From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Jul 18, 2002  1:12 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Dion Di Mucci
 
DION DI MUCCI (By Shaun Mather)

Born 18 July, 1939, The Bronx, New York City

Dion is one of the rare breed of artists who always stays cool and relevant
whatever the decade and whatever style of music he's playing. He moved
from his doo-wop roots to r'n'b, gospel, folk, rock and back full circle to
doo-wop where he will hopefully stay for all future projects. His New York
swagger became an integral part of his sound and persona and mixed with his
Italian background, gave him an added air of mystique.

Considering his bloodline and home territory, it's intriguing that he grew
up loving country music, and was particularly fond of Hank Williams. By his
teens he was singing on street corners and landed a single with a backing
vocal group The Timberlanes. However, it was with his buddies The Belmonts
that he made his mark, recording a string of classic white doo-woppers like I
Wonder Why (their first hit, # 22 in 1958) and A Teenager In Love (their first
Top 10 hit, # 5 in 1959).

They parted company in 1960 but Dion continued to hit with solo efforts like
Runaround Sue (# 1), The Wanderer (# 2), Lovers Who Wander (# 3), Ruby
Baby (# 2) and Donna the Prima Donna (# 6), first still on his old label Laurie,
later on Columbia. By the mid-60s he'd developed a bad heroin addiction and
his career took a downslide despite cutting some great blues records. By the
end of the decade he was recording in a folk vein and scored a top 5 hit with
Abraham, Martin and John (1968). His albums were critically acclaimed but
to me, don't stand comparison with his early doo-wop stuff. He reunited with
the Belmonts in 1972 for a New York concert which was recorded and released.
It's a fantastic album which captures the magic of the music and the occasion.
His latest album Deja Nu (2000) is another classic which could have been
recorded in 1959.

Recommended lsitening:
King of the New York Streets - 4CD (Capitol)
Complete Dion & Belmonts (Collector's Choice)
The Road I'm On : A Retrospective (2 CD-set, Sony, 1962-66 recordings)
Dion & the Belmonts, Re-Union : Live At Madison Square Garden 1972 (WB)
Deja Nu (USA : Collectables, UK : Ace)
Official homepage: http://diondimucci.com/main.html
Autobiography: Dion Di Mucci with Davin Seay, The Wanderer : Dion's Story.
New York : Beech Tree Books, 1988.