Post by Rob Durkee on Jan 3, 2012 23:15:33 GMT -5
By ROCKIN' ROBIN
Fred Milano, who sang second tenor for the 1950's-1960's group Dion and the Belmonts, died Sunday (January 1, 2012) at a New York City area hospital. He was 72. According to the Los Angeles Times and Warren Graddus, who joined the group in 1963, Milano died of lung cancer that was diagnosed just three weeks earlier.
First tenor Angelo D'Aleo, Milano and bass singer Carlo Mastrangelo began singing together in the mid-1950's on streets in New York City, particularly along Belmont Avenue. In the 1977 movie depicting the life of legendary DJ Alan Freed, "American Hot Wax," the group is shown briefly singing a capella trying to impress Freed along a sidewalk. Dion DiMucci join would join the group in 1958 to complete its lineup. That's when the group named itself Dion And The Belmonts. The group burst onto the pop music scene with the doo-wop classic "I Wonder Why," which reached #20 on the Cash Box pop chart in 1958.
After two more 1958 hit ballads in 1958 with "No One Knows" (#25) and "Don't Pity Me" (#37), Dion and the Belmonts landed their first top ten hit in the spring of 1959 with "A Teenager In Love." In late 1959 and early 1960, the group scored with its biggest hit with the #4-peaking "Where Or When." According to Joel Whitburn's Record Research, "Where Or When" was originally a hit in 1937 for Hal Kemp and his Orchestra.
Later in 1960, Dion and the Belmonts had two more Top 40 hits with two more top 40 hits-- "When You Wish Upon A Star" (#25) and "In The Still Of The Night." Both songs were remakes of old standards. "When You Wish Upon A Star" was introduced in the 1940 Walt Disney movie, "Pinocchio" while "In The Still Of The Night" was originally a 1937 hit for Tommy Dorsey. "In The Still Of The Night" wasn't the song that became a hit for the Five Satins but rather a Cole Porter-written song. It was a case of two songs with different melodies and lyrics sharing the same title.
Dion split from the Belmonts in late 1960 to churn out solo hits, starting with "Lonely Teenager" and later "Runaround Sue," "Ruby Baby" and "Abraham, Martin And John." The Belmonts scored two top 40 hits minus Dion with "Tell Me Why" (#22) in 1961 and "Come On Little Angel" (#26) in 1962.
Dion And The Belmonts reunited for a dramatic 1972 live reunion concert that's still available on CD to this day courtesy of Rhino Records. The concert opens with a dynamite version of "I Wonder Why," then "A Teenager In Love." A 7:42-long version of "Runaround Sue" virtually brought the house down.
Milano and the rest of Dion and the Belmonts were all part of the Dick Clark-planned winter concert tour of early 1959 that led a well-known tragedy in Clear Lake, Iowa. In the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens and pilot Roger Peterson were killed in a plane crash that Don McLean referred to as "The Day The Music Died" in his hit song, "American Pie." In 2000, Milano told the Boston Herald, "We didn't find out until two o'clock the next afternoon when we got to Minnesota. It was a shock. A heartbreaker. When we called home, everyone thought we were dead because that's what had been reported on the radio."
Fred Milano was born August 26, 1939 in the Bronx. He went back to school at middle age and eventually became a legal expert for New York's Rikers jail complex. He would help inmates research their cases.
Fred Milano, who sang second tenor for the 1950's-1960's group Dion and the Belmonts, died Sunday (January 1, 2012) at a New York City area hospital. He was 72. According to the Los Angeles Times and Warren Graddus, who joined the group in 1963, Milano died of lung cancer that was diagnosed just three weeks earlier.
First tenor Angelo D'Aleo, Milano and bass singer Carlo Mastrangelo began singing together in the mid-1950's on streets in New York City, particularly along Belmont Avenue. In the 1977 movie depicting the life of legendary DJ Alan Freed, "American Hot Wax," the group is shown briefly singing a capella trying to impress Freed along a sidewalk. Dion DiMucci join would join the group in 1958 to complete its lineup. That's when the group named itself Dion And The Belmonts. The group burst onto the pop music scene with the doo-wop classic "I Wonder Why," which reached #20 on the Cash Box pop chart in 1958.
After two more 1958 hit ballads in 1958 with "No One Knows" (#25) and "Don't Pity Me" (#37), Dion and the Belmonts landed their first top ten hit in the spring of 1959 with "A Teenager In Love." In late 1959 and early 1960, the group scored with its biggest hit with the #4-peaking "Where Or When." According to Joel Whitburn's Record Research, "Where Or When" was originally a hit in 1937 for Hal Kemp and his Orchestra.
Later in 1960, Dion and the Belmonts had two more Top 40 hits with two more top 40 hits-- "When You Wish Upon A Star" (#25) and "In The Still Of The Night." Both songs were remakes of old standards. "When You Wish Upon A Star" was introduced in the 1940 Walt Disney movie, "Pinocchio" while "In The Still Of The Night" was originally a 1937 hit for Tommy Dorsey. "In The Still Of The Night" wasn't the song that became a hit for the Five Satins but rather a Cole Porter-written song. It was a case of two songs with different melodies and lyrics sharing the same title.
Dion split from the Belmonts in late 1960 to churn out solo hits, starting with "Lonely Teenager" and later "Runaround Sue," "Ruby Baby" and "Abraham, Martin And John." The Belmonts scored two top 40 hits minus Dion with "Tell Me Why" (#22) in 1961 and "Come On Little Angel" (#26) in 1962.
Dion And The Belmonts reunited for a dramatic 1972 live reunion concert that's still available on CD to this day courtesy of Rhino Records. The concert opens with a dynamite version of "I Wonder Why," then "A Teenager In Love." A 7:42-long version of "Runaround Sue" virtually brought the house down.
Milano and the rest of Dion and the Belmonts were all part of the Dick Clark-planned winter concert tour of early 1959 that led a well-known tragedy in Clear Lake, Iowa. In the early morning hours of February 3, 1959, Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Ritchie Valens and pilot Roger Peterson were killed in a plane crash that Don McLean referred to as "The Day The Music Died" in his hit song, "American Pie." In 2000, Milano told the Boston Herald, "We didn't find out until two o'clock the next afternoon when we got to Minnesota. It was a shock. A heartbreaker. When we called home, everyone thought we were dead because that's what had been reported on the radio."
Fred Milano was born August 26, 1939 in the Bronx. He went back to school at middle age and eventually became a legal expert for New York's Rikers jail complex. He would help inmates research their cases.
