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By: Gene Pitney (born February 17, 1940 in Hartford, Connecticut, died April 5, 2006 in Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom.)
Gene Pitney was a child prodigy, learning guitar, drums, and piano at a young age. Two songs that Pitney wrote became hits in 1960 by Roy Orbison ("Today's Teardrops"
, which was the B-side of "Blue Angel"
) and Bobby Vee ("Rubber Ball"
, #6 US and #4 UK).In 1961, Ricky Nelson had a #9 US hit with Pitney's song "Hello Mary Lou"
. That same year, Pitney had a big hit with the title song he had written for the movie Town Without Pity
(#13 US.) It won the Golden Globe Award for Best Song in a Motion Picture, and was nominated for the Oscar for Best Song.His next single, the main title song for the James Stewart/John Wayne film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
, which was written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, reached #4 in the US. Because of that success, Bacharach & David offered Pitney another song they had written, "Only Love Can Break A Heart," which became his biggest hit.Pitney also had a Top 5 UK hit with another Bacharach/David song, "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa"
.On April 5, 2006, at the age of 66, Pitney died of natural causes in his hotel suite in Cardiff, Wales, while on tour in the UK.
Chart position: #2 (US).
It was kept from #1 in the US by a song that Pitney wrote: "He's A Rebel"
(The Crystals).Written by: Burt Bacharach (born May 12, 1928 in Kansas City, Missouri) & Hal David (born May 25, 1921 in New York City, New York.)
Bacharach and David have written a combined 70 Top 40 US hits and 52 Top 40 UK hits, including "The Story of My Life"
, "Magic Moments"
, "Baby It's You"
, "Any Day Now"
, "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance"
, "Don't Make Me Over"
, "Make it Easy On Yourself"
, "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa", "Blue on Blue"
, "Anyone Who Had a Heart"
, "(They Long to Be) Close to You"
, "Wives and Lovers"
, "Wishin' and Hopin'"
, "Walk on By"
, "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself"
, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me"
, "A House Is Not a Home"
, "What the World Needs Now Is Love"
, "What's New Pussycat?"
, "Alfie"
, "My Little Red Book"
, "I Say A Little Prayer"
, "The Look of Love"
, "One Less Bell to Answer"
, "This Guy's In Love With You"
, "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?"
, "Promises, Promises"
, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head"
, "I'll Never Fall in Love Again"
, "Arthur's Theme (The Best That You Can Do)"
and "That's What Friends Are For"
.Also by: Dionne Warwick.
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I love this song - it has such feeling. Pitney had some great hits!
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