Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis (born April 3, 1944), known professionally as Tony Orlando, is an American singer, songwriter, producer, music executive, and actor, known for the group Tony Orlando and Dawn and their 1970s hits.

Orlando formed the doowop group The Five Gents in 1959 at the age of 15, with whom he recorded demos, and got the attention of music publisher and producer Don Kirshner.At the age of 17, in 1961, Orlando had his first hit with the song "Ding Dong" on the MILO record label. Kirshner hired him to write songs at 1650 Broadway, Manhattan as part New York's thriving Brill Building songwriting community, along with other songwriters Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Toni Wine, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, and Tom and Jerry, who didn’t make it in the office until they later changed their name to Simon and Garfunkel.[1] Orlando was also hired to sing on songwriter demos, and singles released with Orlando as a solo artist began to hit the charts in the US and the UK beginning in 1961 with "Halfway to Paradise" and "Bless You" when he was 16.[2] Orlando continued as a solo artist and also became a producer himself, as well as a successful music executive in the late 1960s. He was hired by Clive Davis as the general manager of Columbia Records' publishing imprint, April-Blackwood Music in 1967, and by the late 1960s had been promoted to vice-president of Columbia/CBS Music.   …Read the original text here >>>  Tony Orlando