Tony Orlando

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Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis (born April 3, 1944), better known as Tony Orlando, is an American singer, best known as the lead singer of the group Tony Orlando and Dawn in the early 1970s.

Discovered by producer Don Kirshner, Orlando had songs on the charts in 1961 when he was 16, "Halfway to Paradise" and "Bless You". Orlando then became a producer himself, and at an early age was promoted to a vice-president position at CBS Records, where he was in charge of the April-Blackwood Music division.

He sang under the name "Dawn" in the 1970s, and when the songs became hits, he went on tour and the group became "Tony Orlando and Dawn". They had several songs which were major hits including "Candida", "Knock Three Times", and "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree". The group hosted a variety program, "The Tony Orlando and Dawn Show" on CBS from 1974–76, and then broke up in 1978.

Orlando then continued as a solo singer, performing in Las Vegas and Branson, Missouri.  Orlando has hosted the New York City portions of the MDA Labor Day Telethon on WWOR-TV since the 1980s but quit in 2011 in response to Jerry Lewis' firing from the Muscular Dystrophy Association.



Tony Orlando & Dawn - Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose.mid
Tony Orlando & Dawn - Sweet Gypsy Rose.mid

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WROdwlk9_h8

"Candida" was the first single released by the American pop music group Dawn, with vocals by Tony Orlando, in July 1970. The song, written by Irwin Levine and Toni Wine, was produced by Dave Appell and Hank Medress for Bell Records. Appell and Medress originally recorded another singer on the track, but decided that a different vocal approach would be preferable. Medress then approached Orlando to do the vocals. Orlando had been a professional singer in the early 1960s, but now worked as a music publishing manager for Columbia Records. Although initially worried about losing his job at Columbia, Orlando eventually agreed to lend his voice to the track.

"Candida" became a worldwide hit, reaching number one in five countries, and the top ten in many others. It was included on Dawn's debut LP in 1970 and later appeared on several compilation albums. Andy Williams, Jesse Winchester, Ray Conniff, and Bernd Spier are among the artists who have covered the song.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k7Jvsbcxunc

"Knock Three Times" is a popular song credited to Tony Orlando and Dawn. The actual singers were Tony Orlando, Toni Wine, and Linda November, prior to the creation of "Dawn" with Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson.[citation needed] The song was released as a single in November 1970, paired with Orlando's other hit song, "Candida" (also written by Toni Wine). The single hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1971 and eventually sold six million copies, also claiming the number-one spot on the UK Singles Chart. The song registered well at Adult Contemporary stations, reaching #2 on Billboard's "Easy Listening" survey.

The composers of this song, L. Russell Brown and Irwin Levine, were thinking of the song Up on the Roof and they wanted to write a song with that kind of lyrical flavor, about tenement living. In the song, the singer has fallen in love with a woman who lives in the apartment directly below him but has no clue as to her interest, so he asks her to respond by either knocking three times on the ceiling (yes) or banging twice on the pipe (no), and the chorus includes sound effects of the two choices. (However, the song never states her response.)

Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis was, at the time of the recording, working as a producer/singer for a rival record label, and first heard the tune recorded by another artist and immediately knew the song could be a hit if produced as he envisioned. Cassavitis cut the track under the name "Tony Orlando", having to do the studio sessions on the "down low" to ensure that his current record label wouldn't become aware. Upon release, the song, produced as Orlando had envisioned became a great success.

Knock Three Times actually sold more than 100,000 records a day in New York City alone for ten straight days. The song appears in several motion pictures including Now and Then.

The song was covered by Billy "Crash" Craddock in 1971 and became a number three country hit.

Manny de Leon of the Philippines sold out in the market when he made his version under Alpha Records.

Dolly Parton performed the song on a 1976 episode of her variety series Dolly!

In 1994 the Mexican group Banda Zeta recorded a Spanish versión called "Toca tres veces" for their album Jacarandosa.

Several Larry Craig-themed parodies (all titled "Tap Three Times") were recorded by various artists such as Paul and Storm and The Capitol Steps in 2007 following the senator's sex scandal in which he was arrested for tapping his foot (to allegedly solicit sex) in a public airport restroom.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3ouKAhxZbQ

T5

"Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" is a song by Dawn featuring Tony Orlando. It was written by Irwin Levine and L. Russell Brown and produced by Hank Medress and Dave Appell, with Motown/Stax backing vocalist Telma Hopkins, Joyce Vincent Wilson and her sister Pamela Vincent on backing vocals.  It was a worldwide hit for the group in 1973.

The single reached the top 10 in ten countries, in eight of which it topped the charts. It reached number one on both the US and UK charts for four weeks in April 1973, number one on the Australian charts for seven weeks from May to July 1973 and number one on the New Zealand charts for ten weeks from June to August 1973. It was the top-selling single in 1973 in both the US and UK.

In 2008, Billboard ranked the song as the 37th biggest song of all time in its issue celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Hot 100.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLfsUJ4-XEE

"He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)" is a 1975 No. 1 song in the United States sung by Tony Orlando and Dawn. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart on May 3, 1975, and remained there for three weeks. The song also went to No. 1 on the US adult contemporary chart for one week in 1975.  It was later certified Gold by the RIAA.

Under its original title "He Will Break Your Heart," the song was also a top-ten hit for one of its songwriters, Jerry Butler, in 1960.

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Knock Three Times

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