Brian Hyland

Brian Hyland

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. 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."

Biography

Hyland studied guitar and clarinet while singing in his church choir. At the age of 14 he co-founded a harmony group, The Delfis, which recorded a demo they sent to various New York 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.

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 over two million copies.

After a move to ABC Records, Hyland partnered with the songwriting and production team of Gary Geld and Peter Udell for the hits "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. 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 album, Country Meets Folk. Hyland forged on, teaming with producer Snuff Garrett and 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."

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" hit #3 on the 1970 U.S. pop chart, making it the second-biggest hit of his career. This disc sold over one million copies, and received a gold disc awarded by the R.I.A.A. on 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 Private Stock label issued In a State of Bayou, which spotlighted his collaboration with Allen Toussaint.

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).

• 1967 - Leader Records ("Itsy Bitsy...") owner Kapp Records sold to MCA, Inc. and becomes co-owned with Uni Records ("Gypsy Woman").
• 1974 - Dot Records ("Tragedy") sold to ABC Records ("Sealed With A Kiss")
• 1979 - MCA Records buys ABC Records
• 1998 - MCA parent Universal Music buys Philips Records ("The Joker Went Wild") owner PolyGram completing the catalog consolidation

Discography

Singles

Year	Title (Songwriters)	U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Chart	UK Singles Chart
1960	"Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" (Lee Pockriss/Paul Vance)	#1	#8
1960	"Four Little Heels (The Clickety Clack Song)" (Lee Pockriss/Paul Vance)	#73	#29
1961	"Let Me Belong to You" (Gary Geld/Peter Udell)	#20	-
1961	"I'll Never Stop Wanting You" (Gary Geld/Peter Udell)	#83	-
1962	"Ginny Come Lately" (Gary Geld/Peter Udell)	#21	#5
1962	"Sealed with a Kiss" (Gary Geld/Peter Udell)	#3	#3
1962	"Warmed Over Kisses (Left Over Love)" (Gary Geld/Peter Udell)	#25	#28
1963	"I May Not Live To See Tomorrow" (Gary Geld/Peter Udell)	#69	-
1963	"If Mary's There" (Gary Geld/Peter Udell)	#88	-
1963	"I'm Afraid to Go Home" b/w "Save Your Heart for Me" (Gary Geld/Peter Udell)	#63	-
1966	"3000 Miles" (R. Wayne)	#99	-
1966	"The Joker Went Wild" (B. Russell)	#20	-
1966	"Run, Run, Look and See" (M.H. Cooper/Ray Whitley)	#25	-
1967	"Hung Up In Your Eyes" (Sonny Curtis/Glen D. Hardin)	#58	-
1967	"Holiday For Clowns" (Sonny Curtis/Glen D. Hardin)	#94	-
1967	"Get The Message" (Michael Z. Gordon/J. A. Griffin)	#91	-
1969	"Tragedy" (Gerald H. Nelson/Fred B. Burch)	#56	-
1969	"A Million To One" (Phil Medley)	#90	-
1969	"Stay And Love Me All Summer" (Joel Hirschhorn/Al Kasha)	#82	-
1970	"Gypsy Woman" (Curtis Mayfield)	#3	#42
1971	"Lonely Teardrops" (Tyran Carlo/Gwen Fuqua/Berry Gordy, Jr.)	#54	-
1971	"So Long, Marianne" (Leonard Cohen)	#120	-
1975	"Sealed with a Kiss" (re-issue) (Gary Geld/Peter Udell)	-	#7

Albums

• 1961 The Bashful Blonde
• 1962 Let Me Belong to You
• 1962 Sealed with a Kiss
• 1963 Country Meets Folk
• 1964 Here's to Our Love
• 1965 Rockin' Folk
• 1966 The Joker Went Wild
• 1967 Tragedy
• 1967 Young Years (a reissue of) Here's to Our Love
• 1969 Stay and Love Me All Summer
• 1970 Brian Hyland
• 1977 In a State of Bayou
• 1987 Sealed with a Kiss
• 1994 Greatest Hits
• 2002 Blue Christmas
• 2009 Triple Threat Vol. 1

Family links

• Brian Hyland is a cousin (by marriage) of the late Louis Feinberg, aka "Larry Fine" of the Three Stooges.

See also

• List of artists who reached number one in the United States
• List of artists who reached number one on the Australian singles chart
• List of acts who appeared on American Bandstand

External links

• BrianHyland.com: Official site
• Last.fm
• iLike.com
• Youtube- Official Brian Hyland Channel
• Yahoo Music, Artist Page- Brian Hyland
• Brian Hyland biography from Universal Music