No Shortage of Hits for 12-Time ‘Million-Air’ Denny Randell

2006-11-14T03:00:00-05:00

BMI hit songwriter Denny Randell was recently presented with several "Million-Air" certificates as a composer on songs totaling more than 12 million broadcast performances. 1965's "A Lover's Concerto" -- a No. 1 pop hit originally recorded by girl group The Toys and then later by a number of artists including The Supremes and Sarah Vaughn -- received a four million performance award, while "Let's Hang On" and "Working My Way Back to You," both huge hits for Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, earned three million and five million airplays, respectively.

BMI songwriter Denny Randell (center) is congratulated by BMI's Charlie Feldman and Phil Graham. Photo by Dana Rodriguez

All three songs were co-written with two of Randell's then collaborators, BMI writers Sandy Linzer and Bob Crewe, who joined them on "Let's Hang On."

Other hits written by Randell include such diverse tunes as "Native New Yorker," performed by Odyssey and appearing on the soundtracks to Eyes of Laura Mars, 54 and Sex and the City, the Four Season's "Opus 17 (Don't You Worry 'Bout Me)," Frankie Valli's solo "Swearin' to God," Smashmouth's "Can't Get Enough of You Baby" and "Pass the Courvoisier" by Busta Rhymes featuring P. Diddy.

Based on an average song length of three minutes, one million spins is the equivalent of 50,000 hours, or 5.7 years of continuous airplay; multiply that by 12 and Randell's songs have been heard on American television and radio for more than 68 years nonstop.