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Dean Martin
Dean Martin was born Dino Paul Crocetti in Ohio in 1917. By
the age of 15 he had dropped out of high school and was boxing
under the name Kid Crochet. He then worked as a croupier in
an illegal casino while singing with local bands under the
name Dino Martini (after the then-famous Metropolitan Opera tenor,
Nino Martini). In the early 1940s he started singing for
bandleader Sammy Watkins, who suggested he change his name to Dean
Martin.
In October 1941 Martin married Elizabeth Anne McDonald. They
had four children and divorced in 1949. Drafted into the Army
in 1944, Martin served a year stationed in Akron, Ohio before he
was reclassified as 4-F and discharged.
 Dean seemed destined to remain on the nightclub circuit
until he met a comedian named Jerry Lewis at the Glass Hat Club in
New York, where both men were performing. Martin and Lewis formed
a fast friendship which led to their frequent participation in
each other's acts and the ultimate formation of a music-comedy
team. Their official debut together was at Atlantic City's
500 Club on 24 July 1946.
Their improvised (largely slapstick) routine - consisting
mainly of Lewis heckling and interrupting Martin while the latter
tried to sing - earned the duo a series of well-paying
engagements on the Eastern seaboard, culminating in a triumphant
run at New York's Copacabana, which in turn led to their TV debut
on Toast of the Town (CBS) with Ed Sullivan in June 1948.
Martin and Lewis were the hottest act in America during the
early 1950s, and their movies were hits at the box office.
Inevitably though, the double act act broke up in 1956.
Martin first made the charts in 1955 with The Naughty Lady Of
Shady Lane. He scored hits also with Memories Are Made Of
This (Number one in the US and UK in 1956), Return To Me,
That's Amore and Volare.
He may have been more at home on a golf course than in a
studio, but in between movies, Las Vegas concerts, TV shows and
some serious womanising, he cut some classic records - many paying
homage to the Italian music he had grown up with, others
anticipating the country renaissance of the late 1970s.
His rendition of Waylon Jennings' Little Ol' Wine Drinker
Me has achieved cult status, while his signature tune - Everybody
Loves Somebody - knocked The Beatles off the top of the
American singles chart in 1964.
In the UK, Dino's hits spanned 16 years . In 1998 - three
years after his death - a BBC documentary about his life helped
turn yet another compilation (The Very Best Of Dean Martin)
into an instant best seller.
A second volume and an album of love songs proved popular if
less lucrative, but Dino's success inspired such hip lounge
compilations as Music To Watch Girls By. The Rat Pack was
back in fashion, almost 40 years after its heyday, yet strangely
this time King Rat wasn't Sinatra but Dino Crocetti.
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