Tony Orlando

Infobox Musical artist
Name = Tony Orlando

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Img_capt = Tony Orlando (center, with moustache) at a party in 1976
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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis
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Born = Birth date and age|1944|4|3|mf=y
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Occupation = Singer
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Associated_acts = The Five Gents
Tony Orlando and Dawn
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Tony Orlando (born April 3, 1944) is an American singer best known for his work with the group Dawn in the early 1970s.

Biography

Born Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis to a Greek father and a Puerto Rican mother, he was raised in Manhattan's then-notorious Hell's Kitchen.

Tony Orlando's musical career started with The Five Gents, a doo-wop group he formed. His first success came when he recorded the hits "Bless You" and "Halfway To Paradise" in 1961. After becoming general manager at Columbia Records, he was tempted back to a recording career when he was asked to record a demo record of "Candida". The label liked the demo so much that Tony's performance was released, under the band name Dawn (named after a record executive's daughter). After Orlando discovered that there were six touring groups using that name, Dawn became Dawn featuring Tony Orlando (which changed to Tony Orlando and Dawn in 1974).

Joining Tony were Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson, and the trio scored a string of #1 hits with "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", "Knock Three Times", and "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)". With a successful recording career, Orlando then set his sights on television which resulted in his highly rated weekly variety series "Tony Orlando and Dawn Rainbow Hour" on CBS. Breaking new ground, it was television's first multi-ethnic variety show. Orlando (of Hispanic and Greek origins) and Hopkins and Wilson (African Americans) were an instant hit. The show, which ran for four seasons from 1974 to 1976, welcomed the biggest names in show business each week as Tony's guests, including his boyhood idols, Jackie Gleason and Jerry Lewis.

During the 1984-85 season of the Cosby Show (its first season), he played the part of a man who runs a community center. More recently, Orlando has appeared on the Trinity Broadcasting Network.

Discography

Albums

* "Bless You" (1961)
* "To Be With You" (1976)
* "Tony Orlando" (1978)

Solo hit singles

* "Halfway To Paradise" (1961) US #39
* "Bless You" (1961) US #15
* "Happy Times (Are Here To Stay)" (1961) US #82
* "Don't Let Go" (1978) AC #48
* "Sweets For My Sweet" (1979) US #54; AC #20

Orlando also recorded with the studio group "Wind" in 1969 and had a #28 hit that year with "Make Believe."

Tony Orlando in popular culture

During the "Marge on the Lam" episode of the animated series "The Simpsons", recurring character Troy McClure, while emceeing a public television marathon, opens with a version of his familiar catchphrase by stating: "Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You might remember me from such telethons as "Out with Gout '88" and "Let's Save Tony Orlando's House."

"Let's Save Tony Orlando's House" later inspired the title of a song by the Hoboken, New Jersey indie rock band Yo La Tengo, which was released on the band's 2000 album "And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out".

In the "Sports Night" episode "The Head Coach, Dinner and the Morning Mail," anchor Dan Rydell of "Sports Night" (the fictional show-within-a-show) is supposed to give the audience a piece of trivia about Troy Aikman for the show's "You Should Know" segment but, when nothing shows up on his teleprompter, he improvs a piece of trivia about Tony Orlando. He claims that Tony Orlando is neither Italian nor Latin, as one might assume, but that he actually hails from Greece. After the show is over, he admits that he was making it up off the top of his head and had no idea if it was true or not. His "improv" is partially correct, as Tony Orlando is of Greek descent.

In the Christmas episode of "Stroker and Hoop", when Santa Claus was about to die, he asked C.A.R.R. to tell Mrs. Claus that Santa forgives her for an affair that she apparently had with Tony Orlando.

Tony Orlando appeared in an episode of Mad TV doing a skit involving a court case, where the defense sings to persuade the jury about their side. Tony Orlando sings for the prosecution absolutely persuading the judge to give the defense jail for life.

Tony Orlando appears in Nutrisytem commercials with Dan Marino to show much weight they lost.

ee also

*List of famous Puerto Ricans

External links

* [http://www.tonyorlandoonline.com/carman.htm] Radio Transcript of Tony Orlando, December 2002
* [http://www.tonyorlandoonline.com/interviews.htm] Interviews & Articles
* [http://www.friends-of-toad.com] Friends-of-Toad
* [http://www.tonyorlandoonline.com/tonybio.htm] Bio of Tony Orlando
* [http://www.classicbands.com/dawn.html] Classicbands.com
* [http://www.tonyorlando.com] Official web site
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0650027/] Internet Movie Database profile