Background

Tony Orlando was born Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis on April 3, 1944, in New York, United States. He grew up in a straight-laced family that was beset with enormous burdens. His father, Leo Cassivitis, was a furrier of Greek ancestry, his mother, Ruth Estanilaw Cassavitis, was an immigrant from Puerto Rico. Orlando's only sibling, a sister named Rhonda Marie, was mentally retarded. He spent much of his youth caring for her, so he managed to avoid the pitfalls of alcohol and drugs that were threatening his working-class neighborhood.

Education

Orlando went to parochial grammar school. While still a teenager, he began performing, cutting demo tapes with composers, and searching for rock and roll tunes that he could parlay into hits.

Career

At the age of 16, Tony Orlando auditioned for producer Don Kirshner, who helped him to record the singles "Halfway to Paradise" and "Bless You." The latter song reached Number 15 on the pop charts in 1961. Orlando was unable to sustain his performing career in the mid-1960s, however, so he found work in the publishing sector of the business. By 1967 he was manager of April-Blackwood Music, a subsidiary of Columbia Records.

In 1970 a friend of Orlando's asked him to overdub the lead vocals for a new song by a group named Dawn out of Detroit. Orlando had never met the members of Dawn, and when he heard the song "Candida," he thought it would disappear from the charts without a trace. He did the vocals as a favor to his friend, and "Candida" became a Number Three hit on the Billboard pop charts in 1971. The song's success led Orlando to quit his music publishing job. He teamed with the young women in Dawn, and together they recorded a string of numbers with the same catchy optimism as "Candida."

Tony Orlando and Dawn became one of the best-known pop groups in America during the last years of the Vietnam War. In 1971 the trio had a Number One hit with "Knock Three Times," a cheerful take on love in an apartment building. The group's biggest hit found the charts in 1973 - "Tie a Yellow Ribbon," a ballad about a paroled prisoner looking for a sign of affection from his sweetheart. In ordinary times the song might have had little relevance beyond its catchy pop sound, but as Americans agonized over the fate of missing soldiers in Vietnam, the hit’s gentle tale of faithful love came to symbolize the homefront devotion to missing comrades. That same spirit of devotion gave the song a second life when Americans were taken hostage in Iran later in the 1970s. "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'Round the Old Oak Tree" was the biggest-selling single of 1973.

Other Tony Orlando and Dawn hits included "Say Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose" in 1973 and "He Don't Love You (Like I Love You)" in 1975. The group's middle-of-the-road appeal helped them to land a prime-time television variety show, Tony Orlando and Dawn, that ran from 1974 until 1976. Then, amidst reports that Hopkins and Vincent-Wilson were dissatisfied with their contracts, the show was canceled and the group disbanded.

For Orlando, 1977 marked the low point in his career and personal life. He was stunned by the deaths of his beloved sister and his best friend, comedian-actor Freddie Prinze, who had hit it big as the star of the sitcom Chico and the Man before taking his own life. Orlando also later admitted to abusing cocaine and to driving himself to the point of exhaustion for the television variety show. Finally, he suffered a complete nervous breakdown and retired from show business for an extended period. After a long recuperation, he began to accept engagements again, including an appearance in the Broadway play Barnum in 1981.

Orlando's retirement proved short-lived, and just four months later, he made a solo comeback in Las Vegas; Dawn attempted to forge on without him, but enjoyed little success on their own and eventually disbanded. In the meantime, Orlando signed to the Casablanca label, but as a solo performer he fared poorly, scoring only one charting single, 1979's "Sweets for My Sweet." The following year, he joined the cast of Broadway's Barnum; Hopkins mounted an acting career as well, to significant success. After appearing regularly on the sitcom Bosom Buddies, she joined the cast of Gimme a Break and, later, the long-running Family Matters. In 1988, Tony Orlando and Dawn briefly re-formed, and two years later - already a staple of the Las Vegas club circuit - he became the latest in a long line of celebrities to open a theater in the tourist community of Branson, Missouri.

Orlando's autobiography, Halfway to Paradise, was published in 2002. It offers Orlando's candid reflections on his many decades in the music business, both in the limelight and behind the scenes.

Tony is still one of the most popular live concert artists and has headlined around the world and entertained five United States Presidents.

Achievements

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  Tony Orlando is one of America's most endearing and enduring iconic stars. His career spans more than 50 years of album, TV, concert, and overall entertainment success. He has provided the American music world with some of the most iconic songs that echo with more meaning than simple pop hits usually do. Tony Orlando and Dawn rank among the Top 100 Billboard Magazine artists of all-time.
  
  Tony collected a large number of top honors. These include the Casino Entertainer of the Year Award, recipient of the "Best All-Around Entertainer" Las Vegas which he has won a total of four times, and previously three times in Atlantic City; Jukebox Artist of the Year Award from the Amusement and Music Owners Association of New York; The Ellis Island Medal of Honor one of the nation's most prestigious awards; The Bob Hope Award for excellence in entertainment from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society honoring his efforts on behalf of our nation's veterans.
  
  Tony is a recipient of three American Music Awards and two People's Choice Awards for the best male entertainer. For outstanding achievements in the entertainment industry, Tony was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Halfway to Paradise

    (Singer Tony Orlando is recognized everywhere for his l970...)

    2002

• movie

  • Are We There Yet?

    (Ice Cube plays Nick, a playboy bachelor and sports memora...)

    2005
  • That's My Boy

    (While still a teen himself, Donny (Adam Sandler) fathered...)

    2012

• music

  • Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando 1971
  • Tuneweaving 1973
  • Candida 1970
  • Dawn's New Ragtime Follies 1973
  • Prime Time 1974
  • Knock Three Times - Candida 1974
  • Tony Orlando & Dawn II 1974
  • Golden Ribbons 1974
  • He Don't Love You (Like I Love You) 1975
  • Skybird 1975
  • To Be With You 1976
  • The World of Tony Orlando & Dawn 1976
  • The Tony Orlando and Dawn Collection 1979
  • Best of 1994
  • House of Strangers 1993
  • Knock Three Times 1995
  • The Yellow Ribbon Collection 2005
  • Bless You 2014
  • Before Dawn 1973
  • Christmas Reunion 2005
  • Livin' for the Music 1980
  • Halfway to Paradise: The Complete Epic Masters 1961-1964 2006

• TV series

  • Gimme a Break!

    (Nell Harper is the no-nonsense housekeeper and surrogate ...)

    1981
  • Bosom Buddies

    (Kip and Henry, two young studs working for a New York ad ...)

    1980
  • Family Matters

    (Policeman Carl Winslow has enough to deal with on the job...)

    1989

Religion

Tony was raised Catholic. He told about his faith: "I give thanks to the Catholic training because of course, they brought me to the heart of Jesus. As I went, in the late 70s, through a crisis, like all of us - you have to be far enough down to want to look up, and it got to that point where I was at the low end of my life. It was the Lord's love and my recognition of His presence in my life that made me realize how important it was to give Him the glory and be there for Him." He became a Christian in 1978.

Politics

Tony Orlando performed at galas around Washington the night of Donald Trump's inauguration in 2017. "I am an entertainer. I'm not a politician. I have worked for Republicans and Democrats, and I honestly can't distinguish, in my audience, Republicans from Democrats, and I'm not going to try to start now," he told the Review-Journal.

Views

Orlando's "Tie a Yellow Ribbon" written about a man returning from prison with hopes of reuniting with his beloved, its meteoric rise to the number one position on 1973's Billboard charts resonated with the public in a very different way. The meaningful lyrics were soon associated with the United States military support and hope for happy reunions and homecoming.

Weeks after its release, the song had already spread across the country. Bob Hope contacted Tony Orlando to ask him to perform the hit to a crowd of military families and veterans. Even before he stepped on the stage, the song had reached the top of the hit list. The show cemented its position as a national call for support and well wishes for soldiers around the world.

Tony Orlando's support of United States military troops and their families goes beyond the creation or popularization of the yellow ribbon symbol, however. When asked by a reporter in 2016 why he dedicated so much of his career to veterans, he responded, "How could you not want to dedicate your career to people who put their life on the line for you?"

Connections

Orlando married Elaine in 1965 but they divorced in 1984. From this marriage a son, Jon was born. Tony married second time Francine Amormino in 1991. The couple divorced in 2014. They have a child, Jenny Rose.

Father:

Leo Cassivitis

Mother:

Ruth Schroeder

Sister:

Rhonda Marie Orlando

ex-wife:

Elaine Orlando

Son:

Jon Orlando

Daughter:

Jenny Rose Orlando

ex-wife:

Francine Amormino

colleague:

Telma Hopkins

colleague:

Joyce Vincent

colleague:

Adam Sandler

Friend:

Dick Clark

Friend:

Freddie Prinze

References

• Tony Orlando - Twitter
• Tony Orlando - Facebook