Editing Gene Pitney (section)

===Maintaining popularity===
After another low-charting single, 1964's "Yesterday's Hero", Pitney rebounded with another string of hits in the mid-1960s, including the 1964 singles "[[It Hurts to Be in Love]]" and "[[I'm Gonna Be Strong]]", which reached #7 and #9, respectively, in the US, and 1966's "Nobody Needs Your Love", which peaked at #2 in the UK, matching the #2 UK peak of "I'm Gonna Be Strong". "It Hurts to Be in Love" had been planned for and recorded by [[Neil Sedaka]], but RCA refused to release it because Sedaka had recorded the song outside [[RCA Victor]] in violation of his contract. The writers, [[Howard Greenfield]] and [[Helen Miller (songwriter)|Helen Miller]], presented the song to Pitney. Miller replaced Sedaka's voice with Pitney's, though Sedaka's trademark backing harmonies were left intact.

In 1965, Pitney recorded two successful albums with country singer [[George Jones]]. They were voted the most promising country-and-western duo of the year. Pitney also recorded songs in Italian, Spanish, and German and twice finished second in Italy's prestigious annual [[Sanremo Music Festival]], where his strong vibrato reminded older listeners of the Italian tenor [[Enrico Caruso]]. He had a regional hit with "[[Nessuno mi può giudicare (song)|Nessuno mi può giudicare]]".

Pitney's career in the US took a downturn after mid-1966, when "Backstage" ended another run of Top 40 hits. He returned one last time to the Top 40 in April 1968 with "She's a Heartbreaker" (#16) and placed several singles in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 after that, but by 1970 he was no longer a hit-maker in the United States.