Posted April 5, 200619 yr Gene Pitney died this morning in Cardiff whilst on a tour. He was 65. Born Gene Francis Alan Pitney February 17, 1941 in Conneticut He was a massive star worldwide in the 60s. His first UK hit was (I Wanna) Love My Life Away reaching #26 in 1961. His second hit was Town Without Pity a year later peaking at #32. His major breakthough came in December 1963 - 24 Hours From Tulsa was hit first Top 10 hit. He had more than 20 UK hits - hit last in the late 80s was a duet with Marc Almond reaching #1 with Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart. This was a recording of his 1967 hit. UK HIT SINGLES. 1961 - (I Wanna) Love My Life Away #26 1962 - Town Without Pity #32 1963 - 24 Hours From Tulsa #5 1964 - That Girl Belongs To Yesterday #7 1964 - It Hurts To Be In Love #36 1964 - I'm Gonna Be Strong #2 1965 - I Must Be Seeing Things #6 1965 - Looking Through The Eyes Of Love #3 1965 - Princess In Rags #9 1966 - Backstage #4 1966 - Nobody Needs Your Love #2 1966 - Just One Smile #8 1967 - (In The) Cold Light Of Day #38 1967 - Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart #5 1968 - Somewhere In The Country #19 1968 - Yours Until Tomorrow #34 1969 - Maria Elena #25 1970 - A Street Called Hope #37 1970 - Shady Lady #29 1973 - 24 Sycamore #34 1974 - Blue Angel #39 1989 - Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart #1 (with Marc Almond) ALBUMS 1964 - Blue Gene #7 1965 - Gene Pitney's Big 16 #12 1965 - I'm Gonna Be Strong #15 1965 - Looking Through The Eyes Of Love #15 1966 - Nobody Needs Your Love #13 1967 - Young Warm & Wonderful # 39 1967 - Gene Pitney's Big 16 #40 1969 - Best Of Gene Pitney #8 1976 - His 20 Greatest Hits #6 1990 - Backstage-The Greatest Hits & More #17 2001 - Looking Through - Ultimate Collection #40 He called the UK his second home, touring tirelessly. Listen his best known hit HERE R.I.P. GENE http://www.worldcharts.co.uk/images/GenePitney1006.jpg Edited April 6, 200619 yr by Euro Music
April 5, 200619 yr My stepdad's favourite singer, I think I know most of his songs just by the intro alone, I thought he had a great voice, very unique voice. :(
April 5, 200619 yr 'somethings gotten hold of my heart' was i think one of the best love songs ever... terrific lyrics, best remembered though for '24 hours from tulsa'
April 5, 200619 yr It is all over the local news, where Iam. As Cardiff is just down the road from me. Played a sell out gig, and passed away in his hotel room during the night. Very sad news, he will be greatly missed. :cry: Edited April 5, 200619 yr by fiesta
April 5, 200619 yr from music week Singer Gene Pitney dies, aged 65 05 April 2006 - 13:22:44 Singer Gene Pitney, whose string of hits include Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa, has been found dead in a hotel in Cardiff. The 65-year-old American, who was in the middle of a UK tour, was pronounced dead at the Hilton hotel at 10 this morning. He was in bed at the time and, while no cause of death has yet to be established, it is not being treated as suspicious. Pitney, who had performed last night at St David's Hall in Cardiff, regularly toured the UK where he achieved his first hit 45 years ago last month with (I Wanna) Love My Life Away. It launched a chart career that stretched over five decades and saw his popularity in Britain ultimately surpassing the level of fame he experienced back home in the States. Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1941, Pitney initially enjoyed success as a songwriter having headed to the legendary Brill Building in New York City after leaving high school. His writing successes included penning the US chart-topping He's A Rebel for The Crystals plus Hello Mary Lou for Ricky Nelson and the Bobby Vee hit Rubber Ball. Following a couple of minor hits in (I Wanna) Love My Life Away and Every Breath I Take in 1961 in the US, he achieved a US Top 20 breakthrough that same year with Town Without Pity before (The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valence reached number four for him the following year. Later in 1962 Only Love Can Break A Heart peaked at two on the Billboard Hot 100, the highest-charting US hit of his career. Despite his obvious and proven prowess as a songwriter, hits in his own right tended to be written by other people, among them Burt Bacharach and Hal David who penned the 1963-issued Twenty Four Hours From Tusla, which became his first UK Top 10 hit as it peaked at number five. Its follow-up, That Girl Belongs To Yesterday, which reached number seven in the spring of 1964, was penned by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Although he only scored two further Top 10 hits in the US (It Hurts To Be In Love and I'm Gonna Be Strong, both in 1964), he was only starting to get into his stride in the UK. After Twenty Four Hours From Tusla and That Girl Belongs To Yesterday, he landed eight more Top 10 hits in Britain during the Sixties, among them Nobody Needs Your Love (two in 1966) and Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart (five in 1967). While the hits in the UK became smaller, he remained a popular live draw in Britain, but in 1989 staged one of the most remarkable comebacks in chart history when - 15 years after his last hit - he topped the chart with Marc Almond on a re-recording of his last Top1 0 hit, Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart. It saw him back on Top Of The Pops and brought him to the attention of new fans. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
April 5, 200619 yr Wednesday, April 05, 2006 10 things you didn't know about Gene Pitney Readers under the age of 30 may be wondering who exactly was Gene Pitney, the 65-year-old US singing star found dead in his bed in a Cardiff hotel room this morning. For them - and for Pitney's less well-informed fans, here are a few facts you almost certainly didn't know about the star whose biggest hit was Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa: 1. As a boy in Rockville, Connecticut, in the 1940s his favourite activity was not singing but trapping muskrat 2. He released his first recording - a duet with local girl Ginny Arnold - under the name of Jamie and Jane, and his second under the name of Billy Bryan. Then his record company told him to change his name to Homer Muzzy. He refused 3. He made his breakthrough to the big time not as a singer but as a songwriter. His song Today's Teardrops for Roy Orbison in 1960 sold more than a million copies. Pitney was 19 4. Aged 20, he cut a demo single to launch his own singing career, called I Wanna Love My Life Away. The recording cost $30 to make in a New York studio, and featured Pitney singing seven vocals and playing piano, guitar and drums to keep the cost down. It reached 36 in the US charts 5. The rock producer Phil Spector used his "wall of sound" to create Pitney's hit Every Breath I Take 6. In 1961 Pitney was the first pop artist to be invited to play at the Oscars after his song Town Without Pity - title song of a film of the same name - was nominated for an award. (It lost.) The film flopped but the song sold a million copies 7. He helped the Rolling Stones break through to US success after meeting them on a TV show in 1963 during his first British tour. In gratitude, Mick Jagger and Keith RIchards wrote Pitney's next hit, That Girl Belongs To Yesterday 8. He is credited with getting into Indian music and psychedelia two years before the Beatles, and David Bowie's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust is said to be a homage to Pitney's singing style 9. He discovered Ian and Jeannette Tough, otherwise known as the Krankies 10. When he appeared on Desert Island Discs in 2003, his favourite record was The Last Song by Elton John. His book was The Giant Book of Mensa Puzzles and his luxury was a case of Californian wine. Posted by Times Online Newsdesk on Wednesday, April 05, 2006 at 01:22 PM in From the newsdesk | Permalink http://timesnews.typepad.com/news/2006/04/...ings_you_d.html
April 5, 200619 yr A very sad loss - he was one of my original idols :cry: I've seen him in concert many times - a brilliant performer and a very powerful voice. R.I.P. Gene Julie Edited April 5, 200619 yr by Julia W
April 5, 200619 yr He discovered Ian and Jeannette Tough, otherwise known as the Krankies For this reason alone he will be sadly missed :(
April 5, 200619 yr I heard this on the news earlier - and felt sad :( I wonder what it was? - 65 isn't a great age these days, but it's great that he was still touring B) I've never seen him live, but I have fond memories of some of his songs - he certainly had a distinctive voice - no mistaking it - awe what a shame :(
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