The Addrisi Brothers were an American

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

duo from

Winthrop, Massachusetts Winthrop is a town in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 19,316 at the 2020 census. Winthrop is an ocean-side suburban community in Greater Boston situated at the north entrance to Boston Harbor, close to Logan Int ...

. The brothers themselves were Donald "Don" Addrisi (December 14, 1938 – ) and Richard "Dick" Addrisi (born ).

Biography

Both Don and Dick played parts in their family's acrobatic group, The Flying Addrisis. In the 1950s, they got in touch with

Lenny Bruce Leonard Alfred Schneider (October 13, 1925 – August 3, 1966), known professionally as Lenny Bruce, was an American stand-up comedian, social critic, and satirist. He was renowned for his open, free-wheeling, and critical style of comedy which ...

about starting a singing career and moved to

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

. The Addrisi Brothersat

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

They auditioned for parts on the ''

Mickey Mouse Club ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' is an American variety television show that aired intermittently from 1955 to 1996 and returned to social media in 2017. Created by Walt Disney and produced by Walt Disney Productions, the program was first televised f ...

'', but were rejected. Soon after, however, they signed to

Del-Fi Records Del-Fi Records was an American record label based in Hollywood, California and owned by Bob Keane. The label's first single released was "Caravan" by Henri Rose released in 1958, but the label was most famous for signing Ritchie Valens. Valens' fi ...

and recorded several singles. Aside from the modest chart hit "Cherrystone" (1959), these were not successes. Further releases from

Imperial Records Imperial Records is an American record company and label started in 1947 by Lew Chudd. The label was reactivated in 2006 by EMI, which owned the label and back catalogue at the time. Imperial is owned by Universal Music Group. Early years to ...

and

Warner Bros. Records Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...

fared no better, so the pair began working more as

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

s. The Addrisi Brothers biggest success as a songwriting duo was " Never My Love", a hit for

The Association The Association is an American sunshine pop band from California. During the late 1960s, the band had numerous hits at or near the top of the ''Billboard'' charts (including " Windy", " Cherish", " Never My Love" and " Along Comes Mary") a ...

; the brothers themselves had a hit with it in 1977. They also charted several more hit singles in the 1970s and composed the

theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances ...

for the

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising ...

, ''

Nanny and the Professor ''Nanny and the Professor'' is an early 1970s American sitcom created by AJ Carothers and Thomas L. Miller for 20th Century-Fox Television that aired on ABC from January 21, 1970 until December 27, 1971. During pre-production, the proposed ti ...

''. In 1977, they secured their biggest chart hit with "Slow Dancin' Don't Turn Me On", released on

Buddah Records Buddah Records (later known as Buddha Records) was an American record label founded in 1967 in New York City. The label was born out of Kama Sutra Records, an MGM Records-distributed label, which remained a key imprint following Buddah's foundi ...

. They worked together until Don Addrisi died from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a mass. These cancerous cells have the ability to invade other parts of the body. A number of types of panc ...

in 1984. His ashes are interred, along with his parents, at

Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Forest Lawn Memorial Park is a privately owned cemetery in Glendale, California. It is the original and current flagship location of Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks & Mortuaries, a chain of six cemeteries and four additional mortuaries in Southern Ca ...

.Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', Third ed.: 2. McFarland & Company (2016) At present, Richard Addrisi lives in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the Capital city, capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata ...

, Argentina.

Discography

Albums

*''We've Got to Get It On Again'' (

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

, 1972) U.S. No. 137

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

AllMusic *''Addrisi Brothers'' (

, 1977) U.S. No. 118 *''Ghost Dancer'' (

Scotti Brothers Records Scotti Brothers Records (typically spelled Scotti Bros. Records) was a California-based record label founded by Tony and Ben Scotti in 1974. Their first success was releasing singles and albums from teen pop star Leif Garrett. They later helped ...

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most ...

, 1979) *''Never My Love - The Lost Album Sessions'' (

Varèse Sarabande Varèse Sarabande is an American record label, owned by Concord Music Group and distributed by Universal Music Group, which specializes in film scores and original cast recordings. It aims to reissue rare or unavailable albums, as well as newer ...

)

Singles

*"I'll Be True" / "Everybody Happy" (1958) Brad Label *"Cherrystone" (6/1959) U.S. No. 62 *"Saving My Kisses" (1959) *"It's Love" (1959) *"Gonna See My Baby" (1959) *"What a Night for Love" (1960) *"The Dance Is Over" (1962) *"Love Me Baby" (1964) *"Little Miss Sad" (1964) *"Side by Side" (1965) *"Excuse Me" (Dick Addrisi, 1966) *"Time to Love" (1968) *"We've Got to Get It On Again" b/w "You Make It All Worthwhile" (1/1972) U.S. No. 25, AC No. 10; Canada No. 15, AC No. 32 *"I Can Feel You" (5/1972) U.S. No. 110 *"I Can Count on You" (1972) *"Somebody Found Her (Before I Lost Her)" (2/1974) U.S. AC No. 42 *"Slow Dancin' Don't Turn Me On" (4/1977) U.S. No. 20, AC No. 34; Canada No. 34, AC No. 49 *"Does She Do It Like She Dances" (9/1977) U.S. No. 74 *" Never My Love" (12/1977) U.S. No. 80 AC No. 28 *"Ghost Dancer" (8/1979) U.S. No. 45, AC No. 41; UK No. 57 *"As Long as the Music Keeps Playing" (1979) (12" Promo) *"Red Eye Flight (You Can Always Come Home Again)" (1981)

References

{{Authority control Sibling musical duos American pop music groups Imperial Records artists People from Winthrop, Massachusetts Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Del-Fi Records artists Columbia Records artists Buddah Records artists Scotti Brothers Records artists