final credits - gene pitney
"Town Without Pity"
"24 Hours from Tulsa"
"It Hurts to Be in Love"
"(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance"
"Every Breath I Take"
"Mecca"
"Half Heaven, Half Heartache"
"True Love Never Runs Smooth"
"Only Love Can Break a Heart"
From 1961 to 1964, Gene Pitney was one of Top 40 radio's most instantly recognisable singers.
His hit songs, written primarily by the Brill Building's Burt Bacharach & Hal David and dramatically arranged by Bacharach, were the epitome of teen angst. Only Roy Orbison could carry the torch of young love's hurt and heartache as painfully.
Gene Pitney died April 5th, 2006 at the age of 66. He was found by his tour manager, James Kelly, lying on his back and fully clothed in his bed at the Hilton Hotel in Cardiff, Wales. Kelly said "It looks as if there was no pain whatsoever."
Those who saw Pitney perform the night before, halfway through a 23-date U.K. tour, described the singer as "happy and exuberant." South Wales police said the death was not being treated as suspicious.
Gene Francis Alan Pitney was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on February 17th, 1940. He maintained a strong connection to his birthplace, marrying his high school sweetheart, building a recording studio in Somers, 20 miles northeast of Hartford, and buying the beach and yacht club where he had worked as a short order cook.
While still in high school, Pitney formed a band called Gene and the Genials. A shy performer, he seemed destined to be best known as a songwriter.
After hooking up with a New York publisher, he wrote "Loneliness" for the Kalin Twins, "Today's Teardrops" for Roy Orbison (it appeared on the B-side of his massive hit "Blue Angel"), Clyde McPhatter's "Tomorrow is a-Comin'," Steve Lawrence's "Tears from Heaven," Tommy Edwards' "Blue Heartaches" and Billy Bland's "Harmony."
In 1961 Bobby Vee cut Pitney's "Rubber Ball." So that his agent could place the song with both rival publishing organisations Ascap and BMI, Pitney was asked to assign the writing credit to a pseudonym. He chose his mother's maiden name, Ann Orlowski.
To make sure the ruse would hold, Pitney's mother practised the song on a piano should there be a knock on the door.
Later that year, Ricky Nelson scored a major hit with Pitney's "Hello Mary Lou," one of Gene's most lasting compositions.
Pitney's talent came to the attention of pop production svengali Phil Spector, who oversaw Pitney's recording of "Every Breath I Take", written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, engineered by Phil Ramone and produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was an early model of Spector's "Wall-of-Sound" recording style.
When Pitney had a hit with "Only Love Can Break a Heart," the song failed to make number one on the charts because the top spot was taken by Spector's production of the Crystals' "He's a Rebel" -- ironically one of Pitney's own tunes.
Pitney came into his own with "Town Without Pity," the theme song from the 1961 Kirk Douglas U.S. army melodrama about a rape victim’s second brutalisation under the legal process. The film flopped on initial release, but the success of Pitney's song brought the film back into theatres.
"Town Without Pity" was Oscar nominated for Best Music, Original Song. When Pitney performed it at the Academy Awards he became the first pop artist to sing on the show.
"Town Without Pity" was later re-dressed as "The Accused," the 1988 Jody Foster film.
Then came "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance," another song for a movie and the first of a string of successful collaborations with composers Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
The song did not appear in the 1962 John Ford-directed John Wayne-James Stewart western because Ford was dead set against having a pop song on the soundtrack. Nonetheless, the song was a huge hit.
In early 1964, Pitney appeared on the U.K. TV show "Thank Your Lucky Stars" along with the still un-recorded Rolling Stones. Pitney was introduced to the flashy, fast-talking Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham who soon became Pitney's publicist.
Pitney recorded the Mick Jagger-Keith Richards song "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday," which made the British Top 10 and the first Jagger-Richards composition to reach the charts in the U.S. at Number 49. He was the first artist to have a hit with a Stones song while the Stones were still recording just cover songs.
Pitney also played piano on the first Rolling Stones album. He later toured with Marianne Faithfull and wrote and recorded the song "Marianne" as a nod.
While Pitney weathered the British Invasion, his career wilted under the influence of flower power. His last U.S. hit was "She's a Heartbreaker" in 1968. He recorded country albums with George Jones and Melba Montgomery, and for the next three decades maintained a year-round touring schedule with popular shows based on his solid hit-parade record.
In 1989, he re-recorded "Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart." A minor hit in 1967, the re-make teamed him with Marc Almond of techno-pop duo Soft Cell and gave Pitney his first U.K. Number 1.
In 2002 Pitney was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
In addition to his own writing skills, Pitney had a keen ear for talent when it came to choosing songs.
Aside from the Bacharach-David tunes, he chose "It Hurts to Be in Love" (written by Al Kooper, later of Blood, Sweat and Tears), and early songs by Randy Newman such as "Just One Smile" and "Nobody Needs Your Love."
Pitney also stretched the pop sensibilities of song subject matter, recording "Backstage (I'm Lonely)," about a singer sobbing in his dressing-room oblivious to the cheers of the crowd; "Somewhere in the Country," a song about unmarried mothers; and "The Last Two People on Earth," about the vagaries of love during a nuclear war.
And in an effort to show off his three-octave range, Pitney also chose songs such as "I'm Gonna Be Strong," a 1964 Barry Mann-Cynthia Weil composition performed to match the soaring finale of Roy Orbison's "Runnin' Scared."
In a 2003 interview Pitney spoke of his own death.
"If I could choose a season in which to die it would be late autumn, when it's still nice and warm and all the leaves are changing colour. I'd love the Rolling Stones to come and play at the party. I'm sure they'll still be touring long after I am dead."
Gene Pitney has a Bacon number of 3. His official web site can be found at www.gene-pitney.com
Other pop-singer tributes can be found here.
Pitney's birthdate was initially published as February 17th, 1941. However, records published by the funeral home of Small & Pietras indicated he was born a year earlier.