“Enamorado” (1963) – Keith Colley * Written by Keith Colley and Paul Rubio * 45: “Enamorado” / “No Joke” * Label: Unical * Charts: Billboard Hot 100 #66
In the early sixties Keith Colley was headed toward a Gene Pitney-esque sort of situation – crashing the gates as a teen idol while working behind the scenes as a songwriter and publisher. For Colley, though, the behind-the-scenes stuff won out and he ended up with only one charting single, “Enamorado,” which peaked at #66 in ‘63 (although his “Queridita Mia” did bubble under at #122 later that year). Colley, a non-Spanish-speaking Washingtonian, wound up giving this track the south-of-the-border treatment at the visionary behest of his label. And it sounds, in fact, a bit like Gene Pitney singing in Spanish.