Talk:Gene Pitney

Discussion point: It seems to me that Gene Pitney was actually one of the few American singers to survive the British invasion of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. He had an unbroken string of hits during that so-called invasion, and he certainly was responsible for introducing the latter to the American public, befriended them and played on their first album. Most British bands had the greatest respect for Pitney, considering him a consummate performer, arranger and engineering whizz-kid, so the intense rivalry between British and US artists was exaggerated by the media, though it's true that The Beach Boys refused to talk to The Kinks (see "X-Ray" by Ray Davies). Cheers, everybody! 202.150.34.8 07:16, 31 March 2006 (UTC) Frank

Pitney born in 1940 not 1941

Link to story in Hartford Courant:

http://blogs.courant.com/news_opinion_hunter/2006/04/_quite_a_few_ge.html

Epigraph

JA: I think it's a cryin' shame that a web search took as long as it did to track down the fact that GP wrote this immortal couplet, so I epenned it as an epigraph. Jon Awbrey 16:30, 20 August 2006 (UTC)

Gene wrote this article? BTW I think we need more info on what singles and albums he released, not just "songs performed by Pitney". Rogerthat ^Talk 02:32, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Ginny Arnell

Ginny Arnell had some degree of success of her own. To say that Gene worked with a "lady called" Ginny Arnell implies that she was unimportant, or unknown. Certainly there are links to information on her?

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I love deletion-bots SO MUCH. MrBook 02:58, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Polish American

Polish language "Rock Encyclopedia" by well respected music journalist Wieslaw Weiss contains an information, that Gene Pitney was Polish American by his father's side. It was also confirmed by popular radio DJ Marek Niedzwiecki. I haven;t found however anything about it in any English language source. Could please someone help?. 87.205.174.149 18:50, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

No, it was his mother. Source (from Gene himself) - http://www.genepitney.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.205.174.149 (talk) 20:29, 1 September 2007 (UTC)

About his voice

I'm getting so tired about some articles being over-edited. Why have any remarks about Gene's voice been removed? There used to be a note on the special sound of his voice. Matthijs J

Withstanding the British Invasion

This is stated in the page: "He and Orbison were practically the only American soloists to withstand the British Invasion, both displaying an astounding vocal range." I would add Bobby Vinton to this list of American solo artists to continue to have hits after The Beatles appeared on the "Ed Sullivan Show" to start that Invasion. (With such mid-1960s hits as "Mr. Lonely" and "Long Lonely Nights," among others.) See the book The Billboard Book of Number One Hits (1985 edition), p. 162. It's neat to note that Vinton had the very last American hit single when that British Invasion began--"There! I've Said It Again." BTW: Then there was also Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder.... 71.113.98.7 01:17, 29 October 2007 (UTC)

Orthography of song titles

Wikipedia seems to have three methods of representing song titles: (a) title surrounded by single quote marks; (b) surrounded by double quote marks; (c) no quote marks, but title in italics. Sometimes various combinations of these styles. This article has a mixture, and I have no idea what the Wikipedia style is.Alpheus (talk) 04:10, 30 January 2008 (UTC)

involvement with the Stones

first, i agree with the "orthography" point made above - i think italics are for titles of "large works" like albums, films & books; song titles should be in quote marks. that's the principle i've used to tidy up a bit for consistency's sake, but i've probably missed a few.

then: i have some doubts about this part:

"The Mick Jagger-Keith Richards song, "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday", which became a hit for him, was the first song by that duo to be a success in the United States, and it was partly Pitney's endorsement of the group which helped them to find favor in America. He was in the studio in England with the Stones on some of their early recording sessions, including those which resulted in both sides of their first Top 10 single "Not Fade Away" and their debut album, apparently playing piano, though the extent to which his contributions and those of "Uncle" Phil Spector were used is uncertain."

as far as i know, Pitney's recording of "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday" was the first MJ/KR tune to be a top-10 (or top 20?) hit in the UK; if someone can verify that it might be cool to add. i don't know anything about its success in the US.

and: this is the first i've heard about Pitney's friendship/mentorship gaining them favor in the States, so i feel like a citation is really needed for that.

then: i know Pitney was in the studio with the Stones on february 4th 1964, when they recorded "Little By Little" (the b-side of "Not Fade Away") and some of their first LP, but i've never heard about him being there on january 28th/29th when they recorded "Not Fade Away". so i've altered that and added a reference: the website http://www.nzentgraf.de/books/tcw/works1.htm (select "1964" from the list on the left, then do a search for "Pitney"). Andrew Loog Oldham's autobiography Stoned also has a section about the session, and some quotes from Pitney.

i hope that helps. Sssoul (talk) 08:33, 25 February 2008 (UTC)

Discography

I've reformatted GP's singles discography, and added peak chart positions in the US and UK.

Unfortunately, no matter how I try to arrange it, the table is placed AFTER the references and links. I can't place the table any higher.

Also, I have a small table listing "other songs" that originally appeared (but weren't recorded by GP or didn't chart). Every time I place that chart AFTER the singles chart, it appears AHEAD of the singles chart.

Any advice on how to reformat this? Don1962 11:24, 28 March 2008 (UTC)Don1962