Brian Hyland (born November 12, 1943) is an American pop singer and instrumentalist who was particularly successful during the early 1960s. He had a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" in 1960. Other hits include "Sealed with a Kiss" and "Gypsy Woman" which each reached No. 3. Hyland continued recording into the 1970s. AllMusicjournalist Jason Ankeny said "Hyland's puppy-love pop virtually defined the sound and sensibility of bubblegum during the pre-Beatles era."[1] Although his status as a teen idol faded, he went on to release several country-influenced albums and had additional chart hits later in his career.[1]
Hyland was born in Woodhaven, Queens, New York City.[1] He studied guitar and clarinet as a child, and sang in his church choir.[1] At 14, he co-founded the harmony group the Del-Fi's, which recorded a demo but failed to secure a recording contract.[1] Hyland was eventually signed by Kapp Records as a solo artist, issuing his debut single, "Rosemary", in late 1959.[1] The label employed the Brill Building songwriting duo of Lee Pockriss and Paul Vance to work with Hyland on the follow-up, "Four Little Heels (The Clickety Clack Song)", which was a minor hit, and the songwriting duo continued to work with Hyland.[1]
Hyland moved on to ABC-Paramount Records, where he began working with the songwriting and production team of Gary Geld and Peter Udell, and further hits followed with "Let Me Belong to You" and "I'll Never Stop Wanting You".[1] In 1961, aged 17, he appeared as himself on the March 6 episode of the game show To Tell the Truth. He received three votes.[5]
His other major hit during this period was 1962's "Sealed with a Kiss", which reached No. 3 in 1962 on both the American and UK Singles Chart.[6] Another 1962 hit was "Ginny Come Lately", which reached No. 21 on the U.S. chart and No. 5 in the UK.[6] Hyland's 1962 Top 30 hit "Warmed-Over Kisses (Leftover Love)" incorporated elements of country music into his work, which continued with singles including "I May Not Live to See Tomorrow" and "I'm Afraid to Go Home" and on the 1964 album Country Meets Folk.[1] This approach was out of step with the changes brought about by British Invasion bands. Hyland's commercial success became limited, but he continued that in vein and had further hits with "The Joker Went Wild" and "Run, Run, Look and See", working with producer Snuff Garrett and session musicians including J. J. Cale and Leon Russell.[1]
Hyland appeared on national television programs such as American Bandstand and The Jackie Gleason Show, and toured both internationally and around America with Dick Clark in the Caravan of Stars. The caravan was in Dallas, Texas, on the day of the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963.[7] To commemorate the event,[according to whom?] Hyland wrote the song "Mail Order Gun", which he recorded and eventually released on his 1970 eponymous album.
From 1963 through 1969, Hyland scored several minor hits, but none reached higher than No. 20 ("The Joker Went Wild") on the U.S. pop chart.[8] An album released in 1964 featured numbers that hearkened back to the 1950s, including such hits as "Pledging My Love" and "Moments to Remember"—at a time when The Beatles and other British Invasion acts were drowning out American artists. Hyland afterward shifted into a phase of recording country music and folk rock styles. Songs such as "I'm Afraid to Go Home" and "Two Brothers" had an American Civil War theme. Hyland played the harmonica on a few numbers.
Hyland attempted several departures from the norm, including the psychedelic single "Get the Message" (No. 91 on the U.S. pop chart), and "Holiday for Clowns" (No. 94),[8] but despite their more contemporary arrangements, they failed to get much airplay. He went on to chart just two more top 40 hits, both cover versions: "Gypsy Woman", a 1961 hit for the Impressions written by Curtis Mayfield, and "Lonely Teardrops", a 1959 hit for Jackie Wilson. Hyland recorded both in 1970, and Del Shannon produced the tracks.[9] "Gypsy Woman" reached No. 3 on the 1970 U.S. pop chart, making it the second-biggest hit of his career, selling over one million copies, and being certified gold by the RIAA in January 1971.[10] Two of his previous hits, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini" and "Sealed with a Kiss", were also awarded gold discs.[10]
In 1975, "Sealed With A Kiss" became a hit again in the UK (No. 7)[6] and Hyland performed the song on Top of the Pops on July 31 of the same year. By 1977, he and his family had settled in New Orleans, and in 1979 the In a State of Bayou album, on which he had worked with Allen Toussaint, was issued by the Private Stock label.[1]
In June 1988, Dutch singer Albert West asked Hyland to record with him some duets of Hyland's hits: "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini", "Sealed With A Kiss", and "Ginny Come Lately". The latter song had been covered before by West in 1973, becoming a huge European hit and his biggest. Their duet of "Itsy Bitsy..." was released as a single and reached No. 43 on the Dutch singles chart. Hyland and West performed on TV shows in Germany, Belgium and a Dutch TV special in Aruba.[11]
After sixty years since the release of ‘Sealed with a Kiss’, Brian reunited with Peter Udell. Peter penned a Christmas song and invited Brian to record it. The song, titled ‘A Little Bit of Christmas Time’, was released at the end of November 2023.
As Brian continues to grace stages and studios with his timeless melodies, his legacy as a true icon of the music industry only grows stronger with each passing beat.
Brian is currently married to Kathalynn Turner Hyland, actress, writer, author, & psychotherapist. They’re happy parents to a maltese named Gidget. [12]
Catalog consolidation
From 1960 to 1977, Hyland recorded a total of eleven albums for several different record companies. A twelfth album, Young Years, was a reissue. They included Leader Records, ABC-Paramount Records, Philips Records, Dot Records and Uni Records. Over the years, these record labels were consolidated and the recordings are now controlled by Universal Music. Universal has yet to release a CD compilation that includes all of Hyland's charted singles, invariably omitting a handful of minor singles that made the Billboard Top 100 (or the Bubbling Under chart).
1967 – Leader Records ("Itsy Bitsy...") owner Kapp Records sold to MCA, Inc. and becomes co-owned with Uni Records ("Gypsy Woman").
1974 – Dot Records ("Tragedy") sold to ABC Records ("Sealed with a Kiss")
1979 – MCA Records buys ABC Records
1998 – MCA parent Universal Music buys Philips Records ("The Joker Went Wild") owner PolyGram completing the catalog consolidation
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"Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" is a novelty song telling the story of a shy girl wearing a revealing polka dot bikini at the beach. It was written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss and first released in June 1960 by Brian Hyland, with an orchestra conducted by John Dixon. The Hyland version reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, selling a million copies in the US, and was a worldwide hit. The song has been adapted into French as "Itsy bitsy petit bikini" and into German as "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Honolulu-Strand-Bikini", reaching number one on national charts in both languages. Several versions of the song have proved successful in various European countries. In 1990 a version by British pop band Bombalurina, titled "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini", reached number one on the UK Singles Chart and in Ireland.
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"Sealed with a Kiss" is a song written and composed by Peter Udell and Gary Geld. The original recording of "Sealed with a Kiss" was by the Four Voices which was released as a single in May 1960 without becoming a hit. It first became a hit in 1962 for Brian Hyland. Jason Donovan later had an international number one hit with the song in 1989.
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