Tony Orlando
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Tony Orlando (born 3 April 1944) is an American singer best known for his time with the group Dawn in the early 1970s.
Born Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis to a Greek father and a Puerto Rican mother, he was raised in Manhattan's then-notorious Hell's Kitchen.
Tony Orlando's musical career started with The Five Gents, a doo-wop group he formed. His first success came when he recorded the hit “Halfway To Paradise”. After becoming general manager at Columbia Records, he was tempted back to a recording career when he was asked to record a demo record of “Candida”. The label liked the demo so much that Tony's performance was released, under the band name “Dawn” (named after a record executive's daughter).
Joining Tony were Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson, and the trio scored a string of #1 hits with “Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree”, “Knock Three Times”, and “Candida”. With a successful recording career, Orlando then set his sights on television which resulted in his highly rated weekly variety series on CBS. Breaking new ground, it was television's first multi-ethnic variety show. Orlando (of Hispanic and Greek origins) and Hopkins and Wilson (African Americans) were an instant hit. The show, which ran for four seasons (from 1974 to 1976), welcomed the biggest names in show business each week as Tony's guests, including his boyhood idols, Jackie Gleason and Jerry Lewis.
Contents |
[edit] Albums
[edit] Solo hit singles
- "Halfway To Paradise" (1961) US #39
- "Bless You" (1961) US #15
- "Happy Times (Are Here To Stay)" (1961) US #82
- "Sweets For My Sweet" (1979) US #54
NOTE: Orlando also recorded with the studio group Wind in 1969 and had a #28 hit that year with "Make Believe."
[edit] Tony Orlando in popular culture
During the "Marge on the Lam" episode of the animated series The Simpsons, recurring character Troy McClure, while emceeing a public television marathon, opens with a version of his familiar catchphrase by stating: "Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such telethons as "Out with Gout '88" and "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House."
"Let's Save Tony Orlando's House" later inspired the title of a song by the Hoboken, New Jersey, indie rock band, Yo La Tengo, which was released on the band's 2000 album And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out.
In the Sports Night episode "The Head Coach, Dinner and the Morning Mail," anchor Dan Rydell of Sports Night (the fictional show-within-a-show) is supposed to give the audience a piece of trivia about Troy Aikman for the show's "You Should Know" segment but, when nothing shows up on his teleprompter, he improvs a piece of trivia about Tony Orlando. He claims that Tony Orlando is neither Italian nor Latin, as one might assume, but that he actually hails from Greece. After the show is over, he admits that he was making it up off the top of his head and had no idea if it was true or not. His "improv" is partially correct, as Tony Orlando is of Greek descent.
