Gene Pitney

Remembered as the most dramatic early-rock balladeer this side of Roy Orbison, Gene Pitney was also ahead of his time of a few counts. He was one of the first rock stars to double as a studio wizard, one of the first to write additional hits for other artists, and the first U.S. act to cover and record with the Rolling Stones. A Connecticut native, Pitney formed his first group, a doo-wop outfit called Gene & the Genials in 1959; he also cut a non-hit single as Billy Bryan. 1961 brought "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away"-his first record under his own name, first hit and his debut for Musicor, the label that released all his early hits. Pitney also wrote the song, played every instrument on the record and sang multiple parts-something nearly unheard-of at the time. He then teamed with producer Phil Spector for a one-off single, "Every Breath I Take," a fine record that missed the Top 40. Around this time Pitney began writing hits for other artists, providing Ricky Nelson with the signature tune "Hello Mary Lou" and the Crystals with "He's a Rebel." But interestingly, he wrote none of his own hits after "Love My Life Away"-instead doing movie themes ("Town Without Pity") and early Burt Bacharach/Hal David songs (notably "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence," also written for a movie but not used). Brill Building writers Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller gave him 1964's "It Hurts to Be in Love," a Top Ten hit that was the closest thing to a rocker among Pitney's hits. The album of the same name included "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday," the first Jagger/Richard song recorded by a U.S. artist. Pitney befriended the Rolling Stones and attended some sessions; by most accounts he was part of the drunken late-night session that produced the naughty and unreleasable (but oft-bootlegged) "Andrew's Blues." Pitney also ventured into folk music with the 1964 album Meets the Fair Ladies of Folkland-- not a duets album, but a set of folk songs about women-and into country, making two duets albums with Musicor labelmate George Jones. He scored his last U.S. hit with "She's a Heartbreaker" in 1968 and then effectively moved his career overseas. He toured frequently in the UK and Australia, and had hits there that didn't cross the ocean; "Blue Angel" went to #2 in Australia in 1974. In 1989 ex-Soft Cell singer Marc Almond re-recorded Pitney's 1967 hit "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" as a duet with him; though largely unheard in America the new version was a British chart-topper. Pitney was touring the U.K. when he died on a sudden heart attack in Cardiff, Wales in April 2006. "Town Without Pity" was the last song he performed.