About Benny Mardones
Ruben Armand "Benny" Mardones (November 9, 1946 – June 29, 2020) was an American pop/rock singer and songwriter who was best known for his hit single "Into the Night", which hit the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart twice, in 1980 (#11) and again in 1989 (#20). == Early life and career == Ruben Armand Mardones was born on November 9, 1946, His father, Ruben Sr., who was originally from Santiago, Chile, left the family when Benny was an infant and returned to Chile. Mardones had a sister, two half-brothers, and two half-sisters who live in Chile. Mardones grew up in Savage, Maryland, and graduated from Howard High School in Ellicott City, Maryland in 1964. He joined the U.S. Navy after high school and served in the Vietnam War. He was married to Gloria Dianne Whitley. After his discharge, he moved to New York City to pursue his singing and songwriting career, and composed several songs with writing partner Alan Miles. Mardones began his career as a songwriter, writing songs for people like Brenda Lee and Chubby Checker. He demoed the songs he wrote, and Tommy Mottola suggested that he record his own songs; from that point, he wrote and recorded over 100 songs. Mardones's band was called the Hurricanes.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.