Gene Pitney

Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter and musician known predominantly for emotive, dramatic ballads heightened by an expansive range and sorrowful vocals. He also recorded country music. Between 1961 and 1968 Pitney charted with 16 Top 40 hits on Billboard's Hot 100, including four Top Tens. Between 1961 and 1974 in the United Kingdom he charted with 21 Top 40 solo hits, ten of them Top Ten. In 1989, in a collaboration with Marc Almond, he reached number one in the UK singles chart with an updated duet version of his 1967 UK hit "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart". Pitney also charted strongly in Australia, including a mid-1970s comeback.

Pitney's most famous recordings include "Town Without Pity", "It Hurts to Be in Love", "I'm Gonna Be Strong" (his one transatlantic Top Ten: US no. 9/UK no. 2), "Half Heaven – Half Heartache", "Mecca" and four Bacharach/David songs: "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance", "Only Love Can Break a Heart", "True Love Never Runs Smooth" and "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa" (US no. 17/UK no. 5), the latter of which has emerged as his signature song. Plus the 1968 North American one-hit-comeback single "She's a Heartbreaker". Eight of his solo UK Top Tens — including "Looking Through the Eyes of Love" (US no. 28/UK no. 3) and "Nobody Needs Your Love" (UK no. 2) — either were minor hits or failed to chart in the States.

His songwriting credits include "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away" — his own 1961 chart debut (US no. 39) — and the Crystals' 1962 US number-one hit "He's a Rebel". He co-wrote two international hits that reached the US Top Ten: Bobby Vee's "Rubber Ball" (1960) and Ricky Nelson's "Hello Mary Lou" (1961).

Pitney was born in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, on February 17, 1940, as the son of Anna A., née Orlowski, and Harold F. Pitney. The third of five children of a lathe operator, Pitney lived with his family in Rockville, Connecticut (now part of Vernon) during his formative years.

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 & 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".

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.