Gene Pitney found dead in hotel

[muriel_volestrangler]

American superstar Gene Pitney has been found dead in his bed in a Cardiff hotel.

The 65-year-old singer - who found fame with Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa - was pronounced dead at the Hilton hotel at around 1000 BST.

He was midway through a UK tour and had shown no signs of illness.
...
"He did a good show last night at St David's Hall and it was wonderful," he said.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/4878926.stm

[Berry Cool]

1. Oh, how sad.

RIP, Gene. We'll miss you for sure. :cry:

[MADem]

2. Wow, I know that venue

I didn't know the guy was still alive, to now. Ah, well, RIP Mr. Pitney...

[ShortnFiery]

9. Yes, he was just a little before my time but my

older brother enjoyed "Town Without Pity" ... I remember the album cover. ;)

[OneBlueSky]

3. "Town Without Pity" used to be a favorite . . .

many, many years ago . . . a unique and talented singer who will be missed . . . RIP, Gene Pitney . . .

[NoSunWithoutShadow]

4. That is sad

He wrote that beautiful song that Randy Newman recorded, "Just One Smile".

[Tesha]

13. No, he covered "Just One Smile". Newman wrote it.

http://www.classicbands.com/pitney.html

Al Kooper (with Blood, Sweat and Tears) also covered this.

Tesha

[NoSunWithoutShadow]

18. Thanks for the correction and the site reference.

[dbt]

5. Ed Bruce speaks for me here:

Another Piece Of America Gone.

:loveya:

[peacefreak]

6. Ooohhh...

The Rockville Rocket gone. Damn. RIP Gene.

[Minnesota Libra]

7. Oh, this is so sad - I loved "Town Without Pity". nt

[Cassandra]

8. I had lots of his records when I was a teenager...

and listened to them all the time. :cry:

[TexasProgresive]

10. Did Gene cover "Burning Ring of Fire"?

I have that in my mind forever but I can't seem to run it down. I liked Gene Pitney and it is sad that he is gone.

[Cassandra]

12. Not that I know of.

[mcscajun]

15. The most famous version is sung by Johnny Cash -- released 1963

Lyrics co-written by his wife, June Carter and someone else whose name I cannot recall.

Nobody's Perfect. :)

[TexasProgresive]

21. Some body other then Johnny Cash

They had a high clear tenor voice. And the song was popular on top forty AM stations in the early or mid 60's.

[wicket]

24. The Animals covered it back then

Is that the one you are thinking of?

[TexasProgresive]

39. No Eric Burdon never had a clear high voice.

This singer sounded like Pitney, not Cash or the Animals.

On edit- Maybe it wasn't a male singer that I remember, it might have been Anita Carter (June's sister) who was the first to record it (62). Gene Pitney had songs hitting around then and maybe I transferred him to that song in my moldy memory.

[bigluckyfeet]

54. Gene had a One of a Kind Voice

I had one album of his,I loaned it out and never got it back.

[mcscajun]

47. A list of some of the older Cover Artists for this tune

Lynn Anderson
Ray Charles
Bob Dylan
Tom Jones
Burl Ives
Grace Jones
Jerry Lee Lewis
Olivia Newton-John
Earl Scruggs
Kitty Wells
Mac Wiseman

I'm thinking maybe Burl Ives...he was certainly a high tenor.

[Lance_Boyle]

37. IIRC, June Carter wrote the song herself

*about* Johnny Cash, while they were both still married to other people. I think one of her sisters was the first to record it.

But Johnny made it famous.

[mcscajun]

46. You're correct about the lyrics. Merle Kilgore wrote the tune.

June did the entire lyric, as you say, about Johnny Cash.

[SpiralHawk]

11. "When Liberty Valance rode the town...

...the womenfolk would hide
they'd hide


..The man who shot Liberty Valance,
he was the bravest of them all....

[mcscajun]

16. Damn I loved that song...even though it was never in the movie

of the same name. Odd, that.

[tatertop]

43. I didn't know that

[tatertop]

40. that was a great song

[Mist]

14. My "Best of Gene Pitney" CD is played regularly. RIP Gene. nt

[PlanetBev]

22. Me too, lulu

I've played that CD to death. He had his first hit just about the time I went into Jr. High School. I was lucky enough too see him at the Universal Ampitheatre in Los Angeles in 1996. He put on a great show and could still hit all the high notes. And he was still good-looking.

Another piece of my youth, gone...

[CanSocDem]

55. 30 years earlier....

....he played in a little city in Northern Saskatchewan. My friends and I went to see him for ONLY a couple of bucks, despite the fact that he had 2 or 3 hits 'under his belt'. We saw him in the hall and my friend said "Hi Gene!!" He was dressed in a sharp suit with his hair, a neatly trimmed "college-cut".

He said "Hi Guys...!"

Best song.....Only Love Can Break A Heart. Best concert of my teens.

[acmavm]

17. I was really young when he was popular, but I remember him

very well. He could sing, really sing.

I listen to a UK radio station over the internet during the day and they say the tour was going really well.

Too bad. He was still kickin' it at 65.

[alfredo]

50. His stage presence was terrific. I saw him at a Dick Clark Caravan

of Stars.

You know he is from the Pitney side of the Pitney Bowes partnership.

[GCP]

19. I loved "24 Hours from Tulsa"

RIP, Gene.

[PassingFair]

20. But that brownstone house where my baby lives is...

Can we say Mecca in this country?

[xxqqqzme]

23. bummer - Time, it appears,

is culling the herd.

[henslee]

25. We still got Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Jerry Lee and Fats Domino.

[DanCa]

28. I needed that thanks :)

It's a sad sad day/

[henslee]

29. Our rock n rollers are national treasures. Blues, rock & jazz are the

greatest contributions our country has made to the world. And it's really easy to take them for granted.

[DanCa]

30. Agreed

Alls I know is that the day Bruce Springsteen passes away (god forbid) I well be really messed up emotionally. It's amazing the emotional bond that music creates isn't it?

[henslee]

31. It sure is. It sure is.

[xxqqqzme]

38. I still feel that way about

John Lennon. His assassination was as devastating s JFK's for me.

[DanCa]

44. You know what is real strange?

They day Christopher Reeve passed away for me is the day that I finally felt that my youth was over. I couldn't place it in words until you mentions John's death. It's sad when men of peace are taken before away from us isn't it?

[mcscajun]

48. Not so strange at all. I felt the same way when John Lennon was

gunned down. That was it, my youth was gone.

[DebbieCDC]

53. I can't even think about that day

Losing the Boss would blow a HUGE hole in my universe (as my tag line might suggest)

RIP Gene -- My favorite was always "Backstage"

[WinkyDink]

26. I am crying here. I loved him so much.

I missed seeing him last year relatively near-by (in PA.), saw that he was touring over-seas, and hoped then to see him on his return.

Nobody can replace the plaintive, yearning sound of Gene Pitney.

When you say it's the end I'll just hand you a line
I'll smile and say Don't you worry, I'm fine
And you'll never know, darling, after you kiss me goodbye
How I'll break down and cry eye-eye-eye.

[PlanetBev]

32. I like your name, WinkyDink

I'm guessing you took it from the early 50's kids show of the same name. I remember sitting in front of the TV at three years old, watching it.

Almost nobody remembers that show anymore.

Yeah, and I loved Gene Pitney too. Can't believe he's gone.

[WinkyDink]

45. You and me both, at the TV!

With the cellophane....

Good times. Now, not so much.

[Janice325]

27. RIP, Gene Pitney

I hadn't realized he was still alive.
I thought he was fantastic. I'll miss him.:cry:

[demnan]

33. Gene Pitney was only 65?

Somehow that doesn't sound right.

[tatertop]

42. That's what I thought at first, then I thought about it

When I was 14 he was 30 - seemed pretty old then.
Now that I am 49, 65 seems rather young :)

[llmart]

34. Oh, no.

I had the biggest crush on him when I was in junior high.

[PlanetBev]

51. Me too, Ilmart

When I started Jr. High, Gene Pitney was all of 21. Nobody replaced him in my heart until the British Invasion of '64. Then I had so many crushes, I lost track.

[llmart]

56. Ha. Ha

We must be about the same age.

Yeah, I moved on to Paul McCartney after that:) Got one of the first Beatles haircuts in my 9th grade class.

[Jose Diablo]

35. He was only 24 hours from Tulsa I'd say

Let me see, London to JFK is what, 5-6 hours..then about a 3 hour layover...then 3 hours to Oklahoma City...and from there it's about 4 and a half hours.

Wait just a cotton picken minite, he's only about 16-17 hours from Tulsa.

[chat_noir]

36. song clips at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000I8AJ/sr=8-1/qid=1144259716/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-3235898-8606415?%5Fencoding=UTF8

He had such a dramatic voice in Libery Valance.

[Dr Fate]

41. He did a great country LP record with George Jones...

It is less known but very good...

[mikita]

49. I loved his voice...

brings back memories of a time when I thought our country was great...

RIP Gene

[high density]

52. That's sad

I was listening today to the 60s channel on XM and they were playing an interview of him intermixed with a lot of his songs. Obviously it was broadcast as a memorial (recorded June 2005), but I didn't know that while I was listening to it this afternoon. I was actually thinking while listening to it, "wow, he's still alive!" I guess I was wrong about that.

[NanceGreggs]

57. Sad news.

My ex-husband and I went to see him at a downtown hotel here in Toronto about fifteen years ago. Gene was a big star in our teenage years; I had always been a fan, my husband not so much.

As we left the show, my ex had a stunned look on his face. I asked him what was up. He said, "The man just sang for two hours straight, and didn't sing a single song I didn't recognize as one of his hits."

Pitney produced an incredible body of work, with more top-ten hits than can even be easily listed here.

And by the way - Gene was about 50 when we saw this show, and hadn't performed in many years at that point. He sounded as great as he ever had, and was able to hit those unreal notes that had set him apart from the crowd.

I was a bit teary-eyed when I heard of his passing. But then, as the man said himself, "Only Love Can Break A Heart."