Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

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PITNEY, Gene

(b 17 February 1940, Hartford CN; d 5 April 2006, Cardiff, Wales) Pop singer and songwriter who had 16 top 40 USA hits 1961-8, marked by a soaring tenor with a distinctive edge. After high school he teamed with Ginny Arnell as Jamie & June for a couple of singles while trying to sell his songs. Under his own name he recorded 'I Wanna Love My Life Away' as a demo at a cost of $30, playing piano, guitar and drums himself; the record made the Top 40. Burt Bacharach and Hal David spotted him and wrote some of his hits such as 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance' (inspired by the John Wayne film) and '24 Hours From Tulsa'. Pitney's songs were covered by the Kalin Twins ('Loneliness'), Tommy Edwards ('Blue Heartaches'), Steve Lawrence ('Tears From Heaven'), Roy Orbison ('Tomorrow's Teardrops'), and among the biggest hits for Rick Nelson ('Hello Mary Lou') and Bobby Vee ('Rubber Ball'). Pitney's biggest hit was the Bacharach/David 'Only Love Can Break A Heart' at no. 2 in 1962, kept from the top by the Crystals' 'He's A Rebel', another Pitney song.

A distinctive talent, more popular in the UK than at home, he had top 40 hits through '74 in Britain, where he shared publicist Andrew Loog Oldham with the Rolling Stones; he recorded Jagger/Richards's 'That Girl Belongs To Yesterday' for a UK no. 7; he played maracas on 'Not Fade Away', and piano on a B-side, 'Little By Little'. He recorded country music, having duet hits in that chart with George Jones and Melba Montgomery; he recorded in Italian, twice winning second prize at the San Remo Song Festival. He finally made no. 1, in the UK in 1990, in a duet with Marc Almond on one of his old UK hits, 'Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart', a Greenway/Cook song. Remaining a popular touring artists, he died the way he might have wished, resting in his hotel room after putting on a good show.