If you are a fan of swing and big band music, then you must have heard about the legendary singer of the swing era; Dean Martin. He has a huge fan base all over the world. His songs are very popular even now and remain one of the most requested ones to play at the jazz music radio station in the USA. He was a well-known actor and singer who belonged to the famous Rat Pack that included other celebrated artists like Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr. Dean Martin was born on 7th June 1917 in Steubenville, Ohio and his name was Dino Paul Crocetti. He was interested in music from an early age.
As a teenager, he used to play the drums and slowly entered the show business at the young age of 17. His early foray into the music industry was confined to singing in Ohio nightclubs. During one of the shows, he was noticed by Sammy Watkins, who was a bandleader of Cleveland. Sammy was impressed by his vocals and hired him as one of the band’s featured vocalists. While Dino was touring with Watkins, he changed his name to Dean Martin.
After getting some recognition working in the Cleveland band, he was snapped up by the MCA through an exclusive contract to sing in the Riobamba Room in New York. During this period, he also got his 15-minute radio program called ‘Songs by Dean Martin.’ In 1946, he tasted his first commercial success when he recorded four songs with Diamond Records.
In 1946, Dean Martin met another legendary singer Jerry Lewis during a club engagement and they both hit off quite famously. This pair charted quite a success story by having a regular 30-minute radio program in 1949. In addition to their amazing success as vocalists, Dean Martin and Lewis also made an incredible 16 films together between 1949 and 1956.
This successful musical pair broke their partnership in 1956 due to creative differences and Dean Martin resumed his solo singing career. During this time, he gave voice to some of his greatest creations such as ‘That’s Amore’, ‘Memories Are Made of This’, ‘When You Are Smiling’, ‘Oh Marie’ and many more. He also acted in some critically acclaimed films like The Young Lions.
Around this time, Dean Martin along with other iconic singers like Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, and Joey Bishop fondly known as the Rat Pack blazed a trail of glory in Las Vegas. In the year 1962, Dean Martin left Capitol Records and joined Reprise. In 1964, he gave a string of big hits, one of which included, ‘Everybody Loves Somebody’. This song topped the charts and even beat the Beatles to become the number one hit in the USA.
Interestingly, this song was included as a theme song for his TV variety series called, the Dean Martin show on NBC. This show had a successful run for eight years. Dean Martin followed the success of this series with another one called, the Dean Martin comedy hour, which was a huge hit due to its slapstick comedy and had struck a chord with the public. This great singer of swing music breathed his last in 1995 at a ripe old age of 78 leaving behind a huge collection of big band and swing music.
Conclusion: Dean Martin is no more, but his memories through his songs remain fresh in the minds of his fans. Big band music in the USA offers its listeners some of the evergreen musical rendition of Dean Martin. If you are a big fan of swing music and want to listen to any hit music of this legendary actor and singer, then call us at 6504794641 or mail your request to requests@swingstreetradio.org
