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"I have been a fan of Dion since I was a teenager. He is one of the great voices of New York rock n' roll."
-- Paul Simon |
| In 1958, one of the greatest doowop groups of the Elvis Era came right off the streets of the Bronx in New York (The Belmonts took their name from the street name). Dion Dimucci had been recording separately from The Belmonts (Fred Milano, Angelo D'Aleo and Carlo Mastroangelo) on Mowhawk records with no success. The label folded and Dion joined The Belmonts on the new Laurie label. Their first release for Laurie was a smash local hit and climbed the national charts all the way to #22 -- "I Wonder Why." The follow-up, a very different slow ballad, "No One Knows," did even better, reaching #19. In 1959 the group did a lot of touring, including the infamous "Winter Dance Party" that took the lives of Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens. When they did get back in the studio they recorded two songs that would be their biggest successes as a group: "A Teenager in Love" and "Where or When," both of which made the top ten. In 1960, Dion went solo. He had immediate success with "Lonely Teenager" (#12), but the sound wasn't much different than he had with the Belmonts. The next several releases met with little success so the label decided to add a backup vocal group -- The Del Satins. Although they were not credited, they contributed to the success of Dion's next release, his biggest hit, "Runaround Sue." The song was co-written by Dion and Ernie Marseca and has been reported to have taken its name from Dion's future wife. But Dion has said that it was actually about a girl named Roberta. Over the next three years, Dion would have four more top ten hits for the label before moving to Columbia for two more hit singles, "Ruby Baby" and "Donna the Prima Donna" in 1963. Then came the new sound from England and Dion virtually disappeared from the charts until 1968 when he returned with his folk oriented "Abraham, Martin and John." Dion was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. |
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