songbird salutes the 70's: Tony Orlando and Dawn

The mood in the early 1970's was grim, disenchanted, depressed.  Watergate, Vietnam, Protests in the streets.

And the antidote was the feel-good sound of Tony Orlando and Dawn.

Orlando had a few top 40 hits in the 1960's, but for the most part he worked behind the scenes as a composer and producer.  And then, in 1970, he recorded a demo record, "Candida", which was released as a single under the band name "Dawn".  Eventually he teamed up with Joyce Vincent Wilson and Telma Hopkins to create hits such as "Knock Three Times", "Sweet Gypsy Rose", and their signature song, "Tie A Yellow Ribbon".  They also had a successful variety show.

So when Drew and I heard that the group would be appearing at the NYCB Theater at Westbury for a Christmas/reunion show, we had to buy tickets.

Tony has changed a bit since the 70's, but he still has that amazing voice.

Telma and Joyce are still beautiful.

They sang a lot of Christmas music, and some of their big hits.

A surprise guest...Jay Siegel of The Token s is an old friend of Tony's.  Jay joined the group to sing his big hit, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight."

And we had a visit from Santa.

Tony told some interesting stories.  It seems that the reason the group was offered the TV show was because of a performance at this very theater, back when it was still the Westbury Music Fair.  It seems Cher was supposed to perform at Westbury but had to cancel because of illness, and Tony Orlando and Dawn was booked as a replacement act.  A CBS executive happened to be in the audience, and he offers the group a summer replacement show.

And then he spoke about getting a call from Bob Hope and being asked to appear at a stadium, in front of 72,000 people, to welcome home the POW's of the Vietnam War, with this song:




It was a great evening, full of love and humor and nostalgia and music.