From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Tue Nov 12, 2002  6:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Brian Hyland
 
BRIAN HYLAND

Born 12 November 1943, Queens, New York City, New York

Hyland's initial output was aimed at the teen market, but he grew up
fast and recorded more mature material as the sixties progressed.
His very first record was an immediate # 1 : the tongue-twisting
"Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" (1960). The song
was offered to Kapp Records by publisher George Pincus, but label
boss Dave Kapp didn't want "to lower the image of the Kapp label"
and invented a subsidiary, Leader Records, to release the record.
However, after the single became a huge hit, Kapp moved it over to
the parent label. Hyland recorded one more single for Kapp, "Four
Little Heels" (# 73), before he disavowed his contract (after all, he was
still a minor) and signed with ABC-Paramount. His first hit there was
"Let Me Belong To You" (# 20 in 1961) and his biggest one "Sealed
With A Kiss" (# 3 in the summer of 1962, also # 3 in the UK). Other
ABC hits were "Ginny Come Lately" and "Warmed Over Kisses",
which was revived by Dave Edmunds in 1982. After smaller hits for
Philips and Dot, he returned to the Top 3 in 1970 with a remake of
the 1961 Impressions hit "Gypsy Woman", produced by Del Shannon
and released on the Uni label. "Lonely Teardrops" (1971), also produced
by Shannon, turned out to be his 22nd and final chart entry.

CD: Brian's Big Ones (Connoisseur, 2001). 21 tracks.
Homepage: http://www.brianhyland.com/pages/501965/index.htm