Toni Wine

American pop singer-songwriter (born June 4, 1947, Washington Heights, New York) who wrote songs for such artists as The Mindbenders ("A Groovy Kind of Love"), Tony Orlando and Dawn ("Candida"), Elvis Presley, and The Checkmates LTD., in the late 1960s and 1970s. Wine also sang the female vocals for the cartoon music group The Archies, most notably on their #1 hit song "Sugar, Sugar" (however, she did not sing the lead vocal in the song "Jingle Jangle"; it was Ron Dante using a falsetto. In addition, Wine was a backing vocalist on Gene Pitney's "It Hurts to Be In Love" and on Willie Nelson's "Always on My Mind." Wine was a child prodigy who studied piano at the Juilliard School of Music before going to work at Screen Gems Publishing. There she initially collaborated with songwriters including Gerry Goffin, Howard Greenfield and Steve Venet. The first Wine composition that was recorded was The Cookies' "Only to Other People," but she needed the following three-year association with Carole Bayer Sager to blossom. The earliest fruits of their partnership, "A Groovy Kind of Love," topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1965. By this time Wine was also recording as a solo artist, releasing singles for Colpix Records to minimal acclaim. By 1969, Wine joined with Ron Dante, Ellie Greenwich and Andy Kim to record as The Archies. The following year, according to some reports, Wine reunited with fellow Brill Building alum Tony Orlando to lend vocals on her song "Candida," which was nevertheless accredited to Dawn. (Some accounts also place Wine at the sessions for Orlando's follow-up, "Knock Three Times.") After recording a handful of bubble-gum flavoured tracks, in the early 1970s, she married the record producer Chips Moman, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee. There she released material for Atco Records and Monument Records in addition to a continuing career as a writer and session vocalist. In 2007, Wine toured and appeared in concert with Tony Orlando, as vocalist and keyboardist.