When I was a child, I used to wonder about Tony Romeo. I’m guessing you don’t know who Tony Romeo was.
He was the guy who wrote the monster hit for the Partridge Family I Think I Love You. He also wrote lots of hits for many other recording artists, as well as an impressively large number of TV commercial jingles.
I was the sort of little kid who wondered about the people nobody else was paying attention to. So when I saw the cover of the Partridge Family album, and decided that I Think I Love You was my favorite song on it, I began to wonder about the songwriter.
Also, “Tony Romeo” is a very cool name. To my twelve year old mind, a name like that conjured up glamour, intrigue and maybe even international spy stuff.
This morning, prompted by the recent sad demise of David Cassidy, I started looking on the Web for more info about Tony Romeo. I found discovered that he had tried to start his own singing career, but that it never gotten anywhere, and that he died in relative obscurity in 1995.
Curiously, searching on Google for “Tony Romeo” and “I Think I Love You” didn’t produce any photos of him. Although, not surprisingly, there were lots and lots of images of the young David Cassidy’s eerily pretty face.
I finally had some luck when I abandoned the ersatz Partridge Family and started looking for songs Romeo had written for The Cowsills, the real musical performing family that the fictional Partridge Family was based on.
That’s when I hit pay dirt: A single photo of Mr. Romeo proudly holding up his first ever golden record, for “Indian Lake”, a hit for The Cowsills in 1968.
It’s strange, isn’t it? Tony Romeo created a sound that was widely imitated, and his work is fondly remembered by millions. Yet he was never in the limelight.
And now the man himself has largely been forgotten. I wonder how many people like that there are in our culture — just around the corner from famous.
I also have a tender spot for Boyce and Hart, who wrote much of TV’s pop for the Monkees and other shows.
I totally agree. They were also childhood heroes for me. Boyce’s story after The Monkees is particularly sad.
Romeo wasn’t ‘just around the corner from famous’; he was huge. Wes Farrell sure knew what he had in his stable! For some reason, though, which could be any reason at all, the man just never came in…out from under the cover of night. He penned no fewer than TEN major Partridge songs: mark well, that’s words and music. I have no idea why this guy isn’t wildly celebrated; none at all.
Totally bewildering…
ken,
I so have to thank you as I have been trying to find any picture at all of Tony since I was a kid as well. I listen to every kind of music you can name but, Tony’s by far had the biggest effect on me growing up. It is so sad that he is forgotten. David held a tribute to him in a bar in NY in the 90’s where he was in the audience. Dave knew what an incredible talent he was. Yes, I am going to say something I used to hear my parents say when I was young, “they don’t write music like they used to”.
Kathy