Gene Pitney's emotional voice and extensive range made him one of America's
biggest pop stars of the 1960s specialising in big, dramatic, heartbreaking
ballads like 24 Hours From Tulsa and I'm Gonna Be Strong - though he was also a
talented songwriter too. Raised in Connecticut, Pitney formed his first band
Gene & the Genials while still at school, before forming a duo Jamie & Jame
(with Ginny Arnell) and in 1959 recorded under the name Billy Bryan. He wrote,
played various instruments and sang multi-tracked vocals on his first hit (I
Wanna) Love My Life Away in 1961, then had a ...