AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Benny Mardones

Artist:Benny Mardones
Song:Into The Night
Album:Class Reunion 1980: The Greatest Hits of 1980




Benny Mardones is a two time one hit wonder. Into The Night was a top 20 hit in 1980 and then it was a top 20 hit again in 1989. I don't know of any other two time one hit wonders. Mardones was born Nov. 9, 1946 in Cleveland but he grew up in Baltimore. After a stint in the US Navy, Mardones moved to New York. In 1977, Mardones met Richie Havens. Havens introduced him to Rolling Stones producer Andrew Loog Oldham and Mardones released the 1978 album Thank God For Girls on Private Stock Records. Unfortunately, Private Stock went out of business soon after the album release. Mardones then signed with Polydor and released the 1980 album Never Run, Never Hide. The album was produced by Styx recording engineer Barry Mraz. Mardones wrote several of the songs including Into The Night with songwriter Robert Tepper. Tepper went on to write No Easy Way Out for the film Rocky IV. Into The Night reached #11 on the Billboard Hot 100. There is a music video but there seem to be a couple of different edits floating around. After the 1981 album Too Mich To Lose didn't sell, Polydor dropped Mardones. That should have been the end for Benny Mardones. But in 1989, LA DJ Scott Shannon heard Into The Night on a Where Are They Now segment and and added the song to his playlist. It reached #20 on the Billboard Hot 100. Curb Records signed Mardones and they had him record a new version of Into The Night. But it was the original version that charted. Mardones recorded two albums for Curb but only the first one was released. You can get the original recording of Into The Night on this various artists budget CD from PolyGram's Reunion label. Benny Mardones is still around but I guess he is a nostalgia act at this point. Here's the video for Into The Night by Benny Mardones.