2007 Songwriters Hall of Fame inductee Robert "Bobby" Weinstein was an American songwriter, singer and music industry executive. He and cowriter Teddy Randazzo penned hit songs like Goin' Out Of My Head, It's Gonna Take A Miracle, and I'm On The Outside (Looking In).
Bobby Weinstein was a product of a musical family, but his allegiance to the arts soon took a different turn when he became swept up by the Doo Wop music phenomenon which had swung into high gear at the time.
He grew up in New York City, and attended the School of Industrial Art in Manhattan. While there, he formed a vocal group, The Legends, with fellow students Marshall Samples, Ron Warwell, Richard "Chico" Brunson, Sampson Reese and Dominick Fleres. The group won a talent contest at the Apollo Theater in 1955, and recorded for the small Melba and Hull labels before splitting up. Weinstein's song The Legend of Love was one of those recorded by the group.
In 1957, he began writing songs with Teddy Randazzo, and their first major hit as co-writers was Pretty Blue Eyes, recorded by Steve Lawrence and produced by Don Costa, which reached no. 9 on the pop charts at the start of 1960.
Working as part of Costa's production company, Weinstein and Randazzo had some of their biggest successes with comeback hits for Little Anthony and the Imperials in 1964 and 1965, I'm On The Outside (Looking In), Goin' Out Of My Head, and Hurt So Bad, the last of which was also co-written with Bobby Hart. Weinstein, Randazzo and Lou Stallman also had a hit in 1965 with It's Gonna Take A Miracle by The Royalettes. Although he mostly wrote with Randazzo, Weinstein also both worked and performed with Hart and his regular collaborator, Tommy Boyce. During the 1960s, he sang with Boyce, Hart, Kenny Rankin and others in Randazzo's revue band, performing regular engagements in Las Vegas and elsewhere.
Many of the Randazzo and Weinstein collaborations were recorded by a parade of hit acts of the time, including The Box Tops, Dionne Warwick, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Jerry Vale, The Lettermen, Linda Ronstadt, Deniece Williams, Luther Vandross, The Temptations, Little Anthony and The Imperials, The Royalettes and Frank Sinatra. He occasionally used the writing pseudonym Robert Wilding.
Goin' Out Of My Head has sold more than 100 million records recorded by over 400 artists, and ranks in the top 50 of the most recorded songs in history.
Weinstein later became an executive with the performing rights organization Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI), where he served for 25 years as liaison for the songwriter affiliates. He was a Songwriters Hall of Fame board member for 24 years, and was president of the organization from 1993 to 1999.
Weinstein was a devoted husband to wife Carol, a father to beloved son Blue and a loving grandfather.
