Toni Wine
Encyclopedia
Toni Wine is an American
pop music
songwriter
, who wrote song
s for such artists
as The Mindbenders
("A Groovy Kind of Love
"), Tony Orlando and Dawn
("Candida
"), Elvis Presley
, and Checkmates Ltd. in the late 1960s and 1970s. Wine also sang the female vocals for the cartoon
music group The Archies
, most notably on their #1 hit
song "Sugar, Sugar
" (singing the line, "I can make your life so sweet.") However, she did not sing the lead vocal in the song "Jingle Jangle", but her voice is quite prevalent in the chorus; the lead was sung by Ron Dante
using a falsetto
. In addition, Wine was a backing vocalist
on Gene Pitney
's "It Hurts to Be In Love" and on Willie Nelson
's "Always on My Mind
."
Wine was a child prodigy who studied piano
at the Juilliard School of Music before going to work at Screen Gems
Publishing. There she initially collaborated with songwriters including Gerry Goffin
, Howard Greenfield
and Steve Venet. The first Wine composition that was recorded was The Cookies
' "Only to Other People," but she needed an ensuing three-year association with Carole Bayer Sager
to blossom. The earliest fruits of their partnership, "A Groovy Kind of Love
," topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
chart in 1965. By this time Wine was also recording as a solo artist, releasing singles for Colpix Records
to minimal acclaim.
By 1969, Wine joined with Ron Dante, Ellie Greenwich
and Andy Kim
to record as The Archies
. The following year, Wine wrote "Candida
". The first recording did not do well, so she then reunited with fellow Brill Building
alum Tony Orlando
, who sang lead while Wine and others (such as Linda November
) sang backup. The song was a hit, and the trio went on to record "Knock Three Times
", which also became a major hit.
After recording a handful of bubblegum-flavoured tracks, in the early 1970s, Wine married the record producer
Chips Moman
and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee
. There she released material for Atco Records
and Monument Records
in addition to a continuing career as a writer and session vocalist.
In 2007, Wine toured and appeared in concert with Tony Orlando, as vocalist and keyboardist
. She performed the same function in Orlando's 2011 tour.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, who wrote song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...
s for such artists
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
as The Mindbenders
The Mindbenders
The Mindbenders was a 1960s beat group from Manchester, England. They were part of the mid 1960s British Invasion with their chart-toppers "Game of Love" and "A Groovy Kind of Love"....
("A Groovy Kind of Love
A Groovy Kind of Love
"A Groovy Kind of Love" is a pop song written by Toni Wine and Carol Bayer for the Screen Gems music publishing company. It is heavily based on the Rondo movement of Sonatina in G major, op. 36 no. 5 by Muzio Clementi...
"), Tony Orlando and Dawn
Tony Orlando and Dawn
Tony Orlando and Dawn was a pop music group that was popular in the 1970s. Their signature hits include "Candida", "Knock Three Times", "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", and "He Don't Love You ".-History:...
("Candida
Candida (song)
"Candida" was the first single released under the name Dawn, later to become Tony Orlando and Dawn, in August 1970. It was written by Toni Wine and Irwin Levine, produced by Dave Appell with Hank Medress, Phil Margo, Mitch Margo and Jay Siegel of The Tokens, and arranged by Norman Bergen. The...
"), Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
, and Checkmates Ltd. in the late 1960s and 1970s. Wine also sang the female vocals for the cartoon
Cartoon
A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...
music group The Archies
The Archies
The Archies are a garage band founded by Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, and Jughead Jones, a group of adolescent fictional characters of the Archie universe, in the context of the animated TV series, The Archie Show...
, most notably on their #1 hit
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
song "Sugar, Sugar
Sugar, Sugar
"Sugar, Sugar" is a pop song written by Jeff Barry and Andy Kim. It was a four-week 1969 number-one hit single by fictional characters The Archies. Produced by Jeff Barry, the song was originally released on the album Everything's Archie. The album is the product of a group of studio musicians...
" (singing the line, "I can make your life so sweet.") However, she did not sing the lead vocal in the song "Jingle Jangle", but her voice is quite prevalent in the chorus; the lead was sung by Ron Dante
Ron Dante
Ron Dante is an American singer, songwriter, session vocalist, and record producer...
using a falsetto
Falsetto
Falsetto is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of the vocal folds, in whole or in part...
. In addition, Wine was a backing vocalist
Backing vocalist
A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
on Gene Pitney
Gene Pitney
Eugene Francis Alan Pitney, known as Gene Pitney , was an American singer-songwriter, musician and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic and was among the group of early 1960s American acts who continued to enjoy hits after the...
's "It Hurts to Be In Love" and on Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
's "Always on My Mind
Always on My Mind
"Always on My Mind" is an American country music song by Johnny Christopher, Mark James and Wayne Carson, originally recorded by Brenda Lee in 1972.Allmusic lists over 300 recorded releases of the song in versions by dozens of performers...
."
Career
In 1963, Toni Wine had a nationally charted single with "My Boyfriend's Coming Home For Christmas". It reached #22 on Billboard's "Best Bets For Christmas" survey.Wine was a child prodigy who studied piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
at the Juilliard School of Music before going to work at Screen Gems
Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American movie production company and subsidiary company of Sony Pictures Entertainment's Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group that has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation....
Publishing. There she initially collaborated with songwriters including Gerry Goffin
Gerry Goffin
Gerry Goffin is an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 with former songwriting partner and first wife, Carole King. he has co-written six Billboard Hot 100 chart-toppers.-Career:Goffin enlisted with the Marine Corps Reserve after graduating from...
, Howard Greenfield
Howard Greenfield
Howard Greenfield was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building...
and Steve Venet. The first Wine composition that was recorded was The Cookies
The Cookies
The Cookies were an American R&B girl group in the 1950s to 1960s. Members of the original lineup would later become The Raelettes, the backing vocalists for Ray Charles.-History:...
' "Only to Other People," but she needed an ensuing three-year association with Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager
Carole Bayer Sager is an American lyricist, songwriter, singer, and painter.-Introduction:Born in New York City, Sager graduated from New York University, where she majored in English, dramatic arts and speech...
to blossom. The earliest fruits of their partnership, "A Groovy Kind of Love
A Groovy Kind of Love
"A Groovy Kind of Love" is a pop song written by Toni Wine and Carol Bayer for the Screen Gems music publishing company. It is heavily based on the Rondo movement of Sonatina in G major, op. 36 no. 5 by Muzio Clementi...
," topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart in 1965. By this time Wine was also recording as a solo artist, releasing singles for Colpix Records
Colpix Records
Colpix Records was the first recording company for Columbia Pictures–Screen Gems. Colpix got its name from combining Columbia and Pictures . It was founded by Jonie Taps and Harry Cohn in 1958, and was based in New York City. Paul Wexler headed the label. Stu Phillips was in charge of A&R...
to minimal acclaim.
By 1969, Wine joined with Ron Dante, Ellie Greenwich
Ellie Greenwich
Eleanor Louise "Ellie" Greenwich was an American pop music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She wrote or co-wrote "Be My Baby", "Christmas ", "Da Doo Ron Ron", "Leader of the Pack", "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", and "River Deep, Mountain High", among many others...
and Andy Kim
Andy Kim
Andrew Youakim, performing as Andy Kim, is a Lebanese Canadian pop rock singer and songwriter. He grew up in Montreal, Quebec in Canada. Kim is known for a number of hit singles that he released in the late 1960s and early 1970s such as "Rock Me Gently", which topped the US singles charts. In 1968,...
to record as The Archies
The Archies
The Archies are a garage band founded by Archie Andrews, Reggie Mantle, and Jughead Jones, a group of adolescent fictional characters of the Archie universe, in the context of the animated TV series, The Archie Show...
. The following year, Wine wrote "Candida
Candida (song)
"Candida" was the first single released under the name Dawn, later to become Tony Orlando and Dawn, in August 1970. It was written by Toni Wine and Irwin Levine, produced by Dave Appell with Hank Medress, Phil Margo, Mitch Margo and Jay Siegel of The Tokens, and arranged by Norman Bergen. The...
". The first recording did not do well, so she then reunited with fellow Brill Building
Brill Building
The Brill Building is an office building located at 1619 Broadway on 49th Street in the New York City borough of Manhattan, just north of Times Square and further uptown from the historic musical Tin Pan Alley neighborhood...
alum Tony Orlando
Tony Orlando
Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis , better known as Tony Orlando, is an American show business professional, best known as the lead singer of the group Tony Orlando and Dawn in the early 1970s. Discovered by producer Don Kirshner, Orlando had songs on the charts in 1961 when he was 16, "Halfway to...
, who sang lead while Wine and others (such as Linda November
Linda November
Linda Ellen November is an American singer who sang tens of thousands of commercial jingles. She was the voice of the singing cat in the Meow Mix commercials, sang the jingle "Galaxy Glue" in the 1981 film The Incredible Shrinking Woman, the "Coke and a Smile" jingle in the classic Mean Joe Greene...
) sang backup. The song was a hit, and the trio went on to record "Knock Three Times
Knock Three Times
"Knock Three Times" is a popular song credited to Tony Orlando and Dawn. The actual singers were Tony Orlando, Toni Wine, and Linda November, prior to the creation of "Dawn" with Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson. The song was released as a single in November 1970, paired with Orlando's other...
", which also became a major hit.
After recording a handful of bubblegum-flavoured tracks, in the early 1970s, Wine married the record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
Chips Moman
Chips Moman
Lincoln Wayne "Chips" Moman is an American record producer, guitarist, and songwriter. As a record producer, Moman is known for recording Elvis Presley, Bobby Womack, Carla Thomas, and Merrilee Rush, as well as guiding the career of the Box Tops in Memphis, Tennessee during the 1960s...
and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
. There she released material for Atco Records
Atco Records
ATCO Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, currently operating through WMG's Rhino Entertainment.-Beginnings:Atco Records was founded in 1955 as a division of Atlantic Records. It was devised as an outlet for productions by one of Atlantic's founders, Herb Abramson, who...
and Monument Records
Monument Records
Monument Records was an American record label, Washington, D.C. named for the Washington Monument, founded in 1958, by Fred Foster and Buddy Deane . Buddy Deane soon left the company, and in the early 60's bought KOTN in Pine Bluff, Arkansas where he retired to until his death...
in addition to a continuing career as a writer and session vocalist.
In 2007, Wine toured and appeared in concert with Tony Orlando, as vocalist and keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
. She performed the same function in Orlando's 2011 tour.
External links
- Toni Wine - Official Site
- [ Toni Wine biography] at Allmusic websiteWebsiteA website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...
- [ Toni Wine songwriting credits at Allmusic]