There must be something in the water in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, a small, scenic town 18 miles southwest of Pittsburgh. Two of popular music’s most successful and beloved stars were born and raised there — legendary crooner Perry Como on May 15, 1912, and “the Polish Prince,” Bobby Vinton, on April 16, 1935.
In fact, Vinton was born across the street from where Como had lived. This year Vinton will be celebrating his 89th birthday as he enjoys his retirement in Florida with his wife Dolly, to whom he’s been wed since 1962. Vinton called Como his idol, and like Como, Vinton has always put his family first and has proudly embraced his Catholic faith.
After charting 47 singles on the Billboard pop chart between 1962 and 1980, he released his version of the spiritual standard “He” in 1980.
The song helped define his Christian roots and just might be the perfect song to listen to during the Easter season since it clearly acknowledges the magnitude of what Christ can do and His lesson of forgiveness from the cross. While Vinton is best known for his timeless love ballads, that song allowed him to express his love for God.
“He” was written by songwriters Jack Richards and Richard Mullen and first recorded by Al Hibbler in 1955 (his follow-up single to his No. 1 classic “Unchained Melody”), and released again that same year by the McGuire Sisters. In 1966, the Righteous Brothers’ Top 20 single brought the devotional ballad to a whole new audience.
Since then it has been covered by artists including Andy Williams, Tammy Wynette, Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers, Glen Campbell, and Elvis Presley.
But it is Vinton’s 1980 version that somehow gives the song a special meaning as he looks back and thanks God for the blessings he has received.
Vinton was born Stanley Robert Vinton, an only child to his Polish and Lithuanian parents. His father was a popular local dance bandleader, was friends with Como, and at one time played in a band with him.
His parents encouraged their son’s love of music and soon he became proficient playing a variety of instruments and ultimately started his own band, taking the name Bobby so as not to be confused with his father Stanley’s band.
After graduating from Duquesne University with a degree in music composition, he was drafted into the U.S. Army as a chaplain’s assistant, deployed in Vietnam during the late 1950s. During his time in the armed services he joined a military band and he wrote the song “Mr. Lonely” that ultimately became a No. 1 hit for him in 1964.
The song expresses the loneliness he felt as a soldier far away from home “through no wish of my own,” while pining for letters from a loved one and feeling forgotten.
After hearing Vinton’s band perform, Dick Clark was impressed and hired Vinton as his band leader and musical arranger, where he had the opportunity to tour on Clark’s package shows. Epic Records heard about him and signed him as a bandleader.
But it was his eighth single release, “Roses Are Red (My Love),” in 1962 that topped the pop chart and made him a teen idol to all the young girls who bought his records and flocked to see him in concert. “Roses” would become his first signature song and the first of four No. 1 records he charted between 1962 and 1964.
His second No. 1 record became another signature song for the young artist. The hauntingly beautiful ballad “Blue Velvet” had already been a Top-20 record for Tony Bennett in 1951, but it was Vinton’s 1963 hit that took the song to another level.
The song enjoyed a major resurgence in 1986 when director David Lynch borrowed the title for his movie starring Isabella Rossellini and Dennis Hopper, and included the song on the the soundtrack.
His fourth chart-topping hit was a cover of “There! I’ve Said it Again,” a former No. 1 record for Vaughn Monroe in 1945. Vinton brought the romantic ballad to a new audience nearly 20 years after it first charted.
The song held the top spot for four weeks before being replaced by the Beatles’ “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” which helped usher in a new era in popular music. Interestingly, Vinton was one of the few American pop vocalists who held his own against the Beatles-led British invasion.
As a songwriter, Vinton also charted with his songs “I Love the Way You Are,” “L-O-N-E-L-Y,” and “Coming Home Soldier,” which was released in 1966 in the midst of the Vietnam buildup, while folk singers were flooding the airwaves with angry protest songs.
In 1974, Vinton wrote and recorded yet another signature song, “My Melody of Love,” which allowed him to demonstrate his Polish pride by having verses of the song sung in Polish.
By then, his longtime label Epic Records had dropped him and his concert bookings were winding down. Vinton wrote “My Melody of Love” as a tribute to his Polish ancestry and spent $50,000 of his own money to record the single.
After eight record labels rejected the master, ABC Records finally took a chance on it and it ultimately reached No. 3 on the charts, revived Vinton’s career, and sold over 3 million copies leading to more concert bookings, more albums, and his own TV show.
In 2015, after contracting a severe case of shingles, Vinton decided to retire from recording and performing. He claimed in an article in the Porto Folio Weekly that “as a kid growing up, I wanted to be Perry Como when everybody else wanted to be Frank Sinatra.”
Knowing Como had come from his small Pennsylvania town gave Vinton the courage to follow his own dream, figuring maybe he could make it as a performer as well.
Also like Como, who regarded meeting Pope Pius XII as a special moment in his life, Vinton viewed his three audiences with Pope John Paul II as major milestones in his own life.
Vinton has said that he thanks God every day for all of his success. So, the words of the song “He” may be even more profound in regard to Bobby Vinton today than ever before.
The opening lines of the song seem to be especially poignant in retrospect: “He can turn the tides and calm the angry sea, He alone decides who writes a symphony.”
There’s no doubt that the Prince of Peace blessed Bobby Vinton with a stunning symphony of songs as his melodies of love and faith continue to resonate with music lovers the world over.