Tony Orlando and Dawn | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Also known as | Dawn Dawn featuring Tony Orlando |
| Origin | New York City, U.S. |
| Genres | Pop |
| Years active | 1970–1977, 1988–1993, 2005, 2015–2016, 2018–2024 |
| Labels | Bell,Elektra |
| Members | Tony Orlando Telma Hopkins Joyce Vincent |
Tony Orlando and Dawn (also known simply asDawn) is an American pop music group that was popular in the 1970s, composed of singerTony Orlando and the backing vocal group Dawn (Telma Hopkins andJoyce Vincent Wilson). Their signature hits include "Candida", "Knock Three Times", "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", "Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose", and "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)".
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.(September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Tony Orlando was born Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis on April 3, 1944.[1] Orlando recorded through the 1960s with only moderate chart success. He had threeTop 40 hits, two in 1961 and another in 1969 as the lead singer for the studio group Wind. While recording through the 1960s, he also became a producer and a successful music executive withColumbia Records andApril/Blackwood music.[2][3]
While working as a music executive, Orlando received "Candida", a song other producers and singers had turned down. Originally, Orlando could not lend his name to the song, as he was working for April-Blackwood and recording under his name would be a professionalconflict of interest. After producerHank Medress insisted Orlando dub his voice over the male vocals on the original track, Bell Records released the single as being performed by the band "Dawn" to protect Orlando's position. On theAmerican Top 40 radio episode for the week ending October 3, 1970, hostCasey Kasem stated that the lead singer of Dawn was Frankie Spinelli; obviously this alias was used to further obscure Tony Orlando's true identity as the lead singer on "Candida". A few weeks later on the American Top 40 episode for the week ending October 31, 1970, Casey Kasem stated that four guys make up Dawn: Frank, Ricky, Jim, and Dave.
The background singers on the track wereCynthia Weil,Linda November,Jay Siegel, andToni Wine, who co-wrote the song.Phil Margo played drums on the original session, and the arranger wasNorman Bergen. After the single hit No. 3 on theBillboard Hot 100 (No.1 on the Cashbox Top 100), Orlando wanted to perform again. The ensemble recorded the 1970 albumCandida, which included the namesake song and the No. 1 hit song "Knock Three Times".[4] On the American Top 40 radio episode for the week ending January 23, 1971, Kasem identified Dawn as an eight-member group fromPhiladelphia, far from the truth about the musicians on the record.
Bell Records was desperate to have a real-life act to promote Dawn's records. Orlando asked former Motown/Stax backing vocalistsTelma Hopkins andJoyce Vincent Wilson, whom he had hired to work as background vocalists while producingBarry Manilow in the late 1960s, to become Dawn.[3] The threesome then went on the road in 1971, on the success of "Candida" and "Knock Three Times". After a tour of Europe, Hopkins and Vincent assumed background vocal duties in the studio, first recording on the late 1971 albumDawn Featuring Tony Orlando. The first single with their voices in the background was "Runaway/Happy Together" in 1972.
The group (now billed as 'Dawn featuring Tony Orlando') released another single in 1973, and it became their next No. 1 single — "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Ole Oak Tree." In terms of sales, this single was the most successful in the group's career, starting a string of eleven consecutive Hot 100 appearances by the group.[5]
OnThe Carol Burnett Show in 1975,Harvey Korman,Carol Burnett, andVicki Lawrence performed a spoof of Tony Orlando and Dawn, as Tony Tallahassee and Dusk, singing "Wrap Your Jammies Round the Old White Pine".[6] At the end of the number, they were kicked off the stage by the real Tony Orlando and Dawn. Earlier, Lawrence's "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" had immediately preceded Dawn's "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" at the top position of the Hot 100 in April 1973.
The group's next single, "Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose" (from their concept albumDawn's New Ragtime Follies), went to No. 3 on the Hot 100, followed by Top 40 hits "Who's In The Strawberry Patch With Sally" (the first single with recording credit "Tony Orlando & Dawn") (No. 27), "Steppin' Out (Gonna Boogie Tonight)" (No.7), and, with some disco influence,Dennis Lambert andBrian Potter's "Look in My Eyes Pretty Woman" (from the trio's 1974 albumPrime Time) (No.11).
CBS gave the group a television variety show (entitledTony Orlando and Dawn) from the summer of 1974, afterThe Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour ended its run, until December 1976. The show was in the same vein as its predecessor (with sketches featuring sarcastic back-and-forth banter between Orlando, Hopkins and Vincent, similar to the sarcastic dialogue betweenSonny and Cher) and became a Top 20 hit.
With a new record label (Elektra), the group continued their string of hit singles during the show's run, hitting #1 on both the Hot 100 and theadult contemporary charts with "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)" (a reworking ofJerry Butler's "He Will Break Your Heart"), from the album of the same title, and "Mornin' Beautiful" (#14). In 1975 "You're All I Need to Get By", followed in 1976 by "Cupid", both from their final original albumTo Be with You, became the group's last two Top 40 singles on the Hot 100.[7] "Sing" reached No. 7 on the Adult Contemporary Chart in 1977. The group went their separate ways later that year and would have only one more single, 1991's "With Ev'ry Yellow Ribbon (That's Why We Tie 'Em)".
| This sectiondoes notcite anysources. Please helpimprove this section byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged andremoved.(September 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
They re-formed in 1988 for a five-week tour that wound up lasting into 1993, with Vincent's sisterPamela Vincent stepping in whenever Hopkins was fulfilling her acting/television obligations.[8]
Orlando is still a popular appearance performer on tour regularly with theLefty Brothers andToni Wine. Hopkins made a very successful acting career for herself in series such asBosom Buddies,Gimme a Break,Family Matters,Half & Half, andAre We There Yet?
The Vincent sisters continue a prolific career as session singers. A DVD compilation from the variety series was released in 2005 along with the group's catalog of albums on CD. Tony Orlando & Dawn releasedA Christmas Reunion that same year. Publicity events for those releases marked the first time Hopkins, and both Vincent sisters appeared onstage together. Toni Wine also participated in those shows. The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2008.[citation needed]
Tony Orlando and Dawn occasionally reunite for television and benefit performances. In 2009, Joyce Vincent joinedScherrie Payne andLynda Laurence'sFormer Ladies of the Supremes' group. She continues to tour and perform to audiences all over the world. Tony Orlando, Telma Hopkins, and Joyce Vincent reunited again in 2015 for the sold-out "Tony Orlando and Dawn: To Be with You Again" tour and appeared at Chiller Theatre in Parsippany, NJ, and again for a successful Christmas tour in late-2018. Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent joined Tony Orlando on stage at his final (retirement) concert on March 22, 2024 at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Artists | |
| Other | |
