Pitney attempts to carve an identity in Vegas

Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2003 | 8:59 a.m.

Gene Pitney, a singer/songwriter who dominated the music charts in the early 1960s, has never headlined in a Las Vegas showroom.

Pitney's name resonates in the music world, both for songs he recorded on his own and those he wrote for others.

He recorded 16 Top 40 hits from 1961 to 1968, among them "Town Without Pity" ('61), "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away" (1961), "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" ('62), "Only Love Can Break a Heart" ('62), "Mecca" ('63) and "Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa" ('64).

A song written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday," was recorded by Pitney in 1963 and went to No. 7 in Great Britain. But he also wrote (or co-wrote) songs for others, including Rick Nelson's "Hello Mary Lou" ('61), the Crystals' "He's A Rebel" ('62) and Bobby Vee's "Rubber Ball" ('62).

And today Pitney, who performed once in Laughlin a few years back, is attempting to find a niche on the Strip. On July 5, 1997, he sang in the parking lot at Texas Station, part of an Independence Day weekend gig. Other than that show, he has no Vegas connection.

"That was a bizarre performance," Pitney said during a recent telephone interview from his home in Somers, Conn., a town of about 10,500 that was founded in 1734. "It was 9 o'clock at night and 110 degrees.

"That was the only time I ever performed in Vegas."

That's about to change. He begins a four-day engagement at the Stardust beginning Wednesday.

Whether there will be future Vegas performances for Pitney depends on the response to his maiden voyage.

"This is a tester," Pitney said. "We will see what I can do."

He says there was no particular reason for not pursuing venues in Vegas.

"It was my own fault," Pitney said. "I'm one of those who said, 'Not me.' "

It isn't that he has never visited. Pitney was here three years ago to visit a son who was in marketing at Harrah's.

"Otherwise, Vegas has been very limited to me," Pitney said. "The city is quite different now. Like everything else, it has gone through a lot of evolving."

So has Pitney.

"I play a lot of casinos," he said. "Foxwood is only about an hour and 15 minutes from my home."

Pitney, 62, lives in a town eight miles from Rockville, where he grew up.

"I never had any intention of becoming a recording artist," he said. "I was a very quiet kid. But then I took a few guitar lessons, which led me to find that with three or four chords I could play the top 20 songs of the day."

Pitney formed a band while a student at Rockville High School. In 1959 he and Ginny Arnell recorded some songs for Decca as Jamie & June.

He began recording under his own name for the Festival label in 1960. The first song he recorded as Gene Pitney, "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away," was a Top 40 hit.

In 1961 Pitney was taken under the wing of renowned producer Phil Spector.

Under Spector, Pitney recorded "Town Without Pity" for Musicor.

The rest, as they say, is history. Pitney has not slowed down in 40 years.

"I'm probably more active and diversified than ever before," he said.

Pitney credits his enduring career and his physical endurance to aerobics, regular workouts in the gym and thoughtful planning.

"I have become a planner," he said. "When I do a concert tour now, one thing that has to be done, hotels have to have a gym and swimming pool.

"I get a list of cities, and the distance between them; what the roads are like, all so that the show doesn't get left on the bus anymore."

No more leapfrogging across the country.

"For years I was at the whims of promoters," Pitney said. "It's a lot more efficient now that I'm in control."

There have also been changes in the world of music.

"Remarkable changes," Pitney said. "In the '60s and '70s music was the predominant factor, now it's business. The industry used to be run by eccentric people who made it fun. Now, it's run by dull people who base everything on how much money they make."

What a pity.