About Tony Orlando
Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis (born April 3, 1944), known professionally as Tony Orlando, is an American pop and rock singer, songwriter, and music executive whose career spans nearly seven decades. He is best known for his work as part of Tony Orlando and Dawn. In 1993, he opened the Tony Orlando Yellow Ribbon Music Theatre in Branson, Missouri. He ended his act there in 2013 and has continued to perform many live shows as a headliner, mostly in Las Vegas. When his song "Candida" became an international No. 1 song, he began to use his name in the group becoming "Dawn featuring Tony Orlando" and then "Tony Orlando and Dawn". The group had 19 other top 40 tracks, including "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree", the top-selling hit of 1973 and one of the biggest selling singles of all time. The group also had a hit variety program, The Tony Orlando and Dawn Show on CBS from 1974 to 1976. They broke up in 1977 and he has since performed as Tony Orlando. In 1985, he portrayed Tony Castillo in The Cosby Show on Season 1 Episode 23 titled "Mr. Quite". Orlando retired from performing on the road, in concert in 2024, after 64 years. He shifted his focus to movies, Broadway, streaming new product, and writing another book. Kirshner also hired Orlando to record songwriter demos as a solo artist, and his first success came at the age of 16 when he charted in North America and UK with the hits "Bless You" and "Halfway To Paradise". When his song "Candida" became an international number-one song, he began to use his name in the group becoming "Dawn featuring Tony Orlando" and then "Tony Orlando and Dawn". Orlando's musical career started with The Five Gents, a doo-wop group he formed in 1959 at age 15, with whom he recorded demo tapes.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.