Tony Orlando

The group had 19 other top 40 tracks, including "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", the top-selling hit of 1973 and one of the biggest selling singles of all time.

[7] Kirshner also hired Orlando to record songwriter demos as a solo artist, and his first success came at the age of 16 when he charted in North America and UK with the hits "Bless You" and "Halfway To Paradise".

[7] He also appeared at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater with DJ Murray the K.[8] Orlando also had four records that "Bubbled Under" the Hot 100: "Chills" in 1962, "Shirley" and "I'll Be There" in 1963, and "I Was A Boy (When You Needed A Man)" as by Billy Shields in April 1969.

By the late 1960s, Orlando had worked his way up to vice president of a larger publishing company, CBS Music, where he signed, co-wrote with, and produced Barry Manilow (under the name "Featherbed").

If the record failed, Orlando didn't want it to affect his reputation, so the producers, Hank Medress and Dave Appel used the pseudonym Dawn.

As described in the San Francisco Chronicle, "Tony Orlando and Dawn burst out of television sets during the Ford administration, a sunny antidote to the dark cynicism that followed Watergate.

[19] It welcomed the biggest names in show business each week as Orlando's guests, including his boyhood idols, Jackie Gleason and Jerry Lewis.

On October 12, 2015, with Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson present, Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters honored Orlando with their Art Gilmore Career Achievement Award at a celebrity luncheon.

[24] He hosted the New York City portions of the MDA Labor Day Telethon on WNEW/WNYW and WWOR-TV from the 1980s to 2011, leaving in response to Jerry Lewis' firing from the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

In 2020, Orlando began hosting a Saturday night oldies program for WABC Radio as the New York City station partially restored its music format.

Orlando is a longtime advocate for U.S. military veterans and "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree" has become an anthem for service members.

He has served as the master of ceremonies at the Secretary of Defense Freedom Awards at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.[19][30] Orlando was introduced by Jerry Lee Lewis to his future wife, Elaine, who had previously dated Buddy Holly.

[34][35] Orlando was interviewed on The 700 Club explaining that he was raised Catholic and was "brought up with the Lord as my Savior"; but after a self-destructive period following his professional success with Dawn, he became a born-again Christian in 1978.

His work on behalf of American veterans led to his being named Honorary Chairman at the 40th Anniversary at the NAM-POW's Homecoming Celebration at the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library in 2014.

[5] Albums Solo singles 39.Tony Orlando Legendary Singer & Hitmaker ‘Up Close & Personal’ Zoom Special Event on Interviewing the Legends with Ray Shasho

Orlando in 1965
Performing in 1974 alongside Telma Hopkins
Dancing with First Lady Betty Ford after a state dinner at the White House in 1976
Orlando (left) and Freddie Prinze in Chico and the Man (1976)