Tony Orlando

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Michael Anthony Cassavitis (born April 3, 1944), better known as Tony Orlando, is an American singer, composer, engineer, musician, and actor, best known for the group Tony Orlando and their 1970s hits. Orlando founded the Five Gents in 1959, with whom he performed demos, and attracted the attention of music publisher and producer Don Kirshner.

Orlando had his first hit on the MILO record label at the age of 17.

Kirshner, along with other writers Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Toni Wine, Barry Mann, Barry Weil, Connie Francis, and Tom and Jerry, who didn't make it in the office until they later changed their name to Simon and Garfunkel, hired him to write songs at 1650 Broadway, Manhattan as part of New York's burgeoning Brill Building songwriting community.

Orlando was later hired to perform on songwriter demos, and singles released with Orlando as a solo artist in the United States and the United Kingdom began to chart with "Halfway to Paradise" and "Bless You" when he was 16 years old.

Orlando continued as a solo artist and then became a producer as well as a highly respected music executive in the late 1960s.

He was recruited by Clive Davis as the general manager of Columbia Records' publishing imprint, April-Blackwood Music, in 1967, and by the late 1960s, he was promoted to vice president of Columbia/CBS Music. Orlando signed Barry Manilow to his first recording deal with Bell Records in 1969, co-writing with him and arranging Manilow's earliest songs.

In addition, he worked with others, including The Yardbirds, James Taylor, Grateful Dead, Blood Sweat, and Tears, as Laura Nyro.

In 1970, he sang "Candida" as the lead vocalist under the pseudonym "Dawn," and when the song became a worldwide number one hit, he began to use his name: "Dawn" became "Dawn" with Tony Orlando and then "Tony Orlando and Dawn."

The group had 19 other top-40 hits, including "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree," the top-selling hit of 1973 and one of the most popular selling singles of all time.

From 1974 to 1976, the company also had The Tony Orlando and Dawn Show on CBS, which included hits from 1974 to 1976.

They then broke up in 1978. In 1993, Tony Orlando Yellow Ribbon Music Theatre in Branson, Missouri, was opened.

In 2013, he ceased his appearance there.

Personal life

Jerry Lee Lewis introduced Orlando to his fiance, Elaine, who had previously known Buddy Holly. Tony and Elaine married in 1965 and had just one child, Jon; they divorced in 1984. Orlando married Francine Amormino, who married on April 29, 1990, five years ago. As of 2021, the couple was married; they now have one child.

Ruth Schroeder of Hollister, Missouri, died as a result of a diabetic stroke in Branson, Missouri, on February 27, 2013.

He wrote Halfway to Paradise, a memoir written in 2002. Tony and Francine Orlando and their daughter, Jenny Rose, live in Branson, Missouri. Jon Orlando, Orlando's uncle, from his first marriage, was a comedian from 1993 to 2002. Jon is a resident of Las Vegas and is currently the host of The Action Junkeez Podcast as well as the Wise Kracks Podcast with legendary sports bettor Bill Krackenberger. Jon was appointed as the CEO of MaximNFT on September 7, 2021.

Orlando was interviewed on The 700 Club, explaining that he was raised Catholic and was "brought up with the Lord as my Savior"; but after a brief period of fame with Dawn, he became a born-again Christian in 1978.

Orlando was a celebrity on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990, on 6385 Hollywood Blvd.

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Early life and career

Michael Anthony Cassavitis was born on April 3, 1944, the son of a Greek father and a Puerto Rican mother. He spent his youth in Hell's Kitchen, New York City. The family migrated to Union City, New Jersey, and later Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, during his teen years.

Orlando's musical career began with the Five Gents, a doo-wop group he formed in 1959 at the age of 15, with whom he recorded demo tapes. Don Kirshner, a music publisher and producer who recruited him to write songs in an office across from New York's Brill Building, with Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Toni Wine, Barry Mann, Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, and Tom and Jerry, who didn't make it in the office until they changed their name to Simon and Garfunkel.

Kirshner also hired Orlando to record songwriter demos as a solo artist, and his first success came at the age of 16, when he charted in the United States and United Kingdom with the hits "Bless You" and "Halfway To Paradise." In 1962, "Shirley" and "I Was A Man" by Billy Shields, and "I Was A Boy" at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater with DJ Murray. For Orlando, Gerry Goffin and Jack Keller produced a doo-wop interpretation of Stephen Foster's "Beautiful Dreamer." The song was released as a single in 1962 and on the Beatles' set lists on the Beatles' Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour; a recorded version of the Beatles' On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2. "I'm Just Waiting" (Anticipation For Her To Show Up), a New Colony Six piece that charted locally in Chicago and "Bubbled Under" the Hot 100 in 1967.

Orlando continued as a solo artist and later became a producer as well as a thriving music executive in the late 1960s. Clive Davis recruited Orlando as the general manager of Columbia Records' publishing subsidiary April-Blackwood Music in 1967. Orlando had worked his way up to vice president of a larger publishing firm, CBS Music, where he starred, co-wrote with, and produced Barry Manilow (under the tag "Featherbed"). ... He has performed with others, including The Yardbirds, James Taylor, Grateful Dead, Blood Sweat, and Tears, as Laura Nyro. He appeared on "Make Believe" on producer Bo Gentry's Life Records in 1969 and had a #28 hit with the studio group Wind. Orlando was prospering as a music executive, but Davis seemed not to notice when Orlando accepted a $3,000 advance and performed lead vocals on a track titled "Candida" as a favor for two producer friends. If the album failed, Orlando didn't want it to damage his image, so he used a pseudonym: Dawn.

He began to use his name in the company, "Dawn starring Tony Orlando" and then "Tony Orlando and Dawn," as the song became a worldwide number one hit. The group had 19 other top-40 hits, including "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree," the company's best-selling single of all time, as well as "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree." The Tony Orlando and Dawn Show on CBS ran from 1974 to 1976, the organization also had a hit variety show The Tony Orlando and Dawn Show on CBS from 1974 to 1976. They then broke up in 1977, after which he has appeared as Tony Orlando.

Acting career

"Tomas Garcia" was Orlando's first television appearance on the program Chico and the Man in 1976.

Orlando appeared in the 1981 television film 300 Miles For Stephanie, a police officer who promises to walk over 300 miles to a hospital in order to find God's help to save Stephanie, his gravely ill daughter. Edward James Olmos, Pepe Serna, and Julie Carmen were among the cast members.

Orlando appeared on Broadway in the title role of Barnum in May 1981, the first week of Jim Dale's three-week holiday.

Orlando appeared in The Cosby Show (its first season) from 1984 to 1985, a community center. In 2002 film Waking Up In Reno, in which he sang a version of "Knock Three Times," he appeared as himself.

Orlando appeared in the children's animated film Oswald, in which he performed "Sammy Starfish" in 2003.

Orlando appeared in a MADtv sketch involving a court case, in which the defense counsel sings to convince the jury about their side. He sang for the trial, causing the judge to ask the defense attorney to serve a life term. Orlando was also included in "Larry the Cable Guy's Star Studded Christmas Extravaganza" on another television show. Steve Spirou appeared in That's My Boy, a Happy Madison production starring Adam Sandler in 2012.

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