George Motola
Overview
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, and sound engineer
Audio engineering
An audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
during the 1950s till his death.
Motola, whose last name is often misspelled as Mottola, was born in Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford, Connecticut
Hartford is the capital of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960, it is the second most populous city on New England's largest river, the Connecticut River. As of the 2010 Census, Hartford's population was 124,775, making...
, one of five brothers in a typical Italian immigrant family.
He started his business career as a used car dealer, but soon found out that music was his real interest.
By the mid-1950s he was working as a producer at Modern Records
Modern Records
Modern Records was an American record label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. In the 1960s, Modern Records went bankrupt and ceased operations, but the catalogue went with the management into what became Kent Records. This back catalogue was eventually licensed to the UK label...
in Los Angeles, where he supervised acts like Jesse Belvin
Jesse Belvin
Jesse Lorenzo Belvin was an American R&B singer, pianist and songwriter popular in the 1950s, whose success was cut short by his death in a car crash aged 27.-Career:...
, Young Jessie, Jimmy Beasley and many others.
His most famous composition is Goodnight My Love which was originally recorded by Jesse Belvin in 1956 (# 7 R&B).
Subsequent versions by the McGuire Sisters (1957), Ray Peterson
Ray Peterson
Ray Peterson was an American pop music singer who was best remembered for singing "Tell Laura I Love Her" and "Corrine, Corrina" in the 1960s.-Career:...
(1959), The Fleetwoods
The Fleetwoods
The Fleetwoods were a singing trio from Olympia, Washington, United States; formed in the late 1950s. They were responsible for eleven hit songs, beginning with "Come Softly to Me"...
(1963), Ben E. King
Ben E. King
Benjamin Earl King , better known as Ben E. King, is an American soul singer. He is perhaps best known as the singer and co-composer of "Stand by Me", a U.S...
(1966) and Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
(1969) Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality.In the 1980s, Abdul rose from cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers to highly sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era before scoring a string of pop music-R&B hits...
(1991), all made the Billboard Top 100.
The writing credit goes to George Motola and John Marascalco
John Marascalco
John Marascalco is an American songwriter, who is most noted for his collaborations with Robert Blackwell...
.
The official version seems to be that Motola had written "Goodnight My Love" as early as 1946, but had never been able to finish it Belvin provided the lines for the bridge that completed the song, but asked for $ 400 instead of co-autorship [co-authorship?] credit.
