In early 1970, Orlando received a call from Bell Records producer Hank Medress requesting that he lay down a lead vocal over a demo recorded by a Detroit-based act called Dawn. The duo, consisting of vocalists Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent, had previously backed up singers including Edwin Starr, Johnnie Taylor, Freda Payne, and others; according to legend, Orlando never even met either singer until well after the record, Candida, became a massive hit, rising to number three on the singles charts. Orlando quickly agreed to cut another record with Dawn, nonetheless adamantly insisting on keeping his day job; titled Knock Three Times; the single topped the charts in early 1971, and finally Orlando returned to music full-time, signing with Bell and going on tour with Hopkins and Vincent under the banner of Dawn, Featuring Tony Orlando.
Released in 1973, Tie a Yellow Ribbon became Orlando's biggest hit yet, and was named the top-selling single of the year. Long after its original success, the song re-entered the public consciousness with renewed force in 1981, becoming something of anthem during the Iranian hostage crisis as American citizens regularly tied yellow ribbons around trees as a symbol of their hopes and prayers for the hostages' safe return. By that time, Tony Orlando Dawn had long since dissolved: after scoring subsequent Top Ten hits with 1973's Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose?, 1974's Steppin' Out (Gonna Boogie Tonight), and 1975's chart-topping He Don't Love You (Like I Love You), the group's popularity began to slip, although they enjoyed considerable success with their CBS television variety series. However, in July 1977, Orlando -- reeling from the recent deaths of his sister and his close friend Freddie Prinze, as well as mounting drug problems -- announced his retirement, giving up show biz in the name of Christianity.
Orlando's retirement proved short-lived, and just four months later, he made a solo comeback in Las Vegas; Dawn attempted to forge on without him, but enjoyed little success on their own and eventually disbanded. In the meantime, Orlando signed to the Casablanca label, but as a solo performer he fared poorly, scoring only one charting single, 1979's Sweets for My Sweet. The following year, he joined the cast of Broadway's Barnum; Hopkins mounted an acting career as well, to significant success. After appearing regularly on the sitcom Bosom Buddies, she joined the cast of Gimme a Break and, later, the long-running Family Matters. In 1988, Tony Orlando and Dawn briefly re-formed, and two years later -- already a staple of the Las Vegas club circuit -- he became the latest in a long line of celebrities to open a theater in the tourist community of Branson, Missouri, founding the Tony Orlando Yellow Ribbon Music Theater with the promise to play some 200 dates there annually. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi