Legacy: Benny Mardones
• We were saddened to learn that Benny Mardones, whose timeless classic “Into The Night” holds the distinction of charting three separate times in Billboard, died Monday, June 29 after a lengthy battle with Parkinson’s disease. He was 73. Benny’s longtime friend and record producer Joel Diamond (pictured here with Benny) tells us that Mardones passed away peacefully at his home in Menifee, CA with his loving wife Jane at his side.
Mardones was born in Cleveland, OH on November 9,1946, and raised in Savage, MD. He joined the Navy right after high school and served during the Vietnam War. He later moved to Syracuse, NY, where he became the city’s adopted “Hometown Hero.” After a move to Woodstock, NY, Mardones had resided in Southern California for the past 20 years.
Amazingly, “Into The Night” recently marked 40 years since its initial release on June 14, 1980 on Polydor Records. It quickly became an instant classic, and is estimated to have been played more than eight million times in the U.S. alone. Former Sony Music exec Tommy Mottola described Benny’s voice as “One of the best I’ve heard since Daryl Hall.”
In 1989, “Into The Night” was released for a second time after a “Where Are They Now?” feature on KZZP/Phoenix caused the phones to blow up, leading to a renewed interest in the song from younger listeners who were hearing it for the first time. As a result of “Into The Night” hitting the charts for a second time, it catapulted Benny into the elite stratosphere of becoming one of only eight artists, along with Queen, The Righteous Brothers, Chubby Checker, The Contours, The Four Seasons, Ben E. King and Neil Sedaka to ascend to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 twice with the same song.
And in 2019, Joel Diamond told Benny he had the opportunity to create music history by re-cutting “Into The Night” one more time. Diamond brought in Ted Perlman to do the arrangement for the new and updated ballad version, and Brad LeBeau of ProMotion to promote new Dance Club Remixes by Dirty Werk and Eric Kupper, which resulted in “Into The Night 2019” charting in Billboard for the third time. Diamond remarked, “Life has a beginning and life has an end for all of us, but one thing that will always be said of Benny is that he definitely squeezed the tube of life completely dry. He might have been known by some as a ‘One Hit Wonder,’ but how many people can claim to be a ‘Three-In-One Hit Wonder?'”
In addition to his wife, Jane, Benny is survived by his son Michael and sister Louise. As part of his legacy, Benny’s final wish and his ultimate gift was to donate his body to science for Parkinson’s research and education. A memorial service will be announced in the near future.
