Benny Mardones, of "Into The Night" fame, has died at 73 of Parkinson's.
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Benny Mardones, rock and soul singer-songwriter behind the ’80s smash and radio perennial “Into the Night,” died today at his home in Menifee, California. His passing was confirmed to Billboard by longtime friend and record producer Joel Diamond, resulting from complications following a long struggle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 73.
Mardones was born in Cleveland, Ohio and grew up in Savage, Maryland, joining the Navy out of high school to serve in the Vietnam War. Following his discharge, he moved to New York to become a songwriter, where he was enlisted by Diamond to be a staff songwriter for Mercury Records, penning material for stars like Brenda Lee and Tommy James. Various other credits followed, and in the late ’70s Mardones also became a performing artist, opening for folk-rocker Richie Havens on tour in 1977 and releasing debut album Thank God For Girls the year after.
Despite impressive pedigree, including guitar work from David Bowie sideman Mick Ronson and production from Rolling Stones go-to collaborator Andrew Loog Oldham, the album failed to produce a hit. But Mardones’ next effort, 1980’s Never Run, Never Hide, spawned what would quickly become his signature song: the mega-ballad “Into the Night.”
Co-penned with Robert Tepper (later a hitmaker on his own with Rocky IV anthem “No Easy Way Out”), “Into the Night” was a soaring love song with an absolute wallop of a chorus. Though the opening lines (“She’s just 16 years old/ ‘Leave her alone,’ they said”) made many listeners uncomfortable coming from the then-33-year-old Mardones, he would later explain the song was inspired by his platonic relationship with a teenage neighbor of his whose father had left her. (The first line was supposedly meant as a rejoinder to his co-writer, who got a little leery when meeting her for the first time.)
True story - I was a big fan of "Into The Night" from the first time I heard it. Years later, I saw in the paper that it had become a hit again for some reason. A week or so after that, I was in Camelot Music (remember those?). I was looking at the cassette singles (remember
those?), and a woman asked one of the guys who worked there if he could help her find a song.
"Sure, what's it called?"
"I don't remember."
"Okay, not a problem. Who sings it?"
"I don't remember, only that it's a guy singer."
"Do you remember what it's about?"
"No, but the guy has a good voice and it's a good song. They said something about it being a few years old."
At this point, I turned to them and said, "'Into The Night' by Benny Mardones?"
Her eyes lit up and she said, "That's it!!! Isn't that a great song?" I said, "Just as good as it was when it came out about 10 years ago." The guy from the store looked at me and said, "How did you do that?" I said, "It's just one of those things I do" and walked away. My wife looked at me and when we got out of the store, she said, "You just love doing that, don't you?"
RIP, Benny.
