ORLANDO WOE

Pop star loses fingertip in home accident, stays smiling

DOCTORS CAN’T reattach singer Tony Orlando’s “smashed up” fingertip after a freak accident.

“I’m fine,” he told the Daily News, “but there’s no way they can reattach it. It got too smashed up in that stupid accident with my garage door.”

The singer on Wednesday ripped off the top of his middle finger — from the tip to just below the nail bed — in the accident at his Branson, Mo., home.

“Just to give you an update, they couldn’t reattach it,” Orlando (photo inset) said. “They’re telling me that I have to just let it heal on its own, grow over on its own.”

He may have lost his fingertip, but not his sense of humor.

“My only problem is that I can’t sing ‘knock three times on the ceiling’ anymore,” he said, referencing his 1970 hit “Knock Three Times” with the group Tony Orlando and Dawn.

“Now I can only sing ‘knock two and a half times,’ or something like that. It’s a bad joke, but you’ve got to keep a smile on your face.” The Manhattan-born pop star is known for 1970s hits like “Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree” and “Candida,” and hosting the CBS variety program “The Tony Orlando and Dawn Show” in the mid-’70s. He said that support from all over the world since the news broke of his accident has helped his recovery.

“The world is amazing,” he said. “You never know how you affect people. From England to Singapore, from New York to L.A., I’ve gotten more calls and more emails. I’m a very fortunate and grateful man.”

Besides his singing career, Orlando, 73, is an avid supporter of the U.S. military.

His ravaged finger has turned his thoughts to them.

“The truth of it is, compared to my military buddies, who I’ve been working with for 45 years, (my injury) is a bee sting.”