Dino Paul Crocetti, popularly known as Dean Martin was an American actor, comedian, and singer who was born on June 7, 1927.
While alive, the singer was nicknamed “The King of Cool”. His genres were Traditional Pop, Country, Jazz, Easy listening, and Swing.
Dean was born in Steubenville, Ohio to Gaetano Alfonso Crocetti and Angela Crocetti.
As a teenager, Martin played the drums during his leisure time. He delved into boxing for a while and gave it up to work as a roulette stick man in a casino.
He soon began singing with local hands addressing himself as “Dino Martini.”
He began singing for Sammy Watkins, the Cleveland bandleader in the late 1949s. Watkins suggested that Martin change his name to Dean Martin.
By 1943, he had left Watkins to begin performing in New York. The singer married Elizabeth Anne McDonald in 1941.
Although the marriage ended in 1949, the couple had four children together.
Before his death, Martin was a chronic smoker. He was diagnosed with lung cancer in September 1993 at Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
He died of acute respiratory failure on December 25, 1995 at his Beverly Hills home.
CAREER:
Martin’s career kicked off when he met comedian Jerry Lewis. The two established a friendship which led to the formation of a music-comedy group.
They made a television debut on June 20, 1948 on the opening broadcast of CBS-TV Network’s show, The Ed Sullivan Show.
In 1949, the friends signed with Hal B. Wallis, the producer for Paramount, as a comedy relief for the movie, My Friend Irma.
By the 1960s, Martin was already a successful performer. He teamed up with Frank Sinatra for a number of successful movies, including Ocean’s 11.
He copied the styles of Harry Mills in his songs until he developed his own style.
In 1964, his famous tune “Everybody Loves Somebody” peaked at number one on the US Charts, knocking off the Beatles’, “A Hard Day’s Night” off the spot.
Martin was greatly influenced by country music and during his career, recorded a couple of country songs. He often hosted country performers on his TV Shows.
The Country Music Association named him the “Man of the Year” in 1966.
Martin began his weekly NBC Comedy Series, The Dean Martin Show in 1965, which ran till 1974 with a total of 264 episodes.
In 1966, he won a Golden Glove Award for Best Actor– Television Series Musical or Comedy.
For thirty years,, Martin was among the top acts in Las Vegas. Martin sang and was one of the best comics, reaping benefits from his time with Lewis during the decade of comedy.
His daughter, Gail, was hosted in Vegas and on many TV shows including his, co-hosting his summer replacement series on NBC.
Likewise, his daughter Deana Martin continued in the business of performing, as well as his youngest son Ricci Martin until his death in August 2016.
Craig, Martin’s eldest son, was a producer on Martin’s television show and daughter Claudia was an actress in films like For Those Who Think Young.
Although he was seen as a ladies’ man, Martin spent most of his time with family.