Streetcorner sounds by ANGIE ERRIGO

From the UK History of Rock Magazine MO21

IN THE FIFTIES' rock'n'roll explosion, countless vocal groups walked into the recording studio straight off the streets where they had formed and performed. In New York's poorer neighbourhoods of predominantly black and Italian communities, making music on street-corners was a traditional pastime. Vocalising was both sociable recreation and free self-expression as gangs of friends showed off by turns. Although several black R&B based vocal groups soared to success on both East and West Coasts during the decade, only one white act managed to break through into the first division and take its place alongside such groups as the Platters, the Drifters and the Five Satins. That white group, of singular talent, was Dion and the Belmonts.

Dion Dimucci was born on 18 July l939 in the Bronx. one of the toughest boroughs in New York City. Both his parents were of Italian extraction and both were musical. and by the age of five Dion was singing to anyone who would listen. At 15 he made his first appearance. on Paul Whiteman s TV show. and in September 1957 he took time off from Mount St Michael's Academy in the Bronx to cut his first record for lrv Spice's Mohawk label. Backed by a vocal group called the Timberlanes he recorded 'The Chosen Few'. a doo-wop ballad that passed quickly into obscurity.

Spice agreed to finance further sessions if Dion formed a group of his own. So he recruited the Belmonts. three buddies from the Bronx who took their name from their old stamping ground. Belmont Avenue. The members were Fred Milano. Angelo D'A leo and Carlo Mastrangelo.

With Dion singing tenor they cut two records for Mohawk before moving to Laurie, a small independent label owned by Gene and Bob Schwartz. 'I Wonder Why'. released in 1958. was a glowing barrage of scat phrases that reflected the crude vocal texture of street-corner rehearsals. It made an immense impact. spent 13 weeks in Billboard's Hot Hundred and peaked at Number 22. Within a few months their follow-up. 'No One Knows. also cracked the Top Thirty. reaching Number 24. Their last 1958 release. 'Don't Pity Me'. enjoyed a three-month run in the charts but rose no higher than Number 40.

Slick, punk and mean

By then Dion and the Belmonts had become a popular live act. Dressed in sharp suits and with their dark. Italian good looks. the group combined the image of urban. uptown slickness with street-punk impudence. Dion himself, the born showman. was invariably the focus of attention. He was not as dramatic or as sexually suggestive as Elvis. but neither was he cosv like the all-American teen idols Frankie Avalon and Bobbies Vee. Vinton and Rydell. Indeed, as Greg Shaw has written. 'Dion was the original punk....He was tough, arrogant, not really dangerous like Elvis, but unquestionably mean.

Early in 1959 the Belmonts toured the US and in February Dion turned down the offer of a seat in the plane that carried Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper to their deaths. That year saw the release of 'Teenager In Love', an archetypal teen lament. A Top Five hit in the USA, it sold well internationally, although it was outstripped in the UK by two hurriedly. released cover versions by Craig Douglas and Marty Wilde (the latter reaching Number 2). Their sixth release on Laurie, 'Where Or When', gave them their biggest hit yet and went to Number 3 in the US in 1960. It was a cool, clever revival of the Rodgers and Hart standard. The group were now the most popular of the white doo-whoppers and inspired countless soundalikes, notably the Mystics, the Passions and the Regents.

In the next six months the group had two more hits with smooth. attractive revivals of 'When You Wish Upon A Star' and 'In The Still Of The Night'. but by then the classic doo-wop partnership had come to an end. D'Aleo had been conscripted into the army and at that point the group temporarily split up and Dion went solo. When they later re-formed, the Belmonts met with success on the club circuit and had six more Hot Hundred entries. but the charismatic Dion had far greater fortune. His first solo effort. 'Lonely Teenager'. reached Number 12.' and after two more hits and a flop came 'Runaround Sue'.

Bad, bad Sue

This song was written by Dion with Ernie Maresca. who had penned earlier successful sides for him and had his own smash hit with 'Shout.! Shout.' (Knock Yourself Out)'. One of Dion's pool-hall friends, Maresca acted as an adviser to his street-corner contemporaries and became an integral part of the early Sixties doo-wop revival, writing songs for the Regents, Nino and the Ebbtides and the Del-Satins as well as for Dion.

It was Maresca's idea to use the Del-Satins behind Dion on 'Runaround Sue', and the vocal quintet became characteristic of Dion's sound. 'Runaround Sue'. which made Number l in 1961, was based on Gary US Bonds' 'Quarter To Three'. The high key in which Dion was forced to sing gave his voice an aggressive edge: and this, together with the chanting of the Del-Satins and Gene Schwartz's decision to slap tape reverb on the performances. created a formidable new genre of 'doo-wop rock' that was far removed from the fashionable crooning of soda-pop teen idols.

Ironically. this legendary 'bad girl' song was dedicated to a real-life Susan, the girl Dion later married. An appearance doing the number in the teen rock'n'roll movie

Teenage millionaire spurred Dion into extending his appeal. He began playing the exclusive supper-club circuit, singing, dancing and cracking jokes. and gained a new, adult audience.

On record he racked up nine Top Ten US hits in two years and hit nearly as high with several others in his peak years from 1961 to 1963. Many of these songs were classics and they included 'The Wanderer', 'Little Diane'. 'Love Came To Me' and, following a move from Laurie to Columbia Records, the Drifters 'Ruby Baby' (Number 2). 'This Little Girl'. 'Donna The Prima Donna' and his revival of another Drifters oldie, 'Drip Drop'.

Dion toured Britain with Del Shannon, and his appearances on TV shows like 'Thank Your Lucky Stars' left a vivid impression of a dynamic singer in shiny mohair Italian-mod suit. When the Beatles overwhelmed America in 1964, ending the dominance of solo singers, Dion should have been one star with the talent and reputation to retain his popularity. But by then he was breaking down. physically and mentally, after years of heroin-addiction. He dropped out of the limelight for four years, kicked drugs and rebuilt his life.

A man transformed

In 1968, on the Laurie label again. Dion made an astonishing comeback with the poignant 'Abraham. Martin And John', which went to Number 4. It was now the era of folk-rock, and Dion became a respected singer-songwriter in the genre. Transformed as a man and an artist, the Dion of '68 wore long hair, scruffy jeans and boots and played 12-string guitar. By inclination. doo-wop was behind him, but he listened to blues, studied the music and became an excellent blues guitarist.

He yielded briefly to demand in the early Seventies' rock'n'roll revival for a reunion with the Belmonts at Madison Square Garden in New York. The event was a triumph and resulted in a best-selling album, Reunion (1973). In 1975 he was wooed back to heady rock'n'roll by Phil Spector, who inspired another transformation of style on 'Born To Be With You'. In the UK 'The Wanderer' became a Top Twenty hit upon its reissue the following year.

The original Belmonts were still recording in the Eighties and Dion has also endured as a fine artist. That he has survived a deep personal crisis and the whims of fashion testify to Dion Dimucci's strength of character and his musical adaptability. Even if he had failed to reach the charts after 1963, his work - with and without the Belmonts - would live on as a warm memory from the adolescence of rock.

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