Gene Pitney – Somethings Got A Hold Of My Heart

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Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and sound engineer.

Pitney charted 16 Top-40 hits in the U.S., four in the Top 10. In the UK he had 22 Top-40 hits, and 11 singles in the Top Ten. He also wrote the early 1960s hits “Rubber Ball” recorded by Bobby Vee, “He’s a Rebel” by the Crystals, and “Hello Mary Lou” by Ricky Nelson. In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Career

Rise to fame (1961–1964)

Signed to songwriter Aaron Schroeder’s newly formed Musicor label in 1961, Pitney scored his first chart single, which made the Top 40, the self-penned “(I Wanna) Love My Life Away,” on which he played several instruments and multi-tracked the vocals.

He followed that same year with his first Top 20 single, the title song from the film Town Without Pity starring Kirk Douglas.

Written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, the song won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song, but lost the award to “Moon River.” Pitney performed the song at the Oscars ceremony on 9 April 1962 (honoring the film year of 1961).

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