(Irwin Levine - Toni Wine)
Australia
#44 Adelaide # 30 Brisbane #23 Perth
Charted March 1972. Single on HMV (Australia) by Scottish-born singer-songwriter-guitarist Jel Tyson, whose family had migrated from Britain to Australia in 1970.
Jel Tyson was signed to a solo record deal while still in Sydney band Chantry Barn and, as Jel Elliff, had three charting singles in various cities. After returning to the UK in the mid-70s he fronted Alaska, and then 80s Chicago band The Reason. Back in Australia in the 80s, he helped to establish Sydney’s Fat Boy Studios before returning to the USA. He has been in The Bleeding Hearts, an Americana band formed 1988, then in cowpunk band The Autrys YouTube, and has set up his own Independent Artists Studio in Chicago. He has released a solo album, Bleeding Hearts.
The other two charting Jel Elliff singles were What Are You Doing Sunday (1971, #44 Adelaide # 30 Brisbane #23 Perth) and Going Nowhere (1971, #28 Adelaide: not the Los Bravos song). He also released Silvertown Girl (1972).
In November 1971 Jel Elliff represented Australia with Going Nowhere [YOUTUBE] at Yamaha’s World Popular Song Festival 2nd Semi-final.
References, further reading: 1. Jel Elliff/Tyson story at Ozzie Music Man (includes commentary from Jel Tyson and a downloadable zip file of all four Elliff singles + two Alaska singles). 2. Jel Tyson’s website.
Suggested by Barbara Herzig.
Jel Elliff singles discography:
1971 What Are You Doing Sunday/Willoughby HMV #EA-9560
1971 Going Nowhere/Pearly John HMV
#EA-9625
1971 Cotton Jenny/Suzanne HMV #EA-9776
1972 Silvertown Girl/Morning Has
Broken HMV #EA-9955
(Irwin Levine - Toni Wine)
USA
Original version
#39 USA #3 UK #23 Perth
Chart positions are from 1971. Although What Are You Doing Sunday was on the 1970 album Candida, it wasn’t released as a single until 1971.
Co-charted in Perth with Jel Elliff’s Australian cover.
Tony Orlando had released a number of solo singles in the first half of the 60s, beginning with Halfway to Paradise (Goffin-King, 1961, #39 USA) and Bless You (Mann-Weil, 1961, #15). He later went into promotions and music publishing before returning to recording with Detroit session singers Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent.
The group was known as Dawn for their first two hits, in 1970, Candida (#9 USA) and Knock Three Times (#1). By the time they had their second #1 hit, Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree in 1973, they were Dawn Featuring Tony Orlando. Their third and final USA #1, He Don’t Love You (Like I Love You), in 1975, was by Tony Orlando And Dawn.
Songwriter Toni Wine has a wide-ranging CV: for example, she wrote Groovy Kind Of Love with Carol Bayer-Sager, and she sang on The Archies’ Sugar Sugar, apart from recording both solo and as a back-up singer for a number of big names. See ToniWine.com or her Wikipedia entry for credits and links.
The other writer, Irwin Levine (c.1938-1997) is best remembered for writing Dawn’s homecoming anthem Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree (1970, #1 USA) with Larry Brown, who was also Levine’s collaborator on Dawn’s hits Knock Three Times (1970, #1 USA) and Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose (1973, #3). See Irwin Levine’s obituary from the New York Times.
References: Pages linked above and All Music entries on Dawn and
Tony Orlando.
Thanks to Mike Robbins and Terry Stacey.
(Irwin Levine - Toni Wine)
USA
Single on Jubilee, arranged by Lou Toby, produced by Steve Metz & Charlie Conrad.
Pop Archives
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Website by Lyn Nuttall. © Lyn Nuttall 2004-2024. Chart positions courtesy of Gavin Ryan’s Australian Chart Books and Dean Scapolo’s Complete NZ Music Charts. Special thanks to Terry Stacey for information, corrections and suggestions. Thanks also to Tony Watson, Philippe Edouard, Dave Overett.., More…