Belmont Ave, The Bronx: “Dion Lived Just Up The Block.”
Ernie Maresca is the successful songwriter on the early New York rock & roll scene, most known for writing several of Dion's biggest hits, by himself or in collaboration with Dion: "Runaround Sue," "The Wanderer," "Lovers Who Wander," "A Lover's Prayer," and "Donna the Prima Donna." Together they created, what Bobby Darin called, “Bronx Blues.”
Ernie, who now lives just up the block from Dion in Florida, recalls their teenage years in the Bronx: “Dion lived just up the block. When I was 13 or 14, in those days, I used to like the Mills Brothers and the Hilltoppers. I used to love them. Joni James was my favourite. Then every-thing changed, you know. Luckily for me, rock'n'roll came along.”
Maresca wrote for a great deal of other artists throughout the 1960s, in a doo wop style. As a member of The Regents, Ernie’s doo wop hit "Runaround" was their biggest hit. Signing with Seville Records, they cut two Maresca songs that were never released, and soon Donnie Jacobucci replaced a disappointed Maresca. They recorded their demonstration records as "The Montereys" at the Regents Sound Studios, prompting a name change to the Regents, but their first release didn't happen until 1961, three years after they started. 'Barbara Ann' was recorded in 1958, but more than 50 recording companies turned them away. They all said "no," causing them to disband before 1959 rolled around.
Although he didn't think of himself as a singer, Ernie was persuaded to record as a solo artist. In mid-1962, he ended up with his one and only hit, "Shout Shout (Knock Yourself Out)."
Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide wrote, “A fun if extremely basic rocker that used the same chord pattern that anchored Dion hits like "Runaround Sue" and added the dance-rock energy of bands like Joey Dee & the Starliters; it made number six.”
Maresca made an album in 1962, and kept on writing for plenty of artists, too (often on the Laurie roster), and in that capacity had some hits with Reparata & the Delrons ("Whenever a Teenager Cries"), Jimmie Rodgers ("Child of Clay," co-written with Jimmy Curtiss) and Bernadette Carroll ("Party Girl").
The Regents: Guy Villari (lead), Sal Cuomo (first tenor), Ernie Maresca (baritone), and Chuck Fassert (second tenor) formed in the Bronx in 1958 as the Montereys.
Dion, Ernie Maresca and Bernadette Carroll
“Bernadette Carroll was a doll, " Ernie recalls. "She did a few of my songs, like 'Hold Back The Light Of Dawn', 'Party Girl' and 'Try Your Luck'. Somebody else did 'Try Your Luck', in Italy, and it went to #1. Bernadette should have been a star, she was pretty good. She and I recorded a duet together too."
Laurie Records: The Ernie Maresca Years: By the 1970s, Ernie was the head of Laurie Records' publicity department, which concentrated on reissuing the label's catalog, and as of 2000 was working as a consultant to EMI and chief administrator for Laurie's publishing
Almost from its inception in 1958, until its demise in the 1990s, the name of Ernie Maresca loomed large in the story of Laurie Records. The Bronx-born Italian-American songwriter, singer, producer and sometime hitmaker started out hustling his demos to Dion and ended up running the company's publishing arm.
Ultimatel, he brokered the sale of the catalogue to Capitol in 1992 on behalf of Laurie's founders brothers Gene and Bob Schwartz, and Eliot Greenberg.
