Tony Orlando and Dawn (TV series)
| Tony Orlando and Dawn | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | 'The Tony Orlando and Dawn Rainbow Hour' |
| Genre | Comedy-Variety |
| Written by |
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| Directed by | Jeff Margolis |
| Starring | |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 44 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) |
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| Location(s) | |
| Editor(s) | Marco Zappia |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | 54 minutes |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Audio format | Monaural |
| Original release | July 3, 1974 – December 1976 |
Tony Orlando and Dawn was a television variety show that aired from 1974–1976 on CBS. The show featured the American pop music group Tony Orlando and Dawn. The show was entitled The Tony Orlando and Dawn Rainbow Hour during the 1976–1977 television season.
Tony Orlando was born Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis on 3 April 1944. After almost a decade of singing and with only three Top 40 hits, two in 1961 and another in 1969 as the lead singer for the studio group Wind, he had not had any further successes. He stopped singing entirely, and by 1970 he was a retired demo singer. He began publishing music for April-Blackwood Music, a division of Columbia Records, instead.
Then Orlando received "Candida," a song that other producers and singers had turned down. Orlando was not able to originally lend his name to the song, as he was working for April-Blackwood, and recording under his own name would be a professional conflict of interest. After an insistence by producer Hank Medress that he dub his voice over the male vocals on the original track, the single was released on Bell Records as being performed by the band "Dawn", to protect his position.
The background singers on the track were Sharon Greane, Linda November, Jay Siegel, and Toni Wine, who co-wrote the song. Phil Margo played drums on the original session, and the arranger was Norman Bergen. After the single hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 (#1 on the Cashbox Top 100), Orlando wanted to start performing again. The ensemble then recorded the follow-up song "Knock Three Times", which topped the Hot 100 on 23 January - 6 February 1971.
Bell Records was desperate to have a real-life act to promote Dawn's records. Orlando asked former Motown/Stax backing vocalists Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson to become Dawn. The threesome then went on the road after "Candida" and "Knock Three Times". After a tour of Europe, Hopkins and Vincent assumed background vocal duties in the studio as well. They were joined in the studio by Vincent's sister Pamela Vincent, who in addition to singing, arranged all the backing vocals. Prior touring commitments with Aretha Franklin prevented Vincent from appearing with Dawn on tour. The first single with their voices in the background was "Runaway/Happy Together" in 1972.
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