Umm. I was never much of a fan.

Wha-wha-what?

Aw, come on, man - Mr. Lonely? How can you not like that?

*walks away, kicks at rocks*

there was a reason he was so lonely.

Other than a little kitch factor, there's not much to get excited about Bobby Vinton. From the same era I'd prefer Bobby Vinton. "Wildwood Days" and "Wild One" are long time faves.

I like his voice - sure it's sugar snaps all the way down, but I cotton to that high tenor weepy sound.

It's why I like bands like My Morning Jacket, Band of Horses, Fleet Foxes, all that stuff - I like high tenor lead vocals.

I don't know much more about him than 'Roses Are Red,' 'Blue Velvet,' but that's totally enough for me. Plus, three tidbits from Wikipedia:

- He had the last #1 single of the pre-Beatles era. Like, literally, he got knocked off the top of the charts by 'I Want To Hold Your Hand.'
- "In the 1970s, the "Polish Prince" continued to hit the Top 40, notably with "Ev'ry Day of My Life" and "Sealed With a Kiss" in 1972. That same year, Epic Records decided to drop Vinton from his contract (despite the moderate success of these two hits), claiming that his days of selling records were over. Undeterred, Vinton spent $50,000 of his own money on a self-written song sung partially in Polish: "My Melody of Love." After Vinton was turned down by 7 major labels, ABC Records bought Vinton's idea, and the result was a multi-million selling single that hit #1 on the AC charts in 1974."
- He's been married to the same woman since 1962.

(Also: 1964 was the year that Albert Ayler recorded 'Spiritual Unity.' Here's Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln and others, performing 'Driva Man' in 1964 (though it was written a few years earlier). Whenever people complain about the state of music in a particular time period, it often seems like they're only considering the most mainstream of mainstream crap.)