History
Dino Martin, Desi Arnaz Jr. and Billy Hinsche first met in grammar school. [2] [3] Due to the family connections of Dino and Desi, the band's first audition was for Frank Sinatra, who founded and still had an interest in Reprise Records, the recording label for Dean Martin. [4] Though Arnaz, whose father was a famous drummer and who had learned to play drums from close family friend Richard Keith (who played Little Ricky on I Love Lucy ) [5] was a skilled drummer in his own right, the group did not play their own instruments on most of their records, instead using top session players, producers and songwriters. Producers included Lee Hazlewood, Billy Strange and Jimmy Bowen. Songwriters whose compositions were recorded by the group included Hazlewood, Red West, David Gates, Boyce and Hart, Clint Ballard Jr. and Bonner & Gordon. [4]
Dino, Desi & Billy's best known songs were "I'm a Fool" (1965; U.S. Billboard Hot 100 No. 17; [1] later covered by Alvin and the Chipmunks for their 1965 album Chipmunks à Go-Go ) [6] and "Not the Lovin' Kind" (1965; U.S. No. 25). [7] Both were hits for the group before any group member had reached the age of 15. Following this success, in 1965, they toured as an opening act for the Beach Boys. [8] The group also opened for Paul Revere & the Raiders, Tommy Roe, Sam the Sham, the Lovin' Spoonful and the Mamas & the Papas. [2]
The band did not have a top 40 hit after 1965, despite releasing records for five years thereafter. [4]
The group released one album in 1965 and three albums in 1966. Dino, Desi & Billy albums contained primarily versions of Top 40 songs made popular by others, [9] with new content being minor. The three boys made an appearance in the Dean Martin film Murderers' Row and sang the Boyce & Hart song, "If You're Thinkin' What I'm Thinkin'". From 1966 to 1970, the group continued to release singles, encountering marginal success, which was not altered by a change of label to Columbia Records in 1969. Also in 1969, the group contributed three songs to the soundtrack of the surf film Follow Me. The group received top billing on the soundtrack album, despite the fact that most of the album featured music by composer Stu Phillips. [10] Later in 1969, the group broke up, due in part to Desi joining his mother's television show and Hinsche wishing to commence university studies. [2]
The group was never a favorite of the critics. Writing for AllMusic, music critic Richie Unterberger characterized them as a group that "never had an ounce of credibility", with music that was "innocuously bland in the extreme." [4] These sentiments may be contrasted with the fact that the band was well thought of by the Beach Boys, to the extent that Brian Wilson and Hinsche co-wrote one of the band's original songs, and their final single, "Lady Love". That single was released by Reprise Records in 1970, after the group had broken up. Hinsche's sister, Annie, married Carl Wilson and Hinsche himself worked with the Beach Boys as a backing musician for many years. [4]
Dean Paul Martin became a tennis player, actor and a captain in the California Air National Guard. He was married to actress Olivia Hussey and figure skater Dorothy Hamill, and was killed while piloting an F-4 Phantom jet in 1987. [11]
In 1996, Sundazed Records released The Rebel Kind: The Best of Dino, Desi & Billy, in which all of the group's singles and other non-cover material was collected for the first time on one album.
From 1998 to 2010, a reconfiguration of the group, known as "Ricci, Desi, & Billy", performed at various times, in addition to releasing two live albums. [12] The band performed new material and the original hits, with Ricci Martin, the youngest son of singer Dean Martin, replacing his late older brother, Dean Paul Martin. [13] [14]
Nancy Sandra Sinatra is an American singer. She is the elder daughter of Frank Sinatra and Nancy Sinatra and is known for her 1965 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".
Earl Cyril Palmer was an American drummer. Considered one of the inventors of rock and roll, he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Reprise Records is an American record label founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operates through Warner Records, one of its flagship labels.
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV, better known as Desi Arnaz Jr., is an American retired actor and musician. He is the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Carl Dean Wilson was an American musician who co-founded the Beach Boys. He was their lead guitarist, the youngest sibling of bandmates Brian and Dennis, and the group's de facto leader in the early to mid-1970s. He was also the band's musical director on stage from 1965 until his death.
Dean Paul Martin Jr. was an American pop singer and film and television actor. A member of the California Air National Guard, Martin died in a crash during a military training flight. He was the son of entertainer Dean Martin.
"Rock and Roll Music" is a song by American musician and songwriter Chuck Berry, written and recorded by Berry in May 1957. It has been widely covered and is one of Berry's most popular and enduring compositions.
Sheldon Talmy is an American record producer, songwriter and arranger, best known for his work in the UK in the 1960s with the Who, the Kinks and many others.
Barton Lee Hazlewood was an American country and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer, most widely known for his work with guitarist Duane Eddy during the late 1950s and singer Nancy Sinatra in the 1960s and 1970s. His collaborations with Sinatra as well as his solo output in the late 1960s and early 1970s have been praised as an essential contribution to a sound often described as "cowboy psychedelia" or "saccharine underground". Rolling Stone ranked Lee Hazlewood & Nancy Sinatra No. 9 on its list of the 20 Greatest Duos of All Time.
Murderers' Row is a 1966 American comedy spy-fi film starring Dean Martin as Matt Helm. It is the second of four films in the Matt Helm series, and is very loosely based upon the 1962 spy novel Murderers' Row by Donald Hamilton.
Robert Gene "Red" West was an American actor, film stuntman and songwriter. He was known for being a close confidant and bodyguard for rock and roll singer Elvis Presley. Upon his firing, West co-wrote the controversial Elvis: What Happened?, a tell all book about Elvis co written with a Rupert Murdoch journalist; the book was published in May 1977 in UK and later in USA.
William Hinsche was an American musician who was a co-founding member of the singing trio Dino, Desi & Billy and a keyboardist for the Beach Boys' backing band.
"Some Velvet Morning" is a song written by Lee Hazlewood and originally recorded by Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra in late 1967. It first appeared on Sinatra's album Movin' with Nancy, the soundtrack to her 1967 television special of the same name, which also featured a performance of the song. It was subsequently released as a single before appearing on the 1968 album Nancy & Lee.
James Albert Bowen is an American record producer and former rockabilly singer. Bowen brought Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood together, and introduced Sinatra to Mel Tillis for their album, Mel & Nancy.
"Everybody Loves Somebody" is a song written in 1947 by Irving Taylor and pianist Ken Lane, and made famous by Dean Martin who recorded and released his version in 1964.
Anthony Terran was an American trumpet player and session musician. He was part of the Wrecking Crew, a group of largely uncredited session musicians in Los Angeles, California, who helped famous artists record hit records in the 1960s.
The Dean Martin Christmas Album is a 1966 studio album by Dean Martin arranged by Ernie Freeman and Bill Justis.
The Hit Sound of Dean Martin is a 1966 studio album by Dean Martin arranged by Ernie Freeman and Billy Strange.
Somewhere There's a Someone is a 1966 studio album by Dean Martin, produced by Jimmy Bowen.
Ricci James Martin was an American musician and singer. He was one of Dean Martin's sons. He established a band called The Pack. In 1977, he released the album Beached in collaboration with The Beach Boys member Carl Wilson and toured in the United States and Canada as the band's opening act. Wilson later became Ricci's brother-in-law when he married Ricci's sister, Gina Martin.
