Leon "Lenny" Welch (born May 31, 1938) is an American MOR and pop

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Early years

He was born in New York City, United States, and raised in Asbury Park, New Jersey, by his godparents, Eva and Robert Richardson. He attended

Asbury Park High School Asbury Park High School is a comprehensive, four-year community public high school serving students in ninth through twelfth grades. It is in a landmark building in Asbury Park, in Monmouth County, New Jersey, United States, that was cons ...

. When he was 16 years old, Welch participated in the initial rehearsal of

The Mar-Keys The Mar-Keys, formed in 1958, were an American studio session band for Stax Records, in Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1960s. As the first house band for the label, their backing music formed the foundation for the early 1960s Stax sound. Career ...

in Asbury Park, his first time singing for another person.

Career

In 1960, Welch signed with

Cadence Records Cadence Records was an American record company based in New York City whose labels had a picture of a metronome. It was founded by Archie Bleyer, who had been the musical director and orchestra leader for Arthur Godfrey in 1952. Cadence also lau ...

. His biggest

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

, a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s ...

standard "

Since I Fell for You "Since I Fell for You" is a blues ballad composed by Buddy Johnson in 1945 that was first popularized by his sister, Ella Johnson, with Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra. A version by Annie Laurie with Paul Gayten and His Trio in 1947 led to its ...

," reached number 4 on

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1963, selling a million copies.Hamilton, Andrew. Lenny Welch biography

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

. Accessed December 30, 2007 His other hits included "

Ebb Tide Tides are the rise and fall of sea levels caused by the combined effects of the gravitational forces exerted by the Moon (and to a much lesser extent, the Sun) and are also caused by the Earth and Moon orbiting one another. Tide tabl ...

" in 1964, which was featured in the film ''

Sweet Bird of Youth ''Sweet Bird of Youth'' is a 1959 play by Tennessee Williams which tells the story of a gigolo and drifter, Chance Wayne, who returns to his home town as the companion of a faded movie star, Alexandra del Lago (travelling incognito as Princess ...

''; and "You Don't Know Me." He also recorded the first vocal version of " A Taste of Honey" in 1962 and performed the theme to the 1967 CBS TV series ''

Coronet Blue ''Coronet Blue'' is an American adventure drama series that ran on CBS from May 29 until September 4, 1967. It starred Frank Converse as Michael Alden, an amnesiac in search of his identity. Brian Bedford co-starred. The show's 13 episodes were f ...

''. Welch reimagined

Neil Sedaka Neil Sedaka (; born March 13, 1939) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. Since his music career began in 1957, he has sold millions of records worldwide and has written or co-written over 500 songs for himself and other artists, collabo ...

's "

Breaking Up is Hard to Do "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" is a song recorded by Neil Sedaka, co-written by Sedaka and Howard Greenfield. Sedaka recorded this song twice, in 1962 and 1975, in two significantly different arrangements, and it is considered to be his signature s ...

" as a

torch song A torch song is a sentimental love song, typically one in which the singer laments an unrequited or lost love, either where one party is oblivious to the existence of the other, where one party has moved on, or where a romantic affair has affect ...

, which became a minor Top 40 hit in 1970; six years later, Sedaka himself would re-record the song in Welch's style to make it a top-10 hit of his own.

Later years

After Welch's recording career ended, he resumed his education, attending night school after driving a

taxicab A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choi ...

during the day. He first achieved a

high school equivalency degree The General Educational Development (GED) tests are a group of four subject tests which, when passed, provide certification that the test taker has United States or Canada, Canadian high school-level academic skills. It is an alternative to the ...

, then graduated from the

College of New Rochelle The College of New Rochelle (CNR) was a private Catholic college with its main campus in New Rochelle, New York, but also in Australia, England, and Germany. It was founded as the College of St. Angela by Mother Irene Gill, OSU of the Ursuline O ...

with a bachelor's degree. He also began singing for commercials, first for Subaru and later for products that included

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

M&M's M&M's (stylized as m&m's) are multi-colored button-shaped chocolates, each of which has the letter "m" printed in lower case in white on one side, consisting of a candy shell surrounding a filling which varies depending upon the variety of M&M ...

, and Mini-

Oreo Oreo () (stylized as OREO) is a brand of sandwich cookie consisting of two biscuits or cookie pieces with a sweet creme filling. It was introduced by Nabisco on March 6, 1912, and through a series of corporate acquisitions, mergers and split ...

s. From 1990-1991, Welch joined The Royal All Stars ( The Doo Wop All Stars), first of the "supergroups" to be formed bringing together singers from different groups to perform. This group consisted of Welch, Vito Balsamo from

Vito & the Salutations Vito & the Salutations is an Italian/ Irish/Jewish-American New York City doo-wop group from the 1960s. They began performing their four-part harmonies while still in high school, getting practice by singing in subways and at railroad stations. But ...

, Artie Loria from

The Earls ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

, Randy Silverman from

The Impalas The Impalas were an American doo-wop group in the late 1950s, best known for their hit, "Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)". The group formed in 1958 in Brooklyn, New York, and was composed of lead singer Joe "Speedo" Frazier (September 5, 1943 � ...

and Eugene Pitt from The Jive Five. They became a mainstay in the "doo wop" circuit and toured relentlessly in the following years.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Since I Fell for You'' (1963) (US No. 73) *''Two Different Worlds'' (1965) *''Rags to Riches'' (1966) *''Lenny'' (1967) *''It's All About Love'' (2005)

Compilation albums

*''Anthology (1958-1966)'' (1996)

Singles

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Welch, Lenny 1938 births Living people American male singers Asbury Park High School alumni People from Asbury Park, New Jersey Singers from New Jersey Cadence Records artists Kapp Records artists