Tony Orlando performs during the 37th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards at the Las Vegas Hilton on June 27, 2010.
Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024 | 2 a.m.
After more than 50 years headlining what seems like every casino showroom imaginable, Tony Orlando is ready to say farewell to the Vegas stage. The 79-year-old singer known for “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree,” “Knock Three Times,” and other pop hits from the 1970s — as well as a legendary career as a songwriter and record producer, plus a few stints on Broadway and some memorable acting roles — is retiring from live performance and touring, with his grand finale set for March 22 at the Mohegan Sun Casino Arena in Connecticut.
Tony Orlando is retiring from live performance and will play the South Point one more time this week.
Orlando started performing in Las Vegas in 1973 at the Riviera, and for the last two decades he’s been a regular at casino resorts operated by Michael Gaughan — the Orleans and South Point (starting when it was known as South Coast). His final shows are set for January 19-21at 7:30 p.m. at the 400-seat South Point Showroom, with tickets available at ticketmaster.com.
“What a run, huh?” Orlando said via phone last week. “It’s been unbelievable. I would have been happy for 64 good days in show business, but I’ve had 64 unbelievable years.”
His offstage accomplishments may be the more interesting side of his unique career, and he’s not planning to wind down that part of his life anytime soon. The New York City native formed a doo-wop group in 1959 when he was just 15 years old and was hired by the legendary Don Kirshner to write songs for the likes of Neil Sedaka, Carole King, Bobby Darin and Connie Francis. Orlando’s first charting song as an artist was “Bless You” in 1961.
In 1967, Clive Davis hired Orlando as general manager of a subsidiary of Columbia Records, and he soon climbed to vice president of CBS Music, where he signed Barry Manilow and cowrote and produced some of that legendary Las Vegas headliner’s earliest music. Then came his success as Tony Orlando and Dawn (the singing duo of Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson), yielding those familiar hits and a TV career in the form of the variety-style “Tony Orlando and Dawn” show on CBS. Orlando continued his acting career as a recurring character on the groundbreaking sitcom “Chico and the Man” with his friend Freddy Prinze, and then later appeared on “The Cosby Show” and films like “A Star is Born” (the 1976 version) and “That’s My Boy.”
But he’s toured the country steadily singing his classics through it all, including multitudes of shows in Las Vegas and in Branson, Mo., where he owned and operated a theater for the majority of the 1990s.
“I’m not retiring from the industry. I’ve got a lot of creative juices left and I’ve started a company called Explosive Films,” Orlando said. “So I’m going to give my time to film work and hopefully this new trend of documentaries, because I have a love for that.”
Here’s the rest of my conversation with Tony Orlando:
How does it feel to be winding down this aspect of your career as an entertainer?
It’s bittersweet. This is my 64th year in show business. I had my first hit record in 1961. And for probably 52 of these years, I’ve the honor of headlining in this incredible city. I started at the Riviera Hotel then moved over to the Las Vegas Hilton, and in fact, for a while I was doing both, 10 weeks at one and 10 weeks at the other, at the same time. That was unheard of. But I’m honored, and like I told my wife, I can still hit the ball, I just can’t run the bases.
Entertainer Tony Orlando sings "Stand By Me" during a matinee show to benefit Opportunity Village at South Point in 2008.
How long have you had a home in Las Vegas?
Since 1977. There have been times when I’m here nine months out of the year, and times when I’ve been here two months, it just depends on how much traveling I do. When I had the theater in Branson, a 2,000-seat theater, that was an amazing period of my career because I’d do two shows a day and see 4,000 people a day, 12 shows a week from April to December, then I would come here to work in the winter months.
One moment in all these years performing in Vegas that is kind of historical to me was during a culinary strike (in 1976), when I was at the Riviera, and everything was closed. Every showroom except the Riviera was closed, and there was a moment when I was the only act in the entire city people could go see. For three weeks we did three shows a night, seven days a week. I remember Ed Torres, the entertainment director at the Riviera, he was pulling his hair out, and the only thing customers ate that week was Dunkin’ Donuts. (Laughs.) But what a privilege to be able to stand on behalf of Vegas and give everything I’ve got to make people go home happy.
You’ve been at South Point for a while, which has turned into a hotbed of entertainment lately. Why do you love performing there?
I’ve been with Michael Gaughan for probably 25 years, and that’s a pretty long residency. I started with him at The Orleans in 1999 and never left, even when other offers came in to do the Strip for more money, because I never met a guy who’s more upright and more loved by all his employees as this guy.
What projects will you be working on once you’ve performed your final show?
Well, I’ve done Broadway twice, “Barnum” in 1980 and then I did “Smokey Joe’s Café.” So two wonderful times on Broadway with two Tony Award-winning plays. And I’ve been working with Michael Omartian, a record producer who did Christopher Cross’ debut album that won seven Grammys. The two of us have written a musical together based on my life, but it’s not a jukebox musical, it has 14 original songs plus the hits we’ve had. That’s already happening.
And on the other side of the coin, I’ve always wanted to flex my muscle more in films. I love films, and after working with Adam Sandler’s Happy Madison company on “That’s My Boy,” I sort of got that kick in the stomach again to go back and give it a shot — not as much as an actor, but a writer and producer. So I’m going to take my next journey there and see how well I can do in that world, and it keeps me working and keeps me excited.
I’m sure you’ll be reliving a lot of amazing Vegas memories when you’re onstage for these final three shows.
This has been a dream, and 52 years of that dream has been here. I remember working with Sinatra, cohosting an event raising money for UNLV behind what was then the Aladdin. I remember opening my first two weeks here with the great Don Rickles and Shecky Greene, who we just lost. And then working the same building as Elvis and Liberace, all the years I was at the Hilton. Such solid, wonderful years in Vegas, and I’m truly grateful. Even in the Rat Pack days, I was there. You can’t dream about being famous or being a star in show business and not think, am I ever going to work Vegas? It’s been an honor and a privilege to say I did.
