Monday 13 May 2019

Teddy Randazzo born 13 May 1935


Alessandro Carmelo "Teddy" Randazzo (May 13, 1935 – November 21, 2003) was an American pop songwriter, singer, arranger and producer, who composed hit songs such as "Goin' Out of My Head", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle", "Pretty Blue Eyes", and "Hurt So Bad" in the 1960s.

Born in Brooklyn in 1937, he was lucky enough to grow up in a musical family, and by 15 was a good enough accordion player to turn professional, as a member of the group the Three Chuckles, who were in the market for a new keyboard man and singer -- the singing took a little time to develop, with help from his decade-older fellow group members Tommy Romano and Russ Gilberto, but when the group started recording, it was the sides that Randazzo sang on that initially hit, and by 1955, at 17, he was the front-man for the group. They had a number one hit with "And the Angels Sing," which had a rocking beat and brought them to the attention of deejay Alan Freed, who put the group into his first jukebox movie, Rock, Rock, Rock (shot in New York, in the Bronx,), but also gave Randazzo a solo spot.

When the smoke cleared from the movie, Randazzo had decided to go solo. He continued recording for Vik Records, a unit of RCA Victor, and enjoyed a minor success in 1958 with "Little Serenade," and made an appearance in Freed's next movie, Mister Rock And Roll, as well as in the 20th Century-Fox CinemaScope colour production The Girl Can't Help It, among other movies. By 1960, he'd moved to ABC-Paramount, where he had another minor hit with "The Way of a Clown," and in 1963 he had another small hit with "Big Wide World" on the Colpix label.


                           

But it was mostly as a songwriter and producer that Randazzo busied himself and made his real success in the music business; he wrote some 650 songs over the ensuing decades, and saw them recorded by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Dionne Warwick. "Pretty Blue Eyes," authored with Bob Weinstein, was a number one hit 

for Steve Lawrence. But it was with Little Anthony & the Imperials that he had his longest success -- in addition to producing the group, he authored "Going Out of My Head," "I'm on the Outside Looking In," and "Hurt so Bad" (later covered by Linda Ronstadt), among other hits.

"I've lost count on how many versions there are", Randazzo once said of "Goin' Out Of My Head". It is now included in the Top 50 most recorded songs with sales of over 100 million by over 400 artists, according to the Songwriters' Hall Of Fame.

Bobby Darin with Randazzo
During the early and mid 1960s, Randazzo toured extensively with his own band appearing at the Copacabana, New York, Hotel Americana, San Juan and regularly at the Thunderbird Hotel, Las Vegas. Band members included renowned musicians Larry Taylor, Gerry McGee, Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart, Vince Megna, Billy Lewis, Kenny Rankin, Bobby Vincent, Bobby Weinstein, and Billy Barberis. Randazzo was especially popular in Hawaii where his early recordings had topped the local record charts.

Randazzo became less visible as the '60s wore on, and in the '70s was largely forgotten by all except oldies fans but later he provided several songs for albums by New York soul group, the Manhattans, during their 1970s' hey-day, including the 1977 hit, "It Feels So Good To Be Loved So Bad", "There's No Good In Goodbye", and "A Million To One". He also wrote and produced for the Stylistics. Albums include Fashionably Yours and Love Spell. At this time, Randazzo co-wrote songs with his then girlfriend Victoria Pike and songwriters Roger Joyce and Souren Mozian.

He remained active as a songwriter and behind-the-scenes, and did the occasional live performance to keep his hand in, but by then he was earning a good income from his annual royalties. He married R. Shelly Kunewa  of Hawaii and divided his time between their home in the islands and their home in Florida for most of the latter half of his life. 


He continued writing and producing. Randazzo produced and arranged Keola & Kapono Beamer's Honolulu City Lights album for Tom Moffatt's Paradise Records Label. The title song was a hit, the album become a local classic in Hawaii. In 2004, the editors of Honolulu Magazine asked a panel of local recording industry veterans to rank their choices for the best Hawaii album "of all time." Honolulu City Lights was chosen #1.

He busied himself in local production in both Florida and Hawaii, especially the latter, and reportedly enjoyed a very happy second marriage -- his son from his first marriage, Teddy Randazzo, Jr., has also had a successful music career. Randazzo died died at age 68 in his sleep at his home in Orlando, Florida in 2003.  (Edited from Wikipedia & All Music)

5 comments:

boppinbob said...

For “Teddy Randazzo - The Way of the Clown” go here:

https://www.mediafire.com/file/sg8n68r8rf594yg/TRandazzo-WOTC.rar/file

Disc 1

I'M CONFESSIN'
1. I'M CONFESSIN' (That I Love You)
2. WHAT IS THIS THING CALLED LOVE
3. AMONG MY SOUVENIRS
4. RIVER STAY AWAY FROM MY DOOR
5. BUT BEAUTIFUL
6. PAGAN LOVE SONG
7. OLD MAN RIVER
8. YOU GO TO MY HEAD
9. BLACK AND BLUE
10. MY FOOLISH HEART
11. YOU'RE DRIVING ME CRAZY
12. FOR ALL WE KNOW
JOURNEY TO LOVE
13. LADY OF SPAIN
14. A FOGGY DAY
15. CANADIAN SUNSET
16. IT HAPPENED IN MONTEREY
17. BLUE HAWAIIAN MOON
18. UNDER PARIS SKIES
19. BRAZIL
20. AUTUMN IN NEW YORK
21. ON A SLOW BOAT TO CHINA
22. ARRIVEDERCI, ROMA
23. JOURNEY TO LOVE
24. TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH

Disc 2

TEDDY RANDAZZO TWISTS
1. BO DIDDLEY
2. U.S. MAIL
3. SHOUT
4. LATE DATE BABY
5. THE PEPPERMINT TWIST
6. TOO YOUNG TO FALL IN LOVE
7. TWISTIN' TO THE LOCOMOTION
8. FOOT STOMPIN'
9. WHAT'D I SAY
10. COTTON FIELDS
11. OOH-POO-PAH-DOO
12. LET THE SUNSHINE IN
BONUS 45s
13. THE WAY OF THE CLOWN
14. BUT YOU BROKE MY HEART
15. IT'S MAGIC
16. CHERIE
17. BROKEN BELL
18. MOTHER GOOSE TWIST
19. TRISTE PAGLIACCIO (The Way of The Clown) - Italian Version

Teddy Randazzo is perhaps best remembered today for being a songwriter and producer during the mid to late 1960s. However he was initially immersed in the girl swooning teen idol sub-genre along with the likes of Fabian, Dion et al. Herein are three original albums, I'm Confessin', Journey To Love and Teddy Randazzo Twists. This is prime late 50s pop. His first two albums were geared to the standards markets and the third was (as the title suggests) devoted to songs that you could twist to.

The bonus material includes his biggest solo hit, 'The Way of the Clown' along with a rare Italian language version of the hit. (Jasmine notes)

Thanks to ACM2 blog for original post.

For “Teddy Randazzo - The Ultimate Collection Of All Labels” go here;

https://www.upload.ee/files/9959410/Teddy_Randazzo_-_Ultimate.rar.html

1. Teddy Randazzo - The Way Of A Clown (2:38)
2. Teddy Randazzo - But You Broke My Heart (2:19)
3. Teddy Randazzo - Echoes (2:50)
4. Teddy Randazzo - It's Magic (2:29)
5. Teddy Randazzo - Be Sure My Love (1:52)
6. Teddy Randazzo - Cherie (2:18)
7. Teddy Randazzo - Pretty Blue Eyes (2:30)
8. Teddy Randazzo - Broken Bell (3:23)
9. Teddy Randazzo - Dear Heart (2:11)
10. Teddy Randazzo - Doo Dah (2:33)
11. Teddy Randazzo - Misery (1:47)
12. Teddy Randazzo - One More Chance (2:57)
13. Teddy Randazzo - Pagan Love Song (1:57)
14. Teddy Randazzo - I'll Stop Anything I'm Doing (2:10)
15. Teddy Randazzo - Mother Goose Twist (2:34)
16. Teddy Randazzo - Big Wide World (2:52)
17. Teddy Randazzo - Be My Little Chicken (2:36)
18. Teddy Randazzo - We're Gonna Rock Tonight (1:43)
19. Teddy Randazzo - Little Serenade (2:28)
20. Teddy Randazzo - Next Stop Paradise (1:49)
21. Teddy Randazzo - Journey To Love (2:01)
22. Teddy Randazzo - Ooh-Poo Pah-Doo (2:52)
23. Teddy Randazzo - Lady Of Spain (2:35)
24. Teddy Randazzo - Brazil (2:35)
25. Teddy Randazzo - Bo Diddley (3:06)
26. Teddy Randazzo - Shout (5:22)
27. Teddy Randazzo - Late Date Baby (2:05)
28. Teddy Randazzo - Twistin' To The Locomotion (2:27)
29. Teddy Randazzo - Kiddio (2:33)
30. Teddy Randazzo - Triste Pagglaccio (2:37)

Marginal Records (1997)

There’s a few on this compilation that’s not on the Jasmine double CD
Thanks to the Rockin’ Bandit for original post.

Charles D said...

Thank you.

AMM said...

hi great blog,
could you upload these again please...links dead

thank you

boppinbob said...

Hi allmusicman. The mediafire link works fine.
Here's a new link for the Ulimate album

https://www.upload.ee/files/13068509/Teddy_Randazzo_-_Ultimate.rar.html

Regards Bob

AMM said...

thank you very much bob.


my blog private bob..i post rare soul .jazz ,jazz fusion
for invite mail me..i do have a few rules...lol

allmusicman@protonmail.com