Posted on - September 28, 2006 [at] 7:50 am by Brad
Tagged in - misc
Not into albums?
Email Signup
Get the latest Brad Sucks updates:
Blog
I read the other day that the guy who wrote and played saxophone in the song Tequila and the fellow who wrote Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini had both passed away. What’s more I read that the Polka Dot Bikini guy had lost the rights to his famous song and received nothing from the huge hit.
Today the story got way weirder:
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.
What’s more, the dead impostor’s dead man’s wife said she was “surprised” and “kind of devastated” at the news. Here’s what I’m kind of devastated by:
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.
…
“It’s a money machine,” Vance said.
In other news: the Tequila guy is still dead.
Comments are closed on this post.
1 Comments on this post
JY on Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie
September 28, 2006 at 3:46 pm
Yikes! Life sure ain’t fair! Write one very silly song…make millions…retire for life.
Hard to believe the imposter lied about writing THAT song just to attempt to impress his friends and family!
JY