Brian Hyland

All Music Guide:

Brian Hyland's puppy-love pop virtually defined the sound and sensibility of bubblegum during the pre-Beatles era. In the years after his teen idol stature faded, he enjoyed a creative renaissance, releasing a series of underrated country-inspired efforts and even making a brief return to the pop charts.

Born November 12, 1943, in Brooklyn, NY, Hyland studied guitar and clarinet while singing in his church choir. At 14 he co-founded a harmony group dubbed the Delfis, which cut a demo they shopped to various New York City record labels. Hyland ultimately signed as a solo artist to Kapp Records, and in late 1959 issued his debut single, "Rosemary." For the follow-up, "Four Little Heels (The Clickety Clack Song)," the label paired him with the Brill Building songwriting duo of Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance, and when the single proved a minor hit, Pockriss and Vance set to work on the follow-up. The resulting "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" topped the Billboard pop charts in the summer of 1960, vaulting the 16-year-old to teen heartthrob status.

After a move to ABC Records, Hyland partnered with the songwriting and production tandem of Gary Geld and Peter Udell for the hits "Let Me Belong to You" and "I'll Never Stop Wanting You." With 1962's "Sealed with a Kiss," a Top Five entry on both sides of the Atlantic, Hyland sealed his reputation as a paragon of youthful innocence and first-kiss romance, perfectly capturing the adolescent zeitgeist in the months leading up to Beatlemania. With 1962's Top 30 hit "Warmed-Over Kisses (Leftover Love)," Hyland introduced elements of country music into his sound, an approach he explored on singles including "I May Not Live to See Tomorrow" and "I'm Afraid to Go Home" and culminating with the 1964 LP Country Meets Folk. While Hyland's music clearly anticipated the folk-rock and country-rock that would blossom in the years to follow, he seemed hopelessly out of touch in contrast to the British Invasion acts now dominating pop radio, and his commercial fortunes rapidly dwindled. Hyland nevertheless forged on, teaming with producer Snuff Garrett and famed session men J.J. Cale and Leon Russell to score a pair of surprise Top 30 hits, "The Joker Went Wild" and "Run, Run, Look and See."

Subsequent efforts including "Get the Message" and "Holiday for Clowns" barely charted, however, and with 1969's Stay and Love Me All Summer, Hyland shifted gears yet again, creating a melancholy yet luminous sunshine pop sound of remarkable maturity. A year later, he resurfaced on the Uni label with a self-titled LP produced by Del Shannon. With "Gypsy Woman," a cover of the Impressions' 1961 R&B hit, Hyland scored his final Top Five hit, and while his rendition of Jackie Wilson's "Lonely Teardrops" also proved a minor chart effort, originals like "Mail Order Gun" (written in response to the assassination of John F. Kennedy) failed to earn the attention they deserved. Despite the success of "Gypsy Woman," Uni dropped Hyland from its roster and he spent much of the decade without a record deal, instead touring the U.S. and Europe. In 1975, ABC's British division reissued "Sealed with a Kiss," and it cracked the U.K. Top Ten. Two years later Hyland and his family settled in New Orleans, and in 1979 the Private Stock label issued In a State of Bayou, which spotlighted his collaboration with the famed Crescent City composer and producer Allen Toussaint. Hyland continued his active touring schedule in the decades to follow, often performing with son Bodi on drums.

Wikipedia:

Brian Hyland (born November 12, 1943, Woodhaven, Queens, New York) is an American pop recording artist who was particularly successful during the early 1960s. He continued recording into the 1970s. Allmusic journalist Jason Ankeny states, "Hyland's puppy-love pop virtually defined the sound and sensibility of bubblegum during the pre-Beatles era." Although his status as a teen idol faded, he went on to release several country-influenced albums and had further chart hits later in his career.

Biography

Hyland studied guitar and clarinet as a child, and sang in his church choir. When aged 14 he co-founded the harmony group The Delfis, which recorded a demo but failed to secure a recording contract. Hyland was eventually signed by Kapp Records as a solo artist, issuing his debut single, "Rosemary", in late 1959. The label employed the Brill Building songwriting duo of Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance to work with Hyland on the follow-up, "Four Little Heels (The Clickety Clack Song)", which was a minor hit, and the songwriting duo continued to work with Hyland.

Thus in August 1960, Hyland scored his first and biggest hit single at the age of 16, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini", written by Vance and Pockriss. It was a novelty song that reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and sold almost a million copies in the first two months of its release, and over two million copies in total.

Hyland moved on to ABC Records, where he began working with the songwriting and production team of Gary Geld and Peter Udell, and further hits followed with "Let Me Belong to You" and "I'll Never Stop Wanting You".

Hyland's other major hit during this period was 1962's "Sealed with a Kiss," which reached #3 in 1962 on both the American and UK Singles Chart. It stayed on the U.S. pop chart for eleven weeks. In 1975, "Sealed With a Kiss" was reissued as a single in the UK and became a surprise #7 hit (the song, revived by Australian Jason Donovan, charted #1 in the UK in 1989). Another 1962 hit was "Ginny Come Lately," which reached #21 on the U.S. chart and #5 in the UK. Hyland 1962 Top 30 hit "Warmed-Over Kisses (Leftover Love)" saw Hyland incorporating elements of country music into his work, which continued with singles including "I May Not Live to See Tomorrow" and "I'm Afraid to Go Home", and on the 1964 album Country Meets Folk. This approach was out of step with the changes brought about by the British Invasion bands, and his commercial success became limited, but he continued in that vein, and had further hits with "The Joker Went Wild" and "Run, Run, Look and See", working with producer Snuff Garrett and session musicians including J. J. Cale and Leon Russell.

Hyland appeared on national television programs such as American Bandstand and The Jackie Gleason Show, and toured both internationally and around America with Dick Clark in the Caravan of Stars. The caravan was in Dallas, Texas on the day of the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963. To commemorate the event, Hyland wrote the song "Mail Order Gun", which he recorded and eventually released on his 1970 eponymous album.

From 1963 through 1969, Hyland scored several minor hits, but none reached higher than #20 ("The Joker Went Wild") on the U.S. pop chart. An album released in 1964 featured numbers that hearkened back to the 1950s including such hits as "Pledging My Love" and "Moments to Remember" -- at a time when The Beatles were sweeping the pop music world with a very different style. Hyland afterward shifted into a phase of recording country music and folk rock styles. Songs such as "I'm Afraid To Go Home" and "Two Brothers" had an American Civil War theme. Hyland played harmonica on a few numbers.

Hyland attempted several departures from the norm, including the psychedelic single "Get the Message" (#91 on the U.S. pop chart), and "Holiday for Clowns" (#94), but despite their more-contemporary arrangements, they failed to get much airplay. He went on to chart just two more Top 40 hits, "Gypsy Woman" written by Curtis Mayfield, and a cover of "Lonely Teardrops" in 1971. Hyland recorded them in 1970, and Del Shannon produced the tracks. "Gypsy Woman" reached #3 on the 1970 U.S. pop chart, making it the second-biggest hit of his career, selling over one million copies, and being certified gold by the R.I.A.A. in January 1971. Two of his previous hits, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" and "Sealed with a Kiss" were also awarded gold discs.

By 1977 Hyland and his family had settled in New Orleans, and in 1979 the In a State of Bayou album, on which he had worked with Allen Toussaint, was issued by the Private Stock label.

Hyland continues to tour internationally with his son Bodi, who assists on drums from time to time.

Catalog consolidation

From 1960 to 1977, Hyland recorded a total of eleven albums for several different record companies. A twelfth album, Young Years, was a reissue. They included Leader Records, ABC-Paramount Records, Philips Records, Dot Records and Uni Records. Over the years, these record labels were consolidated and the recordings are now controlled by Universal Music. Universal has yet to release a CD compilation that includes all of Hyland's charted singles, invariably omitting a handful of minor singles that made the Billboard Top 100 (or the Bubbling Under chart).

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