'Polka Dot Bikini' Songwriter Dies at 68

[ExtremeSleuth]

http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/ap/20060926/115931154000.html

'Polka Dot Bikini' Songwriter Dies at 68

Songwriter Paul Vance, who earned pop culture immortality with the 1960 smash about a bashful bather, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini," has died. He was 68.

The New Milford-raised Vance, whose real name was Paul Van Valkenburgh, died Sept. 6 at his home in Ormond Beach, Fla., said his wife of 32 years, Rose Leroux. He had been battling lung cancer for two years.

Vance and songwriting partner Lee Pockriss also co-wrote "Catch a Falling Star," a No. 1 hit for Perry Como in 1958.

But they had their biggest success with the song about the girl with a brand new bikini who "was afraid to come out of the locker, she was a nervous as she could be. ... Now she's afraid to come out of the water, and the poor little girl's turning blue."

Recorded by 16-year-old teen idol Brian Hyland and a group of girlish backup singers, "Itsy Bitsy ...' surged to No. 1 on the Billboard charts in August 1960.

In an Associated Press interview that same month, Vance said the idea came while he and Pockriss were working on a demonstration record ("Petticoat Fly," which went nowhere.) He told Pockriss that his wife was thinking of getting a bikini but didn't have the nerve to wear it. The resulting song was written in 25 minutes and recorded within a week, he said.

The song has been used in such films as "Sister Act 2" and "Revenge of the Nerds II" and was more recently revived in a yogurt commercial.

"When he was young, he sold all the rights to the songs because he was young and foolish and now, 'Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini' is becoming popular again," his widow said.

His songs were as lighthearted as his personality, she said.

"He was a fun person," Leroux said. "He always joked, teased a lot. He was a good man."

In addition to his musical compositions, Leroux said, her husband was a Navy veteran in the Korean War and later in life spent time as a painting contractor.

In the 1960 interview, Vance said his then-wife hadn't bought a bikini, even after the song became a hit. "She still doesn't have the nerve, so she compromised by making a bikini for our 2-year-old daughter, Paula. It's itsy, bitsy, teenie weenie and has, believe it or not, yellow polka dots."

May he RIP

 

[ExtremeSleuth]

wait! he's NOT dead... that was an imposter!

http://entertainment.tv.yahoo.com/entnews/ap/20060927/115940172000.html

Real `Itsy Bitsy' Songwriter Still Alive

The man who co-wrote the song "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" had the unsettling experience this week of reading his own obituary the result of an impostor who went through life claiming to be the author of the 1960s smash hit.

On Tuesday, The Associated Press reported on the death of a 68-year-old man named Paul Van Valkenburgh of Ormond Beach, Fla., who claimed to have written the song under the name Paul Vance. The story cited the man's wife as the source for that claim.

But the music industry's real Paul Vance, a 76-year-old man from Coral Springs, Fla., is alive and well, and says the other Paul Vance appears to have made the whole thing up.

The Paul Vance who wrote the songs and provided proof with royalty payments he is still receiving for the hit said he has been inundated with calls from people who think he died. An owner of racehorses, Vance said two of his horses were scratched from races Wednesday because people thought he had died.

"Do you know what it's like to have grandchildren calling you and say, `Grandpa, you're still alive?'" he said in a telephone interview from Coral Springs. "This is not a game. I am who I am and I'm proud of who I am. But these phones don't stop with people calling thinking I'm dead."

Rose Leroux, the widow of the man who died, said she was surprised by the disclosure, and "kind of devastated." She said she had no reason to doubt that her husband who apparently had some sort of music career when he was younger was the writer of the famous tune.

She said her husband told her that he never got any royalties because he sold the rights when he was young, around 19. She said that by the time they met almost 40 years ago, he was making his living as a salesman. He later became a painting contractor.

"If this other man says he did it then my husband's a liar, or he's a liar," Leroux said.

The living Paul Vance estimated he has made several million dollars from the song, which was recorded by 16-year-old teen idol Brian Hyland, surged to No. 1 on the Billboard charts in August 1960 and has been pop culture staple ever since.

The song about a bashful young woman in a skimpy bathing suit has been used in such movies as "Sister Act 2" and "Revenge of the Nerds II" and was more recently revived in a yogurt commercial.

"It's a money machine," Vance said.

Vance said his first hit was "Catch a Falling Star," recorded by Perry Como, and he went on to write numerous million-sellers for Como, Johnny Mathis and others.

To prove he is the real songwriter, Vance provided royalty statements showing dozens of payments for the tune sent to his address in Westbury, N.Y., where he lived before moving to Florida. Jim Steinblatt, an official with the American Society for Composers, Authors and Publishers, confirmed that royalty checks for the song were being mailed to Vance in Westbury.

Steinblatt also said he knows Vance personally and had visited him at his Westbury home last year. He said he had never heard of the man who died and took credit for composing the song.

Vance said he has no animosity toward the impostor or his wife.

Vance's songwriting partner, Lee Pockriss, who shares credit on "Itsy Bitsy ...', lives in Bridgewater, Conn., and is recovering from a stroke. His wife, Sonya, said her husband's writing partner is the living Paul Vance, and she had never heard of the Paul Vance from Ormond Beach.

Leroux said she wished the other Paul Vance had never spoken up.

"It's such a long time ago. To have it come out now, I'm kind of devastated," she said. "If this man is getting the royalties why wouldn't he be happy? The more you stir this up the more you'll smell. Paul can't hurt him now he's dead. And we're not going after him for the royalties."

that's weird...

 

[mikkowilson]

I'm not dead yet!



- Mikko ... is just a figment of his own imagination.

 

[Brandon Rice]

LOL!!! That's crazy!