Bobby Vinton
Bobby Vinton (born April 16, 1935 in Canonsburg , Pennsylvania as Stanley Robert Vinton junior ; nickname "The Polish Prince") is an American singer . He was best known in the 1960s and 1970s as an interpreter of love songs such as Blue Velvet , Roses Are Red and Mr. Lonely .
life and career
Bobby Vinton's family is of Polish and Lithuanian descent. His father Stan Vinton was the band leader of a local dance orchestra. So his son learned to play the clarinet and founded his own big band. With the income he financed his music studies, during which he learned numerous other instruments and graduated in musical composition .
In 1960 Vinton got a record deal for his orchestra for several recordings, which were not very successful. So most recently he tried solo recordings and recorded the tracks Roses Are Red (My Love) and Mr. Lonely , both quiet love songs. Songs of this style became Vinton's trademark, which is why he is also known as the " crooner " of the early sixties. His title Roses Are Red was released as a single in 1962 and immediately hit # 1 in the US. It sold over a million copies in total and also became a top 20 hit in England and Germany. In Germany it should remain his only chart success.
In the USA, however, one hit after the other followed and in 1963 he had a second number 1 hit in the United States with his internationally best-known song Blue Velvet . With There! I've Said It Again (with the Stan Applebaum Orchestra), also in 1963, and Mr. Lonely , which came out in 1964, he had two other number 1 hits. By 1969, four more top 10 hits and numerous other chart placements for Vinton followed.
In the early 1970s, Bobby Vinton tried his hand at acting for a change and got two supporting roles in the John Wayne films Big Jake and Dirty Gold . In 1979 he was seen again in the television film The Scandal Reporter .
In 1974 the singer recorded My Melody Of Love , in a special version in which he also sang in (bumpy) Polish. The song became a kind of hymn among the Americans of Polish descent and earned him the nickname “the Polish Prince”. It was also his third million seller. From 1975 to 1978 he was very successful with a music variety show on television. Like Dick Clark , he had his own theater in Branson , called The Bobby Vinton Blue Velvet , which he sold again in 2002. Until 2015 he performed regularly as an entertainer, for example in Las Vegas and Atlantic City . Since then he has been living in Florida in retirement.
Bobby Vinton has been immortalized with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . He has been married to Dolores Dobbins since 1962 and the couple have five children.
reception
In 1986 director David Lynch used Blue Velvet as the theme song for his classic film of the same name . In 1990, Blue Velvet was used in a Nivea commercial in the UK and climbed to number 2 in the charts. Also in 1990, Bobby's eldest son Robbie Vinton (born August 19, 1964) played his father in the film Good Fellas - Three Decades in the Mafia , in one scene of the film you can see him singing the song Roses Are Red .
In 2005 the US singer Akon reached number 1 in Germany and Great Britain with the title Lonely , in which he used a pitched sample from Mr. Lonely (changed in pitch) .
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1963 | Blue Velvet |
UK67 (2 weeks) UK |
US10 (32 weeks) US |
Chart entry in UK only in 1990
|
| 1964 | There! I've said it again | - |
US8 (28 weeks) US |
|
| Tell Me Why | - |
US31 (12 weeks) US |
||
| 1965 | Bobby Vinton's Greatest Hits | - |
US12  (38 weeks)US |
|
| Mr. Lonely | - |
US18 (13 weeks) US |
||
| Bobby Vinton Sings For Lonely Nights | - |
US116 (5 weeks) US |
||
| 1965 | Satin pillows and careless | - |
US110 (5 weeks) US |
|
| 1967 | Please Love Me Forever | - |
US41 (33 weeks) US |
|
| 1968 | Take Good Care Of My Baby | - |
US164 (8 weeks) US |
|
| I love how you love me | - |
US21 (24 weeks) US |
||
| 1969 | Vinton | - |
US69 (12 weeks) US |
|
| 1970 | Bobby Vinton's Greatest Hits Of Love | - |
US138 (8 weeks) US |
|
| My Elusive Dreams | - |
US90 (6 weeks) US |
||
| 1972 | Ev'ry Day Of My Life | - |
US72 (15 weeks) US |
|
| Sealed With A Kiss | - |
US77 (14 weeks) US |
||
| 1973 | Bobby Vinton's All-Time Greatest Hits | - |
US119 (16 weeks) US |
|
| 1974 | With love | - |
US109 (5 weeks) US |
|
| Melodies Of Love | - |
US16 (22 weeks)US |
||
| 1975 | Bobby Vinton Sings The Golden Decade Of Love | - |
US154 (5 weeks) US |
|
| Heart of Hearts | - |
US108 (5 weeks) US |
||
| 1976 | Bobby Vinton Show | - |
US161 (7 weeks) US |
|
| 1977 | Name is love | - |
US183 (2 weeks) US |
|
| 1977 | 16 Most Requested Songs | - |
US199 (1 week) US |
|
More albums
- 1962: Roses Are Red
- 1962: Bobby Vinton Sings the Big Ones
- 1963: Blue on Blue
- 1963: The Greatest Hits of the Golden Groups
- 1964: A Very Merry Christmas
- 1965: Drive-In Movie Time: Bobby Vinton Sings Great Motion Picture Themes
- 1965: Laughing on the Outside (Crying On The Inside)
- 1966: Country Boy
- 1966: Live At The Copa (with The Village Stompers)
- 1967: Sings the Newest Hits
- 1970: Instrumental Sounds of Love
- 1970: Vinton Sings Vinton
- 1971: To Each His Own
- 1974: If That's All I Can
- 1975: The Bobby Vinton Show
- 1976: Party Music
- 1976: Serenade of Love
- 1979: Encore
- 1981: Polka album
- 1988: Bobby Vinton
- Dancing at the Hop
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 DE
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1962 | Roses Are Red (My Love) |
DE7 (20 weeks) DE |
UK15 (9 weeks) UK |
US1 (15 weeks)US |
|
| I Love You The Way You Are | - | - |
US38 (9 weeks) US |
||
| Rain Rain Go Away | - | - |
US12 (11 weeks) US |
||
| Let's kiss and make up | - | - |
US38 (9 weeks) US |
||
| Trouble Is My Middle Name | - | - |
US33 (9 weeks) US |
||
| 1963 | Over The Mountain (Across The Sea) | - | - |
US21 (10 weeks) US |
|
| Blue on Blue | - | - |
US3 (13 weeks) US |
||
| Blue Velvet | - |
UK2 (10 weeks) UK |
US1 (15 weeks) US |
Chart entry in UK only in 1990
|
|
| There! I've said it again | - |
UK34 (10 weeks) UK |
US1 (13 weeks) US |
||
| 1964 | My Heart Belongs To Only You | - | - |
US9 (9 weeks) US |
|
| Tell Me Why | - | - |
US13 (8 weeks) US |
||
| Clinging Vine | - | - |
US17 (8 weeks) US |
||
| Mr. Lonely | - | - |
US1 (15 weeks) US |
||
| 1965 | Long lonely nights | - | - |
US17 (7 weeks) US |
|
| LONELY | - | - |
US22 (8 weeks) US |
||
| Theme From "Harlow" (Lonely Girl) | - | - |
US61 (5 weeks) US |
||
| What Color (Is A Man) | - | - |
US38 (7 weeks) US |
||
| Satin pillows | - | - |
US23 (10 weeks) US |
||
| 1966 | Tears | - | - |
US59 (5 weeks) US |
|
| Dum-De-Da | - | - |
US40 (6 weeks) US |
||
| Petticoat White (Summer Sky Blue) | - | - |
US81 (3 weeks) US |
||
| Coming Home Soldier | - | - |
US11 (12 weeks) US |
||
| 1967 | For He's A Jolly Good Fellow | - | - |
US66 (4 weeks) US |
|
| Red Roses For Mom | - | - |
US95 (2 weeks) US |
||
| Please Love Me Forever | - | - |
US6 (13 weeks) US |
||
| Just As Much As Ever | - | - |
US24 (8 weeks) US |
||
| 1968 | Take Good Care Of My Baby | - | - |
US33 (8 weeks)US |
|
| Halfway to Paradise | - | - |
US23 (7 weeks) US |
||
| I love how you love me | - | - |
US9 (14 weeks) US |
||
| 1969 | To know you is to love you | - | - |
US34 (7 weeks) US |
|
| The Days Of Sand And Shovels | - | - |
US34 (8 weeks) US |
||
| 1970 | My Elusive Dreams | - | - |
US46 (9 weeks) US |
|
| No Arms Can Ever Hold You | - | - |
US93 (4 weeks) US |
||
| 1972 | Every Day Of My Life | - | - |
US24 (16 weeks) US |
|
| Sealed with a kiss | - | - |
US19 (14 weeks) US |
||
| But I Do | - | - |
US82 (6 weeks) US |
||
| 1974 | My Melody Of Love | - | - |
US3 (17 weeks)US |
|
| 1975 | Beer Barrel Polka / Dick And Jane | - | - |
US33 (9 weeks) US |
|
| Wooden Heart | - | - |
US58 (5 weeks) US |
||
| 1976 | Moonlight serenade | - | - |
US97 (2 weeks) US |
|
| Save your kisses for me | - | - |
US75 (3 weeks) US |
||
| 1977 | Only Love Can Break A Heart | - | - |
US99 (2 weeks) US |
|
| 1980 | Make Believe It's Your First Time | - | - |
US78 (4 weeks) US |
|
Another single
- 1983: You Are Love
- 1989: It's Been One of Those Days
- 1989: Please Tell Her That I Said Hello
- 1989: The Last Rose
Filmography (selection)
- 1964: Surf Party
- 1971: Big Jake (Big Jake)
- 1973: Dirty Gold (The Train Robbers)
- 1980: Die Scandalreporterin ( The Gossip Columnist ; TV movie)
- 1985: Benson (TV series, 1 episode)
literature
- Stambler, Irwin: The Encyclopedia Of Pop, Rock And Soul . 3rd revised edition, New York City, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1989, pp. 721f - ISBN 0-312-02573-4 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Reading Eagle - Google News Archive Search. Retrieved September 17, 2018 .
- ↑ More information on the title in: Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 113
- ↑ The single reached number 18; Ehnert, Günter (Ed.): Hit balance sheet. German chart singles 1956–1980 . Hamburg: Taurus Press, 1990, p. 213
- ↑ Bobby Vinton - Hollywood Star Walk - Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 15, 2018 .
- ↑ Excerpt from the film with Bobby Vinton. Retrieved August 10, 2018 .
- ↑ a b Chart sources: DE UK US
- ↑ Music Sales Awards: US
Web links
- Website of Bobby Vinton (English)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Vinton, Bobby |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Stanley Robert Vintula junior (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American singer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 16, 1935 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Canonsburg , Pennsylvania, USA |