Tony Middleton was born June 26, 1934. Born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, he moved to New York with his mother in the mid-1950s. Although he participated in various sports through the years (including amateur boxing in his late 20s), he was always involved in music as well. In 1952 he became the lead singer of the 5 Willows (who would later be billed simply as the Willows); in 1956 they had a hit record, "Church Bells May Ring". He left the group for a solo career in 1957. After recording for several years without chart success, he moved to Paris in 1962, where he acquired a large following. Middleton returned to New York and recorded for several more labels over the next decade, including A&M, Columbia, Scepter, MGM and ABC/Paramount, for whom he cut the powerful "You Spoiled My Reputation" in 1965. He is featured singing lead on several records by Burt Bacharach, including "My Little Red Book" (1965) and " I Come To You" (1973, duet with Cissy Houston). He also sang on recordings by other artists including Smokey Robinson, Della Reese and Nell Carter. Later he returned to the Willows and toured with them for a decade on the oldies circuit. Although Tony Middleton did not have major solo success, he has been cited as an influence on many younger vocalists.
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“I do not like forced integration.... I do not like forced anything.... as a youngster I lived in a white neighborhood with a white neighbor next door. We would go to them, they would go to us. If they had anything, we had it. We lived just like one. We didn’t think about no integration.”
—Ruby Middleton Forsythe (b. 1905)