Tony Orlando: 1944—: Singer

1970s phenomenon Tony Orlando made a name for himself churning out bubble-gum pop songs with a female duo called Dawn, performing such runaway hits as "Knock Three Times" and "Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree." The group sold nearly 30 million records, topped the Billboard charts three times, and had their own television variety show that lasted for two seasons. But with their demise and subsequent breakup in the late 1970s, Orlando faced numerous obstacles, including a sluggish career, a cocaine addiction, and a nervous breakdown. Despite these roadblocks, he's managed to entertain audiences for more than forty years and continues to build an impressive resume that includes theater, production, and music. In 2002 he released a memoir of his life titled Halfway to Paradise in which he documents the ups and downs of his show business career.

Had Short First Music Career

Orlando was born Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis in New York City on April 3, 1944, to a Puerto Rican immigrant mother and a Greek furrier father. His younger sister and only sibling, Rhonda Marie, had cerebral palsy. Orlando managed to avoid the dangers of drugs and alcohol—so prolific in his working-class Manhattan neighborhood—by devoting much of his youth caring for his sister.

Orlando fell in love with music at the age of 15 and spent much of his time singing doowop on the corner and in the subway with his friends from the neighborhood. With hopes of breaking into the business, he performed and recorded demos with local groups like the Five Gents. Hanging around the legendary Brill Building, the New York-based home of some of the leading pop songwriters of the day, he managed to snag an audition with record producer Don Kirshner, who hired him for a dollar a week to sing on songwriter demos. One tape, featuring the Carole King-penned tune "Halfway to Paradise," was considered good enough to release and hit the U.S. charts at number 39 in 1960. A couple of months later he recorded the Barry Mann-Cynthia Weil penned song "Bless You," which rose to number 15 in the United States and number five in the United Kingdom in the fall of 1961. Orlando became a minor-league teen idol and even made an appearance on Dick Clark's hugely popular show American Bandstand, but his star quickly faded. Orlando did a British tour with Bobby Vee, Clarence "Frogman" Henry and others in 1962, but by the next year he had quit the business. His last record, "Happy Times (Are Here to Stay)," peaked at number 82 in the United States.

Orlando had married shortly before his retirement and he had to find a way to make a living, so he went behind the scenes to work for music mogul Clive Davis and became general manager of April-Blackwood Music, a publishing arm of Columbia Records. He loved the work and the opportunity it afforded him to work with stars such as James Taylor, Barry Manilow, and Blood, Sweat & Tears. At that time things seemed to be headed in the right direction for Orlando and he had no plans to return to show business.

Teamed Up With Dawn

In 1970 Hank Medress, a former Token (of "Lion Sleeps Tonight" fame) turned producer and songwriter, and co-producer David Appel brought "Candida" to Orlando telling him it needed a better lead vocalist. The song was for a new Detroit-based group called Dawn, named after the daughter of Bell Records boss Wes Farrell and featuring female vocalists Thelma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent. He agreed to do it as a favor only if Medress agreed to keep Orlando's identity under wraps so his boss wouldn't know he was moonlighting for a rival company. Orlando cut the track without ever meeting Hopkins and Vincent, who had already recorded their parts in California.

"Candida" hit Billboard's number three spot by the end of the summer of 1970, and stunned Orlando who was sure it would disappear without a trace. In a 2002 Today Show interview with Matt Lauer he recalled, "I remember pulling off on the freeway and getting off the exit and listening to that record (on the radio), not being able to tell anybody because I was afraid to lose my job." Booking agents were offering Dawn gigs, but there would be no act until Orlando decided to give up his day job and step back into show business. He finally acknowledged that he was the voice of Dawn and left his job to join the group full time to record what became the rest of their debut album, Candida.

Medress and Orlando quickly collaborated on a follow-up, "Knock Three Times," a tale of two neighbors in adjoining apartments who communicate their love via a series of three knocks on the ceiling ("if you want me") and two on the pipe ("means you ain't gonna show"). The song hit number one in December of 1970 in both the United States and the United Kingdom. What followed were a couple of years of relatively minor hits, including "I Play and Sing," "Summer Sand," and "What are You Doing Sunday." The album that featured these songs topped the Billboard 200 at a disappointing number 178. It wasn't long, though, before the group struck gold again with a song based on a convict's release from prison.

Released Megahit

"Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree" was released in February of 1973, and by April it had become a hit, selling more than six million copies worldwide. Though the lyrics were written about a convict returning home to White Oak, Georgia, hoping to see if his wife still loved him, the song quickly became associated with veterans returning from Vietnam after the war ended in 1974. Later it came to symbolize anyone returning home after a crisis, with yellow ribbons sprouting up on trees during wartime or when someone was missing or being held against their will. In fact, the song would climb the charts again in 1981 when 52 Iran hostages were released after 444 days of captivity. "I never ever set out to be a novelty act, a singer associated with ditties or bubble-gum tunes, yet … 'Yellow Ribbon' seemed like a novelty song to me," wrote Orlando in his autobiography, Halfway to Paradise. "Even though I knew it had hit potential it wasn't the kind of song I wanted to be defined by." Nevertheless, the song changed Orlando's life and became his signature theme song.

In 1974, after performing "Yellow Ribbon" at the 16th Annual Grammy Awards, CBS programming chief Fred Silverman offered the group their own variety show, Tony Orlando and Dawn, which became an instant hit. It featured some of Orlando's boyhood idols, including Jackie Gleason and Jerry Lewis. Orlando would forge a close friendship with Lewis and go on to guest and host his Labor Day Telethon for years to come.

With the success of their TV show, came a whirlwind of hit songs, including "Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose," "Who's in the Strawberry Patch With Sally," and "Steppin Out (Gonna Boogie Tonight)." The group moved over to Elektra Records with Bell promotion executive Steve Wax in 1975 and recorded a cover of Jerry Butler's 1960 Top Ten hit, "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)." It became the band's third number one single and selling more than a million copies.

Hit Low Point in Career

A trio of hits followed in late 1975-76, including "Mornin' Beautiful," a version of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "You're All I Need To Get By," and a cover of Sam Cook's "Cupid." But good fortune took a turn and the group began to lose the public's interest. After only two seasons, the TV show was cancelled in 1976 amidst reports that Hopkins and Vincent were dissatisfied with their contracts. Then the group disbanded the following year when Orlando suddenly announced during a performance in Colhasset, Massachusetts, that it would be his last day as a performer.

Orlando had started to experiment with cocaine shortly before his television show was cancelled. He used the drug for nine months, but it would haunt him for years to come. "What nine months of using the stuff can do is ruin my career, ruin my decision making, ruin my marriage, ruin my self respect, ruin my relationship with my audience, and I lost my television show," he told Mark Steines of Entertainment Tonight.

The announcement that he was retiring from show business came after he suffered from a complete nervous breakdown from the demands of his TV variety show. He had also had a tough year with the death of his sister and the suicide of his close friend Freddie Prinze, who starred in the sitcom Chico and the Man. "Freddie was one of those brilliant, brilliant, brilliant comedians. And to see him lose his life like that had a tremendous effect on me, when I had never seen anybody die in my own presence," he told Larry King in a CNN interview. "And there I was with his wife Kathy and his mom. And it was a horrific time. And it affected me deeply."

Returned to Show Business

After a long recuperation, that included a six-month stay in a psychiatric hospital to help him kick his drug addiction and a brief period as a born-again Christian, Orlando decided to pursue a solo career. He became a staple in Las Vegas showrooms—25 weeks a year in his heyday—and recorded a solo album, Sweets For My Sweet, for Casablanca in 1979. He also dabbled in acting, debuting in the TV movie Three Hundred Miles For Stephanie, and making a guest appearance on The Bill Cosby Show. In 1980 he briefly took over the lead role in the Broadway show Barnum. Orlando has continued to perform regularly since then, including a 1988 reunion with Dawn in Atlantic City. He also teamed up with his friend Jerry Lewis for a series of shows in the early 1990s at the Las Vegas Hilton and Riviera hotels.

In 1993 Orlando moved to the Ozarks to perform in a variety show in Branson, Missouri, where he opened his own theater, the Yellow Ribbon Music Theater. It was grueling work—he would do 400 shows a year from April to December—but he enjoyed the enthusiastic audiences and change of pace that Branson offered his family. The Missouri residency also gave him time to produce two themed musicals with original songs, including a show based on the life of his grandfather, musician Leon Stanley.

Orlando hit the road again in 1999, taking another Broadway turn in Smokey Joe's Café. This came soon after he ended litigation with former friend and business partner Wayne Newton over a failed joint venture in Branson. Orlando's suit, which asked for more than $15 million and accused Newton of damaging his reputation and wrongly throwing him out of the theater they once shared, was settled with a gag order on both sides. He has been working on an album's worth of new songs with an autobiographical theme. One of the songs, "Carribean Jewel," is a nod to his Greek and Puerto Rican heritage. Another, "Papito Played the Trumpet," is about his grandfather. While his old hits with Dawn continue to sell records, Orlando realized that it may be difficult to sell another solo album.

Orlando married his second wife, Francine Amormino, in 1991. They have a daughter, Jenny Rose, and a son, Jon, from his first marriage. He continues to tour, performing about 150 nights a year. As Orlando told Entertainment Tonight, "Everybody has that new time in their life when they are the new act and hot. That moment in your career only comes once and you're probably not as good in your craft until you get to the point in your career where you say this is my 43rd year. So right now when I do a show I know what I am doing, and I have the same enjoyment now as I did when I had the dream. So how bad could it be? As I say in the book I am Halfway to Paradise."

Albums

Candida, Bell, 1970.

Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando, Bell, 1971.

Dawn's New Ragtime Follies featuring Tony Orlando, Bell, 1973.

Prime Time, Bell, 1974.

He Don't Love You … Like I Love You, Electra, 1975.

Tony Orlando and Dawn's Greatest Hits, Arista, 1975.

I Got Rhythm, Casablanca, 1979.

(Solo) Sweets For My Sweet, Casablanca, 1979.

The Best of Tony Orlando and Dawn, Rhino, 1994.

Big Hits, Intersound, 1995.

Tony Orlando and Dawn — The Definitive Collection, Arista, 1998.

Knock Three Times: The Encore Collection, Arista, 1999.

Books

Halfway to Paradise, St. Martin's Press, 2002.

Television

Tony Orlando and Dawn, 1974-1976.

Chico and the Man, 1976.

The Johnny Cash Christmas Special, 1976.

Bob Hope Presents a Celebration with Stars of Comedy and Music, 1981

Three Hundred Miles for Stephanie 1981.

Lynda Carter: Street Life, 1982.

Rosie: The Rosemary Clooney Story, 1982.

The Cosby Show, 1985.

Theater

Barnum, St. James Theater, New York, NY, 1980.

Hey, Look Me Over!, Avery Fisher Hall, New York, NY, 1981.

Smokey Joe's Café, 1999.

Sources

Periodicals

Las Vegas Review, January 25, 2002.

New York Daily News, December 29, 2002.

News-Press, December 6, 2002.

On-line

"Larry King interview with Tony Orlando," CNN-Transcripts, www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0212/15/lklw.00.html (June 16, 2003).

"Tony Orlando: 'Halfway to Paradise,'" Entertainment Tonight, www.etonline.com/celebrity/a127 05.htm (June 16, 2003).

"Tony Orlando Takes Wayne Newton to Court," CNNShowbuzz, www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/News/9904 /29/showbuzz/#story4 (June 16, 2003).

Other

Additional information for this profile was obtained through transcripts from The O'Reilly Factor, broadcast by Fox News on November 8, 2002, and The Today Show, broadcast by NBC, October 14, 2002.

—Kelly M. Martinez