Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis (born April 3, 1944), known professionally as Tony Orlando, is an American singer, songwriter, producer, music executive, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the group Tony Orlando and Dawn in the 1970s. Orlando formed the doowop group The Five Gents in 1959 at the age of 15, with whom he recorded demos, and got the attention of music publisher and producer Don Kirshner. Kirshner hired him to songwrite at 1650 Broadway, Manhattan as part New York's thriving Brill Building songwriting community, along with other songwriters Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Toni Wine, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, and Tom and Jerry, who didn't make it in the office until they later changed their name to Simon and Garfunkel. Orlando was also hired to sing on songwriter demos, and singles released with Orlando as a solo artist began to hit the charts in the US and the UK beginning in 1961 with "Halfway to Paradise" and "Bless You" when he was 16.

Tony Orlando was born Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis on April 3, 1944, the son of a Greek father and a Puerto Rican mother. He spent his earliest years in Hell's Kitchen, New York. In his teenage years, the family moved to Union City, New Jersey and later Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey.  Orlando's musical career started with The Five Gents, a doo-wop group he formed in 1959 at age 15, with whom he recorded demo tapes. He got the attention of music publisher and producer Don Kirshner, who hired him to songwrite in an office across from New York's Brill Building, along with Carole King, Neil Sedaka, Toni Wine, Barry Mann, Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, and Tom and Jerry, who didn't make it in the office until they changed their name to Simon and Garfunkel. Kirshner also hired Orlando to record songwriter demos as a solo artist, and his first success came at the age of 16 when he charted in the US and UK with the hits "Bless You" and "Halfway To Paradise." He also appeared at the Brooklyn Paramount Theater with DJ Murray the K. Orlando also had four records that "Bubbled Under" the Hot 100: "Chills" in 1962, "Shirley" and "I'll Be There" in 1963, and "I Was A Boy (When You Needed A Man)" as by Billy Shields in April 1969. Gerry Goffin and Jack Keller wrote a doo-wop version of Stephen Foster's song "Beautiful Dreamer" for Orlando. Released as a single in 1962, the song was picked up by the Beatles who included it in their set lists on the Beatles Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour; a recorded version was released on their 2013 album On Air - Live at the BBC Volume 2.  New Colony Six recorded an Orlando composition, "I'm Just Waitin' (Anticipatin' For Her To Show Up)", which charted locally in Chicago and "Bubbled Under" the Hot 100 in July 1967. That year, Clive Davis hired Orlando as general manager of Columbia Records publishing subsidiary April-Blackwood Music. By the late 1960s, Orlando had worked his way up to vice president of a larger publishing company, CBS Music, where he signed, co-wrote with and produced Barry Manilow (under the name "Featherbed") and worked with James Taylor, the Grateful Dead, Laura Nyro and other artists. In the summer of 1969 he recorded with the studio group Wind and had a #28 hit that year with "Make Believe" on producer Bo Gentry's Life Records. Orlando was experiencing success, primarily as a music executive, and Davis pretended not to notice when Orlando accepted a $3,000 advance and sang lead vocals on a song called "Candida" as a favor for two producer friends. If the record failed, Orlando didn't want it to affect his reputation, so he used a pseudonym: Dawn.

Where did he live in his early life?
He spent his earliest years in Hell's Kitchen, New York. In his teenage years, the family moved to Union City, New Jersey and later Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey.