Gene Pitney

Gene Pitney is dead at 65.

Tom Spaundling notes

An early example of the singer/songwriter, Pitney had more success as a writer than a performer in the U.S. Ricky Nelson had a huge hit with "Hello, Mary Lou", the Crystals cut his "He's A Rebel", and Pitney wrote "Today's Teardrops", the B-side to Roy Orbison's million-selling "Blue Angel". His cover of a Jagger/Richards song, "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday", was the Rolling Stones' first appearance on a U.S. chart. Pitney was introduced to Mick and Keith by their manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, and subsequently played maracas on the Stones' version of Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away", and piano on other tracks.

In 1961, while working with legendary producer Phil Spector, he recorded the song that was to be his breakthrough hit,"Town Without Pity". The title track from the film of the same name, "Pity" was a hit record in 1962.

A Town Without Pity is, by the way, an amazing movie - not to be missed.

Pitney was an amazing singer. Trivia note: My old colleague and the most talented bass player I have ever met, Dave Elvin (with whom I worked on the Don Vogel Show twenty years ago), played as a sideman on one of Pitney's tours of Australia in the late eighties. Must have been amazing.

(Side note: one wonders how many obituary writers have spent their careers waiting to unleash the header "A Town Without Pitney")

(Via Scott Johnson).

Posted by Mitch at April 7, 2006 12:57 PM | TrackBack