Biography
Born on 5 March 1958 in New York City, Paul Evans notched a pair of Top 10 hits during 1959 and 1960 while also supplying material to other performers; later he turned to country recordings, advertising jingles, and compositions for stage and screen. His earliest notable placement came with the 1958 Kalin Twins single “When,” which climbed to the Top 5. Among his subsequent contributions were Bobby Vinton’s chart-topping debut “Roses Are Red (My Love)” in 1962, along with the Presley tracks “I Gotta Know” from 1960 and “The Next Step Is Love” from 1970. Evans launched his own performing career on Guaranteed Records in 1959 with the novelty “Seven Little Girls Sitting In The Back Seat,” supported by the female vocal group the Curls; the track peaked at number 9. The following year he reached number 10 with “Happy-Go-Lucky-Me.” Two additional, lesser-charting pop singles appeared before he shifted focus after 1960 to country music. He returned to the country listings in 1978 via the novelty “Hello, This Is Joannie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song)” on Spring Records, followed in 1979 by “Disneyland Daddy” on the same label and in 1980 by “One Night Led To Two” on Cinnamon Records; each registered on the lower tiers of the US country chart. Evans also composed the score for the minor film Live Young and for the 1972 Broadway production Loot. In later years his work centered on vocal performances for advertising jingles.