Gene Pitney Biography/Obituary; Pop Legend Pitney Dies At 65

Pop Legend Gene Pitney Obituary
Written by Paul Rance
Wednesday, 5 April 2006

Gene Pitney, along with Scott Walker, was the champion of the dramatic, sometimes deliberately melodramatic, big pop sound.

Pitney's recent death, on April 4th, aged 65, in Cardiff, Wales, came in the middle of a UK tour. Born February 17th, 1941, in Hartford, Connecticut, Pitney spent much of his early years in Rockville, Connecticut, where he earnt the nickname 'The Rockville Rocket' - after his musical talents began to impress at high school.

Though primarily known as a singer, Gene Pitney's first real success in the music industry came as a writer. He wrote The Crystals 'He's A Rebel', Ricky Valence's 'Hello Mary Lou', and Bobby Vee's 'Rubber Ball' - all now considered pop classics.

In 1961 Pitney became a pop star in his own right. Collaborating with fellow young songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, '(I Wanna) Love My Life Away' became his first hit. Also in 1961, a bigger hit followed, 'Town Without Pity (a film of the same title contained the song)', which was nominated for a Best Song Oscar, and won a Golden Globe Best Song Award.

His 1963 song, 'Mecca', is often regarded as an early psychedelic record, with its Indian music influence - thus pre-dating The Beatles and The Byrds by a couple of years.

Though Gene Pitney's hits dried up in the US in the late 1960s, he was still successful in Europe in the early-mid 1970s. He was particularly popular in the UK and Italy, though he had to wait until his 1989 duet with Marc Almond, reviving his old song, 'Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart', for a UK number one single. Almond paid tribute to his former song partner, saying that he was "great and unique".

Gene Pitney's other most famous songs include '(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance', 'I'm Gonna Be Strong', and probably his most famous song of all, 'Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa'. In 2002, Pitney was inducted into 'The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame'.

N.B. Gene's family requested that people not send flowers to his funeral, but contributions to the Humane Society of the United States, through their website: www.hsus.org, and/or to the Connecticut Public Broadcasting (1049 Asylum Ave., Hartford, CT 06105). Gene Pitney was buried in Somers Center Cemetery, Connecticut, on April 12th.