Vic Dana - Doesn't Anybody Miss Me

A longtime admirer of Dame Shirley Bassey, I love the quote from Britain's premier songwriter, composer, arranger, conductor and pianist, Les Reed OBE regarding his song, "Does Anybody Miss Me", written in collaboration with Johnny Worth, which formed the title track of her August 1969 United Artists album release. According to Les, “Johnny and I were in Cannes many years ago attending a tribute dinner at The Carlton Hotel. Coming down the stairs was this beautiful lady (our Shirley) shouting....."Doesn't Anybody Miss Me"? We both disappeared into the men's room and, within half an hour, had completed the song with her title. Big hit for us all. Bless you Shirley. XX.”
Shirley's recording of the song contains all the Bassey elements her followers love, and is certainly a jewel among the more than 2,500 recordings of Les's songs that are available. What I do find interesting, though, is how Les refers to Shirley shouting "DOESN'T Anybody Miss Me", which is how the song was listed on her 1969 single, but switched to "Does Anybody Miss Me" on her album of the same name. One of my favourite male artists, Vic Dana, uses "Doesn't" on his version of the song that he recorded and released in Britain in 1968! In my view, his performance perfectly illustrates the difference between the two titles and recordings I have highlighted. With the larger than life Shirley, her query carries the optimistic expectation of a resounding "Yes" in response. Vic, however, employs a vocal almost resigned to the fact that nobody has missed him, and thereby makes it a different song altogether.
Vic, real name Samuel Mendola, was born on August 26, 1942 in Buffalo, New York. Displaying considerable talent as a dancer, he was discovered by Sammy Davis Jr and encouraged by him to move to Los Angeles for the greater career opportunities it provided. Neither, however, could have foreseen a downturn in the appeal of dancing as a form of entertainment, which then led to Dana switching to a singing career. During the 60s and 70s he enjoyed 17 U.S chart entries but, curiously, failed to make an impact in the UK.
I am intrigued as to how Vic recorded and released his version of "Doesn't Anybody Miss Me" in 1968, when all other recordings of the song came out the following year or later. Having singled out the contrasting versions by Shirley and Vic I know that, inevitably, I will be asked which I prefer. My reply would, truthfully, be that I love both versions and, though my interest in Shirley began before Vic's recording début, I consider his reading of Johnny Worth's lyric to be the more insightful.
As Les Reed himself would say: "It's a gem of a track!"

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