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Wed 5 Apr, 2006 05:52 pm
Singer Gene Pitney dies at 65 in Wales
ROBERT BARR
Associated Press
LONDON - Gene Pitney, whose keening tenor voice produced a string of hits including "Town Without Pity" was found dead in his hotel room in Wales Wednesday following a concert that fans acclaimed as one of his best. He was 65.
Pitney apparently died of natural causes, police said. He was staying in a hotel in Cardiff, Wales where he had played a concert Tuesday night during a tour in Britain.
"Last night was one of the best performances, not vocally, but from the enthusiasm. He just wanted to please - and he did," said Wendy Horton, who reviewed Tuesday night's concert for the South Wales Echo newspaper.
Nigel Corten, who reviewed the show for the South Wales Argus, said Pitney appeared to be healthy during the show.
"It came through in his voice because he really let it rip. If you are ill, that would be one of the first things to show it," he said. "The audience were in raptures."
During a long career, Pitney had hits as a singer - "24 Hours from Tulsa," "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance," and "Half Heaven, Half Heartache." As a writer, he penned "Hello Mary Lou" for Ricky Nelson and "Rubber Ball" for Bobby Vee.
In 1962, Pitney had the top two songs on the U.S. chart - his rendition of "Only Love Can Break a Heart" was at No. 2, just behind a song he wrote for The Crystals, "He's a Rebel."
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2002.
"We don't have a cause of death at the moment but looks like it was a very peaceful passing," said Pitney's tour manager, James Kelly.
"He was found fully clothed, on his back, as if he had gone for a lie down. It looks as if there was no pain whatsoever."
"Last night was generally one of the happiest and most exuberant performances we've seen out of him," Kelly added.
Pitney waited until 1990 for his first British No. 1 - he re-recorded "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" with Marc Almond.
Pitney also had some success as a country singer, pairing with George Jones to record "I've Got Five Dollars and It's Saturday Night" and "Louisiana Man."
He also took second place twice at the San Remo Song Festival in Italy, and had a regional hit with "Nessuno Mi Puo' Giudicare."
"I'm a performer," Pitney said in an interview with The Associated Press in 1997. "I've tried everything there is."
Born in Hartford, Conn., on Feb. 17, 1941, Pitney married his high school sweetheart, Lynne, in 1967, and kept a base in Connecticut all his life. He built a recording studio in his home in Somers, 20 miles northeast of Hartford.
While still in high school, Pitney formed a band called Gene and the Genials. Richard Spurling and Robert Terry, who played in the five-member band, said Wednesday they were saddened at the news of Pitney's death.
"He was a brilliant guy, and he could have done anything he wanted to in his life," Spurling told the Journal Inquirer of Manchester, Conn. "It was a fun time."
Terry said he was always struck by the way Pitney demanded excellence from himself while he was on stage. "He never let up on getting it right and the people who worked with him, knew this," Terry said.
Pitney said he wrote many of his best songs, including "Hello, Mary Lou," in his candy-apple red 1935 Ford coupe, parked near a Rockville reservoir.
He is survived by his wife and three sons.
Pitney was my mother's favorite singer for a long time, and I liked him too.
didn't know he sang liberty valance, i always like that song
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
When Liberty Valance rode to town the womenfolk would hide, they'd hide
When Liberty Valance walked around the men would step aside
'cause the point of a gun was the only law that Liberty understood
When it came to shootin' straight and fast---he was mighty good.
From out of the East a stranger came, a law book in his hand, a man
The kind of a man the West would need to tame a troubled land
'cause the point of a gun was the only law that Liberty understood
When it came to shootin' straight and fast---he was mighty good.
Many a man would face his gun and many a man would fall
The man who shot Liberty Valance, he shot Liberty Valance
He was the bravest of them all.
The love of a woman can make a man stay on when he should go, stay on
Just tryin' to build a peaceful life where love is free to grow
But the point of a gun was the only law that Liberty understood
When the final showdown came at last, a law book was no good.
Alone and afraid she prayed that he'd return that fateful night, aww that night
When nothin' she said could keep her man from goin' out to fight
From the moment a girl gets to be full-grown the very first thing she learns
When two men go out to face each other only one retur-r-r-ns
Everyone heard two shots ring out, a shot made Liberty fall
The man who shot Liberty Valance, he shot Liberty Valance
He was the bravest of them all.
The man who shot Liberty Valance, he shot Liberty Valance
He was the bravest of them all.
Town Without Pity
When you're young and so in love as we
And bewildered by the world we see
Why do people hurt us so
Only those in love will know
What a town without pity can do
If we stop to gaze upon a star
People talk about how bad we are
Ours is not an easy age
We're like tigers in a cage
What a town without pity can do
The young have problems, many problems
They need an understanding heart
Why don't they help us, try and help us
Before this grey and granite planet falls apart
Take these eager lips and hold me fast
I'm afraid this kind of joy can't last
How can we keep love alive
How can anything survive
When those little minds tear you in two
What a town without pity can do
Take these eager lips and hold me fast
I'm afraid this kind of joy can't last
How can we keep love alive
How can anything survive
When those little minds tear you in two
What a town without pity can do
No it isn't very pretty
What a town without pity can do
Whoa, can do
Since I'm too lazy to type that, I just copy/paste it from the paper (that's the London 'Evening Standard, late West End Edition' from yesterday):

[/quote]
And from today's (April 6) first edition of Manchester Evening News:
My brother was a fan. We listened to his albums over and over when I was a kid.
Cripes, I didnt know he had died.I wondered why he was in the paper alot.
His voice used to grate on me actually.
When I was a kid he had two comeback hits in Oz 'Blue Angel' and 'Trans Canada Highway' which I didn't much like.
But when I got older and went into rock archivist mode i bought the Rhino greatest hits double album and mellowed my attitude toward that voice. I really like the duet with Marc Almond 'Something's got a hold of my heart'.
Vale Gene.
PS - is there an official cause of death yet?
I only ask so that I can start making bad jokes about 'Something's got a hold of my heart'