From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Apr 21, 2002  2:05 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Ernie Maresca
 
ERNIE MARESCA

Born 21 April 1939, The Bronx, New York City

Songwriter / vocalist. Maresca started out as the baritone vocalist in a
neighbourhood group, The Regents, and got his first break in 1958 when Dion
& The Belmonts, another Bronx group he knew, recorded his song "No One
Knows", a # 19 hit on the Laurie label. Maresca quit The Regents and took up
songwriting, penning another Dion & The Belmonts hit, "A Lover's Prayer".
The Regents, meanwhile, had broken up only to reform in 1961 (without
Maresca) after their three year-old demo of "Barbara Ann" became a surprise
hit. Maresca penned their follow-up, "Runaround", which also charted and
extended his winning streak with "Runaround Sue" and "The Wanderer", both
major hits for the now solo Dion, with whom he co-wrote both songs. In 1961
Maresca landed a recording contract with Seville, a small New York label,
"run by racketeers" in Ernie's own words. Maresca had warned them he wasn't
much of a singer but his protestations were brushed aside. It was hit songs
they were after and, sure enough, Maresca and a friend named Tom Bogdany
sat in a Manhattan bar called George's Nut House and wrote "Shout! Shout!",
a dance tune with a built-in feelgood factor. Maresca played a home-made
demo to Seville's A&R man Marvin Holtzman and a week later they were in
the studio. Not too long after that, "Shout Shout" was nestling in the Top
10 (# 6) alongside Elvis and Chubby Checker. It doesn't take a critic's ear
to hear echoes of "Runaround Sue" and "Quarter To Three" in "Shout Shout".
Following up his hit was something else altogether. Maresca would never see
the charts again, as a singer, that is. As a songwriter he continued to have
success with "Lovers Who Wander" and "Donna The Prima Donna" for Dion,
"Come On Little Angel" for the Belmonts, "Whenever A Teenager Cries" for
Reparata & The Delrons, "Hey Jean, Hey Dean" for Dean & Jean, and "Child
Of Clay" for Jimmie Rodgers (1967).
Maresca's all-round savvy landed him a job with Laurie Records where he
was still active in the nineties, packaging seemingly endless compilations
of
that golden stuff from long ago.

CD: The Original Wanderer (Ace 762).