Paul Vance

Paul Vance (born 1929 in Westbury, New York) is an American songwriter.

With Lee Pockriss, Vance co-wrote such hits as "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," recorded in 1960 by Brian Hyland and covered by Timmy Mallett under the name Bombalurina in 1990, and "Catch a Falling Star," recorded in 1957 by Perry Como. "What Will Mary Say", a Top 10 hit for Johnny Mathis in 1963, was written by Paul Vance with Eddie Snyder. Vance got the idea for "Itsy Bitsy Bikini" because his daughter was too shy to wear a bikini in public.

In 1964, Vance and Pockriss wrote a song entitled "Leader Of The Laundromat," a spoof of the then-popular "Leader of the Pack" by The Shangri-Las, and Vance produced a recording of the track by a trio consisting of Ronnie (Ron) Dante, Tommy Wynn, and Vance's nephew Danny Jordan. The record was released under the name The Detergents, and its success led to an album called "The Many Faces Of The Detergents", which Vance produced and for which he, along with Pockriss, penned all the songs. The release of "Leader of the Laundromat" earned a lawsuit against the group by "Leader Of The Pack" composers Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and George "Shadow" Morton. (Dante would later work alongside producer/writer Barry as lead vocalist for The Archies.)

A few years later, in 1969, Vance would again team up with Dante after the latter agreed to record a demo of the new Vance/Pockriss composition, "Tracy." Dante provided all the voices on the recording, both leads and backgrounds, and the single was released under the name The Cuff Links. Its success prompted Vance to bring Dante back into the studio to record an entire album's worth of songs, and the resultant LP, also entitled "Tracy", was rush-released to capitalize on the popularity of the single. As with The Detergents' album, Vance produced the recording sessions and co-wrote all of the songs with Pockriss.

In 1973, Vance and Pockriss penned "Playground In My Mind," which was recorded by Clint Holmes. Paul's young son can be heard singing the refrain on the recording along with Clint.

The songwriting duo also wrote a beautiful "standard" ballad - "I haven't got anything better to do" first recorded by Astrud Gilberto and covered by Natalie Cole, Esther Phillips, Dee Dee Warwick and, most recently, Kelley Johnson on her Make Someone Happy album.

False report of death

On September 6, 2006, a man named Paul van Valkenburgh of Ormond Beach, Florida died from complications of lung cancer. An obituary published in The News-Times of Danbury, Connecticut repeated Van Valkenburgh's claim that he had written the song "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka-Dot Bikini" under the pen name of Paul Vance, but that he had sold his rights to the song decades earlier. The report was picked up by the Associated Press, which ran a short obituary of Vance based on both the News-Times obituary and information received from Van Valkenburgh's widow. The AP obit was picked up by newspapers and other media outlets worldwide.

The real Paul Vance, who currently resides in Coral Springs, Florida, contacted local media after viewing a report of his death on a local television news broadcast. He announced that he was still alive and was able to prove his identity to reporters with a stack of royalty checks from ASCAP for his songwriting. He told a reporter for the "New York Times" that his relatives and friends, shocked by the AP report, had called to check on him after the media reports, and that two racehorses he owns had been scratched from races based on the reports. [cite news
url=http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/Music/09/27/itsybitsy.songwriter.ap/index.html
title='Itsy Bitsy' writer victim of itsy-bitsy imposter
publisher=CNN.com
date=September 27, 2006
accessdate=2006-09-27] Vance also told the Times that he was considering legal action, since licensees outside the United States might be confused by the false report of his death and discontinue making royalty payments. He was quoted as saying, "Believe me, if they think you’re dead, they ain’t going to send the money." [cite news
url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/28/arts/music/28bikini.html?ex=1165035600&en=5e21b8f4eec36ea0&ei=5070
title=Itsy-Bitsy Bikini, Big Mistake: Paul Vance Is Alive and Well
publisher=The New York Times
date=September 28, 2006
accessdate=2006-12-01]

On November 19, 2007 Paul Vance was nominated for induction into the Songwriters Hall Of Fame.

References