Early life

Born Stanley Robert Vinton, Jr. in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania (near Pittsburgh), he was the only child of a locally popular bandleader, Stan Vinton (Stanley Vinton, Sr.).

At 16, Vinton formed his first band, which played clubs around the Pittsburgh area. With the money he earned, Vinton helped finance his college education at Duquesne University, where he studied music and graduated with a degree in musical composition. While at Duquesne, he became proficient on all of the instruments in the band: piano, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, drums and oboe.

Vinton's birthplace of Canonsburg, Pennsylvania is also the birth place of Perry Como. Vinton has been honored by his hometown with a major thoroughfare Bobby Vinton Boulevard. Canonsburg town fathers had plans to erect a statue in his honor, but Vinton vetoed the idea noting that the $100,000 planned cost could go to far more important town needs.