Gene Pitney

A huge star in the USA, Gene Pitney was an even bigger star in the UK.  He scored 16 top 40 hits in America, but had 22 in Britain.  He was huge before the British Invasion, and was able to continue making hits during and after the Beatles.  An interesting guy, Pitney played piano on several Rolling Stones records and never accepted credit or made a penny for it, he just liked hanging with the Stones.  In 1962, Pitney went to #4 on the hot 100 with "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance" a song about a John Wayne/Jimmy Stewart movie.  And amazingly, the song never appeared in the movie.  Anyway, it's a great song... forgotten today.
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