a collection of previously released singles. Among them was "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away" which charted at #39 on the ''B ...
'' (1962) * ''Spotlight on Gene Pitney & NewCastle Trio'' (1962) * '' Only Love Can Break a Heart'' (1962) * '' Gene Pitney Sings Just for You'' (1963) * '' Gene Pitney Sings World Wide Winners'' (1963) * '' Blue Gene'' (1963) * '' Gene Pitney Meets the Fair Young Ladies of Folkland'' /sup> (1964) * '' Gene Pitney's Big Sixteen'' (1964) * '' Gene Italiano'' (1964) * '' It Hurts to Be in Love and Eleven More Hit Songs'' /sup> (1964) * '' Gene Pitney's Big Sixteen, Volume Two'' /sup> (1965) * ''
For the First Time! Two Great Stars - George Jones and Gene Pitney For or FOR may refer to: English language *For, a preposition *For, a complementizer *For, a grammatical conjunction Science and technology * Fornax, a constellation * for loop, a programming language statement * Frame of reference, in phys ...
'' (1965) * '' I Must Be Seeing Things'' /sup> (1965) * '' It's Country Time Again!'' (with George Jones) (1965) * ''Looking Through the Eyes of Love'' /sup> (1965) * ''The Great Songs of Our Time'' (1965) Stateside SL 10156 * ''Español'' (1966) * ''Being Together'' (with Melba Montgomery) (1966) * ''Big Sixteen Volume 3'' (1966)- * ''Backstage (I'm Lonely)'' /sup> (1966) * ''Nessuno Mi Può Giudicare'' (1966) * ''Greatest Hits of All Times'' (1966) * ''The Country Side of Gene Pitney'' (1966) * ''Young and Warm and Wonderful'' (1966) * ''Just One Smile'' (1967) * ''Golden Greats'' (1967) * ''The Gene Pitney Story'' (1968) * ''Español, Volume 2'' (1968) * ''Gene Pitney Sings Burt Bacharach and Others'' (1968) * ''She's a Heartbreaker'' /sup> (1968) * ''The Greatest Hits of Gene Pitney'' (1969) * ''This is Gene Pitney Singing The Platters' Golden Platters'' (1970) * ''Super Star'' /sup> (1970) * ''Ten Years Later'' (1971) * ''New Sounds of Gene Pitney'' (1972) * ''The Golden Hits of Gene Pitney'' (1972) * ''Pitney '75'' (1975) * ''Backstage: The Greatest Hits and More'' (1990) * ''You're The Reason'' (1990) * ''Anthology(1961-1968)'' (1990) * ''Hits and Misses'' (1993) * ''Heartbreaker'' (1994) * ''George Jones & Gene Pitney'' (1994) * ''More Greatest Hits'' (1995) * ''Greatest Hits'' (1995) * ''Great Gene Pitney'' (1996) * ''Very Best of Gene Pitney'' (1997) * ''22 Greatest Hits'' (1998) * ''25 All-Time Greatest Hits'' (1999) * ''Defenitive Collection'' (1999) * ''Many Sides of Gene Pitney/Only Love Can Break a Heart'' (1999) (2010) * ''Looking Through (Ultimate Collection)'' (2001) * ''His Golden Classics'' (2001) * ''I'm Gonna be Strong'' (2002) * ''Blue Angel: The Bronze Sessions'' (2003) * ''Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart'' (2003) * ''Street Called Hope'' (2004) * ''Big Twenty: All the UK Top Hits, 1961-1973'' (2004) * ''Love Grows'' (2005) * ''24 Hours From Tulsa'' (2005) * ''Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart'' (2005) * ''Platinum Collection'' (2007) * ''Best of Gene Pitney'' (2008) * ''Sings Just For You/World Wide Winners'' (2011) * ''Country Side of Gene Pitney'' (2012) * ''Blue Gene/Meets the Fair Young Ladies of Folkland'' (2013) * ''I'm Gonna be Strong/Looking Thru the Eyes of Love'' (2013) * ''Cradle of My Arms: Complete Gene Pitney'' (2013) * ''The Collection: The Original Musicor Master Tapes'' (2018) Notes
: A ^ Originally released as ''Dedicated to My Teen Queens'' : B–H Released in the UK as: B. ^ ''I'm Gonna Be Strong'', C. ^ ''Gene Pitney More Big Sixteen'', D. ^ ''Looking Through the Eyes of Love'', E. ^ ''Sings the Great Songs of Our Time'', F. ^ ''Nobody Needs Your Love'', G. ^ ''Pitney Today'', H. ^ ''Ten Years Later''


Singles

:''Note that release dates refer to initial release. Pitney's early singles generally appeared one to four months later in the UK/Australia. Many of his later releases are UK/Australia/NZ only.'' ''Sources include Joel Whitburn's Record Research material for the US Top 100, "Bubbling Under" and US Country charts; Tim Rice ''et al.'', ''Guinness Book of Hit Singles'' for the UK;
CHUM Chart The CHUM Chart was a ranking of top 30 (and, until August 1968, the top 50) songs on Toronto, Ontario radio station CHUM AM, from 1957 to 1986, and was the longest-running Top 40 chart in the world produced by an individual radio station. On Janua ...
for Canada prior to mid-1964, and the Canadian RPM charts thereafter; and The Kent Report for Australia ''


References


External links


Gene Pitney bioTHE OFFICIAL "WILD" WAYNE WEBSITE – Connecticut based nationally known Oldies Radio DJ & friend of Gene PitneyRock and Roll Hall of FameReport of Pitney's death
from
BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadc ...

BBC Obituary
from ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...
''
Fan's Final Chat with Gene Pitney
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pitney, Gene 1941 births 2006 deaths 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers American country singer-songwriters American male pop singers American male singer-songwriters Epic Records artists Musicians from Hartford, Connecticut People from Rockville, Connecticut American pop pianists American male pianists Singer-songwriters from New York (state) 20th-century American pianists Country musicians from Connecticut 20th-century American male singers 21st-century American male singers Singer-songwriters from Connecticut Bronze Records artists