Linzer, Sandy (1941-Present)

Songwriter and producer who has collaborated frequently with Charlie Calello, Bob Crewe, and, especially, Denny Randell. The four of them worked with a variety of artists and groups, including the Rag Dolls on their 1963 release, “Dusty”, backed with “Hey, Hoagy”.

Crewe, Linzer, and Randell co-wrote “Pushin’ a Good Thing Too Far”, recorded by Barbara Lewis and issued in 1964. It was covered by Dinah Lee and Little Pattie in 1965, and became a minor hit in Australia. This songwriting trio, or parts thereof, was the brain trust behind many of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons’ hits, like “Dawn (Go Away)”, “Let’s Hang On”, “Opus 17 (Don’t You Worry ‘bout Me)” and “Working My Way Back to You”. All four of these songs have since been used in the Broadway musical, Jersey Boys.

They also continued to write for other artists, such as Diane Renay, and her backup singers sometimes included a trio of young women who would become The Toys. The name was the brainchild of their manager, Vince Marc. In Linzer and Randell, Crewe and Marc felt they had the perfect songwriting tandem for the girl group, and this was justified when the pair raided Anna Magdalena’s notebook for Bach’s “Minuet in G major” and wrote words for it. The song was entitled “A Lover’s Concerto” and went to #2 on the pop chart and #4 on the R&B chart in 1965. It has since been remade by Cilla Black, Horst Jankowski, Henry Mancini & His Orchestra, The Marvels, Johnny Pearson, Diana Ross & The Supremes, and Roger Williams. The first track of The Toys’ album, A Lover’s Concerto/Attack!, was “Can’t Get Enough of You Baby” which also enjoyed its share of covers by The Colourfield, Question Mark & The Mysterians, Smash Mouth, and Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons.

By 1966, Linzer and Randell had enough clout to own and operate their own record label, Oliver. They wrote a couple of songs for The Monkees, “The Day We Fall in Love” and “I’ll Be Back up on My Feet”, which were featured on the albums, More of the Monkeesand The Birds, The Bees & The Monkees, in 1967 and 1968, respectively.

In 1969, Linzer produced T.D. Valentine’s “Love Trap”, backed with “Allison Took Me Away”. It was a role that he would continue to fulfill on projects with Limmie & The Family Cookin’: He and Steve Metz co-produced “You Can Do Magic”, which cracked the top ten in the U.K. in 1973. In 1975, Tony Orlando & Dawn took the Dave Appell-Sandy Linzer composition, “Mornin’ Beautiful”, into the top fifteen. Then Linzer teamed up with Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, producing their eponymous 1976 effort. One of the releases from the album, “Whispering/Cherchez la femme/Se si bon” went to #2 in Holland. His next group project was with the disco/R&B outfit, Odyssey. He co-produced and co-wrote “Native New Yorker”, which went to #5 in the U.K. and #21 in the States. The song was included in the 1978 suspense-thriller, The Eyes of Laura Mars, starring Faye Dunaway and Tommy Lee Jones.

In 1979, he reunited with Cory Daye (of Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band) for a solo album, Cory and Me. One of its singles, “Wiggle and a Giggle all Night”, went to #21 in Holland. The Spinners went Dutch with “Working My Way Back to You/Forgive Me Girl”, hitting #2 in the Netherlands, #2 in the U.S., and #1 in the U.K. Linzer teamed up with Odyssey again on 1980’s Hang Together, co-writing every song and producing the single, “Use it Up and Wear it Out”, which also went to #2 in Holland and #1 in the United Kingdom.

In 1982, The Four Tops recorded Sandy Linzer’s and David Wolfert’s “I Believe in You and Me”, which would become a massive hit for Whitney Houston in 1996. The song was included on the soundtrack of The Preacher’s Wife, a modern re-telling of The Bishop’s Wife, starring Houston and Denzel Washington. It has also attracted its share of cover artists: Bernard Alcorn, LaNesha Baca, Countdown Singers, Dunn Pearson, Jr., Hit Crew, and Millennia have all done their own renditions of the song.

In 1984, Kool & The Gang recorded “Fresh”, which went to #27 in Holland and #28 in France. Nancy Boyd & The Cappello’s cracked the Dutch top 40 with their remake of “Let’s Hang On” in 1987. In 1988, one of his songs was recorded by two different artists with two different titles: “Talk it Over”, performed by Grayson Hugh on Blind to Reason, inexplicably appeared as “Let’s Talk it Over in Bed” on Olivia Newton-John’s album, The Rumour.

Linzer then executive-produced the hair metal band Saraya’s self-titled album in 1989: It reached a modest #79 on the Billboard Top 200. In 1990, Pat & Mick enjoyed similar success with their remake of “Use it Up and Wear it Out”, which went to #81 on the Billboard Hot 100. Boyzone covered “Working My Way Back to You” in 1994 and Beat System charted in France with their remake of “Fresh” in 1996. In 1997, Alliage/Boyzonetook “Te garder pres de moi” to #3 on the French chart. Backstreet Boys recorded Andrew Fromm’s and Sandy Linzer’s “Spanish Eyes” on their Millennium CD in 1999. In 2000, ‘N Sync recorded the stocking stuffer, “I Don’t Wanna Spend One More Christmas Without You”.

Linzer donned his production hat again in 2001 with a pair of country music videos, The Color of Roses with Lorrie Morgan and Every Road Leads Back to You with Juice Newton. He did the same on the 2002 CD, After the Playboy Mansion, by Dimitri in Paris.

In 2003, Funk Buster reached #50 in France with yet another remake of “Fresh”. Linzer also began an artistic partnership with Billy Gilman, producing his 2003 album, Music Through Heartsongs: Songs Based on the Poems of Mattie J.T. Stepanek. In 2004, another version of “Fresh”, this one credited to Kool & The Gang feat. Liberty X, went to #35 in France. Linzer was one of many songwriters credited on the Busta Rhymes/P. Diddy ditty, “Pass the Courvoisier (Part II)” which was included on the soundtrack of the Jimmy Fallon/Queen Latifah lemon, Taxi. In 2005, Linzer did Everything and More with Billy Gilman: “Hey Little Suzie”, which he co-wrote with Ed Kessel, managed the top twenty on Great American Country Television for a little over a month. He then arranged and co-wrote every song except “I Will” on Billy’s eponymously titled album in 2006.

As of 2007, Sandy Linzer Productions has been working on a project tentatively titled “The PC and Pattycakes”, a hip-hop TV show aimed at girls in their mid-to-late teens. In his copious free time, he and his frequent partner-in-crime, Charlie Calello, create CD-in-card musical Christmas greetings. Jersey Boys continued its monster run on Broadway and splintered into a series of touring shows.

The Spinners recordings
Working My Way Back to You/Forgive Me Girl (Sandy Linzer/Denny Randello/Michael Zager)

Sources:

Linzer, Sandy (1941-Present)

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