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Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis (born April 3, 1944), better known as Tony Orlando, is an American show business professional, 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. ==Early years== Born Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis to a Greek father and a Puerto Rican mother, he spent his earliest years in Hell's Kitchen. In his teenage years, the family moved to Union City and later, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey. Tony Orlando's musical career started with The Five Gents, a doo-wop group he formed. His first success came at the age of 16, when he recorded the hits "Bless You" and "Halfway To Paradise" in 1961. He also appeared at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater with DJ Murray the K. Orlando also had four records that "Bubbled Under" the Hot 100: "Chills" in 1962, "Shirley" and "I'll Be There" in 1963, and "I Was A Boy (When You Needed A Man)" as by Billy Shields in April 1969. Gerry Goffin and Jack Keller wrote a doo-wop version of Stephen Foster's song "Beautiful Dreamer" for Orlando. Released as a single in 1962, the song was picked up by the Beatles who included it in their set lists on the the Beatles Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour; a recorded version was released on their 2013 album ''On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2''. New Colony Six recorded an Orlando composition, "I'm Just Waitin' (Anticipatin' For Her To Show Up)", which charted locally in Chicago and "Bubbled Under" the Hot 100 in July 1967. In the summer of 1969 he recorded with the studio group Wind and had a #28 hit that year with "Make Believe" on producer Bo Gentry's Life Records. Orlando became general manager at Columbia Records, and his career was focused on the corporate end of the music business, representing music publishers. In the late 1960s, he ran April-Blackwood Music, the publishing arm of CBS music. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Tony Orlando」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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