Stanley Robert Vinton (born April 16, 1935) is an American pop music singer. At 16, Vinton formed his first band, which played clubs around the Pittsburgh area. With the money he earned, Vinton helped finance his college education at Duquesne University, where he studied music and graduated with a degree in musical composition. While at Duquesne, he became proficient on all of the instruments in the band: piano, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, drums and oboe. After a brief spell in the US Army, Vinton was signed to Epic Records in 1960 as a bandleader: "A Young Man With a Big Band." Two albums and several singles were not successful however, and with Epic ready to pull the plug, Vinton found his first hit single literally sitting in a reject pile. The song was titled "Roses Are Red (My Love)." It spent four weeks at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Arguably, his most famous song is 1963's "Blue Velvet" that also went to No.1. 23 years later, David Lynch named his movie Blue Velvet after the song. In 1964, Vinton had two #1 hits, "There! I've Said It Again" and "Mr. Lonely", the latter now being the basis for Akon's hit "Lonely."

Filmography

• Coach — Bobby Vinton
• Pink Lady — Bobby Vinton
• 1980The Gossip Columnist — Marty Kaplan
• Benson
• The Bobby Vinton Show
• 1973The Train Robbers — Ben Young
• 1971Big Jake — Jeff McCandles
• 1964Surf Party — Len Marshal
• The Patty Duke Show

Appearances as themselves (11)

• Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters — Self
• Dinah! — Self
• 1974Hamburgers — Self
• The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour — Self
• Shindig! — Self - Singer
• The Hollywood Palace — Self
• The Merv Griffin Show — Self
• The Mike Douglas Show — Self
• The David Susskind Show — Self
• Kraft Music Hall — Self
• The Ed Sullivan Show — Self