Bobby Vinton

In the early 1960s, Bobby Vinton emerged as the era’s defining crooner. His orchestral settings and heartfelt vocal style harked back to pre-rock pop, even as youthful fans embraced his recordings for a stretch. Specializing in vocal pop, he scored several of the period’s standout successes, among them “Roses Are Red (My Love),” “Blue on Blue,” “There! I’ve Said It Again,” “Mr. Lonely,” and “Blue Velvet,” the last of which became his trademark number after gaining notoriety through David Lynch’s film of the same name.

Vinton had initially hoped to front a big band and first recorded contemporary material in that format. Once he began supplying his own vocals, however, success arrived swiftly; “Roses Are Red (My Love)” climbed to the top spot in the summer of 1962. The lush, sweet orchestrations established the template for the string of emotional, at times plaintive hits that followed in the first half of the decade. His peak arrived in 1963, when “Blue on Blue” reached number three and both “Blue Velvet” and “There! I’ve Said It Again” claimed the summit.

The Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” displaced “There! I’ve Said It Again” from number one, yet the British Invasion failed to curtail Vinton’s run the way it did for many fellow vocalists and teen idols. In fact, late 1964 brought one of his largest successes and his last chart-topper, the tearful “Mr. Lonely.” Though he never quite recaptured that level of stardom, he remained a steady commercial presence for years afterward. From 1962 through 1972 he amassed an impressive twenty-eight Top 40 singles, frequently reviving charming early-1960s pop numbers such as “Halfway to Paradise,” “Take Good Care of My Baby,” and “Sealed With a Kiss.” Two of those revivals, “Please Love Me Forever” and “I Love How You Love Me,” even cracked the Top Ten in 1967 and 1968.

A notable resurgence seemed underway in 1974 with “Melody of Love,” which peaked at number three and remains the sole major U.S. hit partially sung in Polish. Just one further Top 40 entry followed, after which Vinton hosted his own television program for several seasons in the late 1970s and continued to draw well-paid cabaret engagements until retiring in 2015.