Dion DiMucci
Dion Francis DiMucci, better known mononymously as Dion, is an American singer and songwriter. His music incorporates elements of doo-wop, pop, rock, R&B, folk and blues. Initially the lead singer of the vocal group Dion and the Belmonts, Dion embarked on a solo career, and was one of the most prominent rock and roll performers of the pre-British Invasion era. He had 39 Top 40 hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s as a solo performer, or with the Belmonts and the Del-Satins. He is best remembered for his signature hit songs "Runaround Sue", "The Wanderer", "Ruby Baby" and "Lovers Who Wander", among others.
Dion continued making music after his popularity waned in 1964, and for the rest of the decade he diversified his style, fervently exploring country and urban blues, and recording electric folk rock. After a religious transformation in 1968, he resuscitated his commercial career with the major hit "Abraham, Martin and John".
During the 1980s, Dion produced [|several Christian albums], winning a GMA Dove Award in 1984 for the album I Put Away My Idols. He returned to secular music in the late 1980s with Yo Frankie. Between the mid-2000s and 2024, Dion released seven chart-topping blues albums. Critics who had dismissed his early work, labeling him as a teen idol, praised his later work and noted the influence he has had on other musicians.
A Grammy-nominated artist, Dion has released over 40 albums, and scored eleven Top 10 hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989. In 2002, Dion was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for "Runaround Sue". AllMusic album awards include: Favorite Blues Album for New York Is My Home, Favorite Compilations and Reissues for Kickin Child: Lost Columbia Album 1965 and Favorite Blues Album for Blues with Friends.
Early life, family and education
Dion was born to an Italian-American family in the Bronx, New York, New York. He accompanied his father, Pasquale DiMucci, on tour as a child. He developed a love of country music, particularly the work of Hank Williams. He was also fond of blues and doo-wop musicians he heard performing in local bars and on the radio. His singing was honed on street corners and local clubs in the Bronx, where he and other neighborhood singers created a cappella riffs.Music career
Beginnings with the Belmonts (1957–1960)
In early 1957, Dion auditioned for Bob and Gene Schwartz, for their short-lived Mohawk Records label. They asked Dion to sing a song which had been arranged by Hugo Montenegro, and recorded featuring Vic Damone doing vocals. At first Dion refused, stating the song would sound like something his old fashioned parents would listen to, but the Schwartzes convinced him to give it a try. The backing vocals were by a group called "the Timberlanes", whom Dion had never met. The resulting single, "The Chosen Few", was released under the name "Dion and the Timberlanes", and became a minor regional hit. In a 2019 interview at "Crashing the Party", Dion stated that "The Chosen Few" hit the Top Ten locally in Boston, which enabled him to perform this song on American Bandstand. The kids at the show started screaming during his performance, and gave Dion his first impression of being a record star. In his autobiography, The Wanderer, Dion explained that he didn't know who the Timberlanes were. "The vocal group was so white bread, I went back to my neighborhood and I recruited a bunch of guys – three guys – and we called ourselves Dion and the Belmonts".Bob and Gene Schwartz signed Dion's friends, the Belmonts: Carlo Mastrangelo, Fred Milano, and Angelo D'Aleo. The vocal group was named for the Belmont, Bronx neighborhood, with Dion singing as lead. The new group's breakthrough came in early 1958, when "I Wonder Why" made No. 22 on the U.S. charts. The record was the first release for Laurie Records. Dion said of the Belmonts:
Their initial hit was followed by "No One Knows" and "Don't Pity Me", which also charted the Billboard Top 100. This success won a place for Dion and the Belmonts on the ill-fated "The Winter Dance Party" tour with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper, Frankie Sardo and other performers. On February 3, 1959, after playing a concert in Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly decided to charter an overnight flight to the next venue rather than travel on the tour bus. Dion was invited to accompany him but decided that he would not spend $36 for the flight, as he considered 36 an unlucky number and he could not justify the indulgence. The plane crashed, killing all on board: Holly, Valens, Richardson and the pilot Roger Peterson. Dion and the Belmonts continued on the tour, along with Frankie Sardo, while Bobby Vee performed in Holly's place at the very next concert. Jimmy Clanton, Frankie Avalon, and Fabian were later added to replace the other now-deceased headliners.
Dion and the Belmonts' next single, "A Teenager in Love", was released in March 1959. It eventually reached No. 5 on the U.S. pop charts and No. 28 in the UK. The group's biggest hit, "Where or When", was released in November of that year, and reached No. 3 on the U.S. charts. However, in early 1960, Dion checked into a hospital for heroin addiction, a condition he battled since his mid-teens. Further single releases for the group that year were less successful. With musical, personal and financial differences between Dion and members of the Belmonts, Dion left the group for a solo career in October 1960. By the time of their breakup, all eight Laurie releases had charted on the Hot 100.
Solo stardom and touring worldwide (1960–1964)
By the end of 1960, Dion produced his first solo album on Laurie Records, Alone with Dion, released in 1961. The single "Lonely Teenager" rose to No. 12 in the US charts. The name on his solo releases was simply "Dion". Follow-ups "Havin’ Fun" and "Kissin’ Game" had less success, and the signs were that Dion would drift onto the cabaret circuit. However, he then recorded an up-tempo number co-written with Ernie Maresca with a new vocal group, the Del-Satins. The record, "Runaround Sue", stormed up the U.S. charts, reaching No. 1 in October 1961, and No. 11 in the UK, where he also toured. "Runaround Sue" sold over a million copies, achieving gold disc status.For the next single, Laurie promoted the A-side, "The Majestic", but it was the B-side, Maresca's "The Wanderer", which received more radio play and climbed swiftly up the charts to reach No. 2 in the U.S. in February 1962 and No. 10 in the UK. The 1976 re-release made the UK Top 20.
By the end of 1961, Dion had become a major star, touring worldwide and making an appearance in the Columbia Pictures musical film Twist Around the Clock. In 1962, he followed with a string of singles he wrote or co-wrote including "Lovers Who Wander", "Little Diane", "Love Came to Me". He also had successful albums with Runaround Sue and Lovers Who Wander.
At the end of 1962, Dion moved from Laurie to Columbia Records. He was the first rock ‘n’ roll artist signed to the label, which was an anomaly considering that Mitch Miller loathed that particular genre of music. In 1958 Miller dismissed rock entirely: "Rock ‘n’ roll is musical baby food: it is the worship of mediocrity, brought about by a passion for conformity."
Dion's first Columbia single, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller’s "Ruby Baby" reached No. 2, while "Donna the Prima Donna" and "Drip Drop" both reached No. 6 in late 1963. Dion also recorded an Italian version of "Donna the Prima Donna" using the identical backup vocals. His other Columbia releases were less successful, and problems with his drug addiction and changing public tastes, especially the British Invasion, saw a period of commercial decline.
Belmonts reunion and renewed contract (1965–1968)
Following a European tour, Dion returned to the U.S. and was introduced to classic blues by Columbia's John Hammond. To the consternation of his management, he began recording more blues-oriented material, including Willie Dixon’s "Hoochie Coochie Man" and "Spoonful". These releases, some produced by Tom Wilson with Al Kooper on keyboards, were not commercially successful. Still with Columbia, Dion formed a new group to back him in 1965. The Wanderers were composed of John Falbo on guitar, Pete Baron on bass, and Carlo Mastrangelo of the Belmonts on drums. They made national appearances on Dick Clark’s Where The Action Is, and on The Lloyd Thaxton Show. A number of self-penned tracks were recorded and released unsuccessfully as singles, and did not appear in album format until years later. In June 1965, he recorded fellow Columbia Records contemporary Bob Dylan’s composition "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", a half-year before Them ’s hit version.In 1966–67, Dion briefly reunited with the Belmonts, recording the LP Together Again for ABC Records. The album was unsuccessful, despite one classic self-penned song, "My Girl the Month of May". Two singles were released from the LP. While neither charted in the United States, they fared better in the UK. "My Girl The Month of May" entered the Radio London "Fab 40" at No. 9 the week of December 25, 1966. A ‘turntable’ hit at London underground clubs like Middle Earth, the disc received a lot of play from pirate radio DJ's John Peel and Kenny Everett. The follow-up, "Movin’ Man", reached No. 17 on the "Radio London" charts on Easter Sunday, March 26, 1967. "My Girl The Month of May" was later covered by English artists Alan Bown in 1967, and Island Records artists The Bunch in April 1972. During their brief mid-60's reunion, Dion and the Belmonts appeared on the popular Clay Cole Show performing "Berimbau" and "My Girl The Month of May", and occasionally performed at local New York City clubs such as "The Mardi Gras" on Staten Island before disbanding. While Dion's career appeared to be nearing an end, he still retained enough credibility to be, along with Bob Dylan, one of only two rock artists featured on the album cover of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1967.
In April 1968, Dion experienced what he identified as a powerful religious transformation. After getting clean once again from his heroin habit, an experience he documented in his 1970 song "Your Own Backyard", he approached Laurie Records for a new contract. They agreed on the condition that he record the song "Abraham, Martin and John", written by Dick Holler in response to the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy. The success of this song which reached No. 4 in the US charts and No. 1 in Canada, resuscitated Dion's career. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.