5/04/04
FOR RELEASE: IMMEDIATE
CONTACT: TAMARA PETTIT
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
304-387-8335(OFFICE)304-479-8097(CELL)
Memories of proms of a day gone by and summer dances in a
park with a bandstand and carousel will be resurrected for
many when Bobby Vinton takes the stage at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack and Resort on May 20.
The popular crooner is known nationally for his legendary
hits, ROSES ARE RED, BLUE VELVET and MR LONELY. On a local
level, however, Vinton is remembered as the young man from
Canonsburg, PA whose 11-member band played for the Junior-Senior
Prom at New Cumberland High School in 1957 and provided the
music for weekly dances at Rock Springs Park in Chester, West
Virginia and at the Independent Steelworkers Hall in Weirton.
Vinton, the son of a locally popular bandleader Stan Vinton,
formed his own band at age 16. The money he earned playing
clubs around the Pittsburgh area helped finance his college
education at Duquesne University. While at Duquesne, Vinton
became proficient on all instruments in the band (piano, clarinet,
saxophone, trumpet, drums and oboe.) He recently received an
honorary doctoral degree in music from his alma mater.
In reminiscing about the playing the local prom/dance circuit
prior to hitting it big, Vinton said the May 20th concert at
Mountaineer “is kind of like coming home. I’m going
back to my roots” He remembers the Rock Spring Park dances
as “a very “romantic time with the music…almost
like something in the movies. There was the carousel, the guys
in white shoes and girls that were all dressed up with their
crinoline skirts.”
Vinton said he signed contracts to play the events for $75.
After his first hit song in 1962, ROSES ARE RED, hit the charts
his going price increased dramatically.
“I honored all those ($75) contracts though,” Vinton
said. “Because my Dad told that I had signed my name
to the contract and given my word.”
Vinton got his big break when he and his band appeared on
Guy Lombardo’s “TV Talent Scouts.” A subsequent
four-week contract on the TV show landed him a contract with
Epic Records, the label that released his first single, ROSES
ARE RED. The record climbed to the #1 spot on the record charts
and eventually sold over four million copies. A long string
of hits followed included BLUE ON BLUE, BLUE VELVET, THERE
I’VE SAID IT AGAIN, PLEASE LOVE ME FOREVER, TELL ME WHY,
SEALED WITH A KISS AND I LOVE HOW YOU LOVE ME. Vinton was awarded
over a dozen gold records and albums and has sold over 50 million
records.
The concert, which begins at 8 p.m., will be located in THE
HARV. Tickets prices are $60- Gold, $40 - Reserved and $20
- General Admission and can purchased through any Ticketmaster
location or on site at the Downtown Speakeasy Roarin’ 20’s
Club. |
