BOBBY ORLANDO

'Bobby Orlando', also known as 'Bobby O,' is a disco dance music artist and record producer who was most successful in the early-mid 1980s.

Contents

Early life

Music career

Recent Times

Selected Discography

Notes

External links

Early life

The son of a suburban New York schoolteacher, Bobby declined a classical music scholarship to pursue his then current musical interest, glitter rock. ^{[1] [2]} In the late 1970s, his professional interests turned to disco, as he worked on albums by Todd Foster, in 1977, and Lyn Todd, in 1980. Shortly thereafter, he established his own record label, "O" Records.

Music career

Bobby “O” Orlando (aka Bobby O) is a highly prolific music producer, songwriter, musician and record label impresario. During the 1980’s he produced, composed and played on hundreds of music productions that he released under a myriad of record labels including: “O” Records, Bobcat Records, Memo Records, Telefon Records, MenoVision Records, Beach Records, Plastic Records, Eurobeat Records, Obscure Records, Beat Box Records, Riovista Records, Intelligent Records, Basic Records, Knowledge Records and others. In the late ‘80’s at the peak of his success, the “one-man-band” suddenly and inexplicably halted his extensive production output.
Orlando is credited as one of the founding fathers of euro/pop dance music. His productions are easily identifiable by their dense synthesizers, rolling bass lines, and resounding percussion. Orlando tracks showcase him playing multiple instruments including keyboards, guitars, drums, percussion and saxophone. The ringing cowbell percussion lines and robotic sequencers heard in “She has a Way”, “The Best Part of Breakin’ Up”, “Desire”, and “Native Love (Step by Step)” defines the electrifying sound he pioneered.
As a solo artist Orlando scored hits with tracks “She Has a Way”, “A Man Like Me” and “I’m So Hot for You”. He created his project concept The Flirts to further front his performances. With its ever revolving roster of female session singers and models, Orlando churned out international hits “Passion,” “JukeBox (Don’t put another Dime)” and “Helpless” that featured Orlando as the sole musician. His legendary association with underground film star Divine resulted in classic club anthems “Native Love” (featuring Orlando’s voice in the chorus), “Love Reaction”, “Jungle Jezebel” and “Shoot your Shot”. Orlando also discovered and produced the Pet Shop Boys; launching their career with his productions “West End Girls”, “One More Chance”, and many others. Orlando also produced songs for Ottawan, with hits like "Hello Rio" and "DISCO". He also is famed for founding The Fast, later to be known as Man 2 Man. His production on the album "The Fast for Sale" is still highly collectable.
He also produced the songs under the name Robert Phillip Orlando with a jazz style departure to his sound.
His music was used in Felix da Housecat’s hit single “Silver Screen Shower Scene” in 2001 and “Da Hype” by Junior Jack in 2004. Orlando’s music appears in numerous motion pictures including: Nightmare on Elm Street II, Wigstock, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and Valley Girl.
Orlando produced and penned numerous hits that spanned multiple genres in mostly self created “groups”, often just consisting of Orlando himself. His productions were released as: Teen Rock, The Beat Box Boys, Hotline, Banana Republic, Oh Romeo, The New York Models, Hippies with Haircuts, SpoogeBoy, Girly, Barbie & the Kens, Wow, 1 plus 1, The He Man Band, The Boyd Brothers, Nancy Dean, Ian Darby with Ya Ya, Cha Cha featuring Don Diego, Yukihoro Takanawa, This is House, Joy Toy, Dressed to Kill, Band of South, Dynasty featuring Dexter D, Darlene Down, The Fem-Spies, Gangsters of House, Girls Have Fun, Zwei Maenner, Something Anything, Gomez Presley, Gringo Lopez, Patty Phillipe, Malibu, Lilly & the Pink, Miss Tammi Dee, New Breed, Mc Fritz and the P-Rockers (probably the rarest of all tracks released), Charlene Davis, Claus V, Ronnie Goes to Liverpool, The Bang Gang, Bubba and The Jack Attack, Fascination, Free Enterprise, Sandra Ford, Future Generation, Citrus, The College Boys, Condo, The Bigalows, Free Expression, Lola, Lifestyle, I Spies, Johny Bankcheck, Latin 1, Kinski Music, Gina Desire, and Beachfront, and others.
Orlando’s songs frequently deal with philosophical themes such as “Try It (I’m in love with a married man)” which was given a contemporary twist when it was rerecorded by the Pet Shop Boys in 2003. Many of Orlando’s lyrics describe unrequited love, private despair, personal angst and a truth-seeking perspective. Orlando frequently etched philosophical maxims into vinyl records featuring his songs; these adages being literally cut into the grooves near the “lead out” and “lock grooves” of the vinyl. Many of these are rare and are now collector items.
In the late 1980’s Orlando wrote the book “Darwin Destroyed” which endeavored to refute Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution. The book was written long before the now popular Intelligent Design movement emerged. The book did not contain any reference to music.
Orlando’s musical influence on many present day artists is vast and the sound he created routinely surfaces on euro, techno, Italo-disco, electro and Hi-NRG releases throughout the world. He has a large international following and is often cited by music historians for his immeasurable contribution to dance music.
He is famous for writing and producing numerous Hi-NRG and disco anthems with artists such as Divine ("Shoot Your Shot", "Native Love"), The Flirts ("Passion", "Danger", "Don't Put Another Dime In the Jukebox", "You and Me") and Roni Griffith ("Best Part Of Breaking Up"), among others, all of which were released on "O" Records. He also worked with the Pet Shop Boys early in their career, co-writing with them and producing the original version of "West End Girls" in 1984. His biggest solo hit, ''She Has A Way'', was released in 1982.

Recent Times

Although he went quiet for much the 1990s and 2000s, he still remains busy and is still active in the dance music world. Orlando’s most recent production is the 2005 release “Outside the Inside” which contains the Billboard chart topping, internet radio hit Sorrow. Many of these tracks were originally written for Reputation Records in the early 1990s.

Selected Discography

Some Bobby Orlando recordings:

★ ''Freedom In An Unfree World'' (1983) (album, including the disco hit "Beat By Beat")

★ ''One Two Three'' (1983) (album, including the underground hits "Another Knife In My Back" and "Runaway") by 1-2-3

★ ''Bobby O & His Banana Republic'' (1985) (including : "A Man Like Me", "Whisper To A Scream")

★ ''Questions Of The Heart'' (1986) (album, including the hit "All You Ever Think About Is (Sex)!") by The Flirts

★ ''Outside the Inside'' (2005) (album)

Notes

1. Stone, Doug. Bobby Orlando Biography, All Music Guide. Retrieved 12/12/2006
2. Leston, Kimberly. 1987. The Story of O. ''The Face''.

External links

★ Unofficial Bobby Fansite

★ Bobby Orlando Hungarian Fan Site

★ Text of a 1987 Article from The Face

★ Discogs Bobby Orlando Discography

★ [http://www.discoimperium.com/ - Bobby Orlando Productions & Discography