Tony Orlando

Trivia

• Scored three No. 1 songs on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 charts -- "Knock Three Times" (three weeks, 1971); "Tie A Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree" (four weeks, 1973); and "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)" (three weeks, 1973). Also, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree" was Billboard's Hot 100 No. 1 song of 1973.
• Did a very energetic performance at the "One Less Tear" cancer benefit in Philipsburg, Pennsylvania on Wednesday July 24, 2002.
• The group was offered their own summer variety TV series in 1974 and it clicked with audiences. Their Sonny & Cher-styled show, which mixed song and dance with light slapstick comedy, lasted two seasons from 1974 to 1976.
• A resident of Branson, Missouri since 1993.
• Cutting his first song at 16 (it was a minor hit). In 1961 at the age of 17, he had consecutive top 40 hits, co-authored by Carol King, "Halfway To Paradise" and "Bless You". They were followed up by "I Can't Stop Talkin' About You" and "The Edge Of Tears".
• A problems with drugs, coupled with the deaths of his sister and comedian/pal Freddie Prinze, led to a major emotional breakdown in 1977. He left the group "Tony Orlando and Dawn" shortly after.
• By 1973 the group Dawn was the second biggest seller of singles in America without the benefit of a major concert tour or appearance on a TV show. Their very first live appearance was at Carnegie Hall...after they had already sold nine million records.
• In 1963, he was employed at April-Blackwood Music and rose to general manager within a few years.
• Grew up in Hell's Kitchen, which was, at one time, the worst slum in New York City.
• In 1990, he bought a theater in Branson, Missouri, naming it Tony Orlando Yellow Ribbon Music Theater and provided retro kitsch by reuniting for a time with former Dawn members Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson and going on the road. His theater went bankrupt in 1999, but he continues to tour as a solo artist.