#52: My Heart Belongs To Only You by Bobby Vinton

City: Hamilton, ON
Radio Station: CKOC
Peak Month: April 1964
Peak Position in Hamilton ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #17
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #9
YouTube: “My Heart Belongs Only To You”
Lyrics: “My Heart Belongs Only To You”

Stanley Robert Vinton was born in 1935 in Canonsberg, Pennsylvania. His father was a bandleader, and the Polish surname was originally Vintula, and anglicized to Vinton. He was given a weekly 25-cent allowance as an incentive to learn the clarinet (about $4.25 in 2024 dollars). By the age of sixteen, Bobby Vinton had his own band in Pittsburgh. He got a degree in university in music composition, and learned to also play saxophone, piano, drums, trumpet and oboe. In the fall of 1959, Bobby Vinton wrote a song titled “First Impression” which became a Top 40 hit in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Syracuse (NY) and Flint (MI). In early 1960, Vinton had a Top 20 hit in Syracuse (NY) with “A Freshman And A Sophomore”. He served in the United States Army for two years and got a record deal late in 1960 on the Epic label.

Vinton closed the year with the release of his first studio album, a jazz-pop-big band set of tracks titled Dancing At The Hop. He released a half dozen singles between 1958 and 1961. But his big breakout record was “Roses Are Red (My Love)”, which spent four weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in July-August 1962. The record topped the pop charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, and also South Africa. It was an international Top Ten hit in over fifteen nations.

Bobby Vinton released several more singles in 1962, including the Top 20 hit “Rain, Rain, Go Away” and Top 40 tune “Let’s Kiss And Make Up”. In 1963, Bobby Vinton continued to chart with a cover of the 1957 R&B hit by Johnnie and Joe “Over The Mountain (Across The Sea)”, the Burt Bacharach-Hal David tune “Blue On Blue”, and a cover of the 1951 Top 20 hit by Tony Bennett titled “Blue Velvet” (which Vinton took to number-one in September ’63).

In 1964, his cover of Vaughan Monroe’s number-one hit in 1945, “There I’ve Said It Again”, which also topped the charts for Vinton in January 1964. He remained in the Top Ten in 1964 with “My Heart Belongs To Only You”.

“MyHeart Belongs Only To You” was a song written by Dorothy and Frank Daniels. The original recording was in 1952 by Bette McLaurin and the Striders. That year it was also recorded by June Christy. Both versions charted to #27 on the Cashbox Best Selling Singles chart on February 21, 1953. In 1961, Jackie Wilson had a minor hit with the song.

“My Heart Belongs To Only You” is a song declaring love and devotion: “It’s just for you I want to live. It’s just for you my heart I give. I’ll always be your slave, my darling, through the coming years.” For awhile, the narrator of the song had some doubts, but now declares “you are the song within my soul.”

“My Heart Belongs Only To You” peaked at #1 in Hamilton (ON), Philadelphia, Louisville (KY), and Toledo (OH), #2 in Erie (PA), and Evansville (IN), #3 in Knoxville (TN), Pittsburgh, Lancaster (PA), and Albany (NY), #4 in Lansing (MI), Portland (ME), Seattle, Chicago, Cedar Rapids (IA), Boston, New Haven (CT), and San Antonio (TX), #5 in Springfield (MA), Montreal, Dallas, Syracuse (NY), Reading (PA), Detroit, and San Bernardino (CA), #6 in Buffalo, Tulsa (OK), Manchester (NH), Providence (RI), and Odessa (TX), #7 in Windsor (ON), Allentown (PA), Newark (NY), and Jackson (MI), #8 in Winnipeg (MB), Des Moines (IA), Milwaukee, Dayton (OH), Newport News (VA), and Los Angeles, #9 in Denver, Cincinnati (OH), and Columbus (OH), and #10 in San Jose (CA), Tucson (AZ), Miami, Akron (OH), South Bend (IN), and San Francisco.

Vinton’s next release was “Mr. Lonely”, which topped the pop charts in Canada and the USA, #2 in New Zealand, #3 in South Africa, and #8 in Australia and Belgium.

In 1964, Bobby Vinton appeared in the teen flick Surf Party, along with Jackie DeShannon and the Routers.

In 1965, Bobby Vinton made a guest appearance on The Patty Duke Show. In the latter half of the Sixties, Bobby Vinton’s most notable hits were “Coming Home Soldier” (1966), “Please Love Me Forever” (1967) and “I Love How You Love Me” (1968-69).

In 1972, Bobby Vinton successfully covered the 1962 hit by Brian Hyland, “Sealed With A Kiss”. It peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 on CHUM in Toronto. His last notable hit was in 1975 with the English-Polish recording of “My Melody Of Love”. As a result of that song, he was nicknamed “the Polish Prince”. The song became his theme-song on The Bobby Vinton Show on CTV in Canada from 1975 to 1978.  In 1978, Bobby Vinton published his autobiography titled The Polish Prince.

In film, Bobby Vinton appeared alongside John Wayne in Big Jake (1971) and The Train Robbers (1973). In the late 1970s, Canonsburg built and named two streets after Bobby Vinton: Bobby Vinton Boulevard and the shorter adjoining Bobby Vinton Drive, in his honor. He was also awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1990, Bobby Vinton’s 1963 recording of “Blue Velvet” became a #2 hit on the UK Pop Singles chart. Between 1961 and 1998, Bobby Vinton released nearly forty studio albums.

Between 1960 and 2014, Bobby Vinton made 30 appearances in concert in Canada. Most of these were in Windsor (ON), Toronto and Montreal. Vinton also performed in Saskatoon (1963), Ottawa (1971), and St Catharines (ON) and Orillia (ON), both in 2014. In 2015, at the age of 80, Bobby Vinton retired from performing.

June 19, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
Dave Laing, “Jerry Ragovoy Obituary: US Songwriter Known for Time Is On My Side and Piece Of My Heart,” Guardian, July 19, 2011.
“Vinton enjoys career as multi-talented performer,” Portsmouth Daily Times, Portsmouth (NH), August 5, 1990.
“Bobby Vinton – concert dates – Canada,” setlist.fm.
Trailer, “Surf Party,” Twentieth Century-Fox, 1964.
“Patty and the Newspaper Game,” The Patty Duke Show, February 3, 1965. (Guest star: Bobby Vinton)
Bette McLaurin with the Striders, “My Heart Belongs To Only You“, Derby Records, 1952.
June Christy, “My Heart Belongs To Only You“, Capitol Records, 1953.
Jackie Wilson, “My Heart Belongs To Only You“, Brunswick Records, 1961.

CKOC 1150-AM Hamilton (ON) Top Ten | April 3, 1964*
This week on the CKOC Sensational Sixty in Hamilton, The Beatles didn’t chart a single entry. They had seven entries on the March 27/64 chart, and would re-enter the CKOC chart with four entries on April 24/64.