The beginning of the twentieth century was marked in America by the emergence of a new musical direction - jazz music. Jazz - music by Louis Armstrong, Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra. When Dean Martin entered the scene in the 1940s, American jazz experienced a rebirth.
Childhood and youth of Dean Martin
Dean Martin's real name is Dino Paul Crocetti, because his parents were Italians. Crocetti was born in Steubenville, Ohio. The future jazzman was born on June 7, 1917.
Since the family spoke Italian, the boy had problems with English, and his classmates even bullied him. But Dino studied well, and in the senior class he considered that he had nothing more to do at school - and stopped attending classes.
Artist's hobbies
Instead, the guy took up drumming and various part-time jobs. In those years, there was a "prohibition" in the United States, and Dino illegally sold liquor, being a croupier in bars.
Crocetti was also fond of boxing. The teenager was only 15 years old, and he, under the pseudonym Kid Krochet, had already been in 12 fights, where he managed to get serious injuries in the form of broken fingers and a nose, a torn lip. But Dino never became an athlete. He needed money, so he focused on working at the casino.
Crocetti's idol was the Italian operatic tenor Nino Martini. He took his last name for his stage name. Dino was engaged in singing in his free time from service in the casino. A little later, he "Americanized" the pseudonym, becoming Dean Martin.
The first steps of the singer on the big stage
The nose, injured in a boxing match, seriously upset the novice singer, as it negatively affected his appearance. Therefore, in 1944, Dino decided to have plastic surgery, which he was paid for by the owner of the comic show, Lou Costello. He wanted to involve this artist in his program.
Once, in one of the clubs, fate brought Dino to Jerry Lewis, with whom he became friends and created a joint project "Martin and Lewis".
Their first performance in Atlantic City turned out to be a "failure" - at first the audience reacted very sluggishly. The owner of the club expressed a very strong dissatisfaction. And then a miracle happened - in the second part, the comedians on the go came up with such tricks that they caused unbridled laughter from the whole hall.
Dean Martin in the movies
In 1948, the CBS channel invited the Martin and Lewis project to participate in the show The Toast of the Town, in 1949 the duo created their own radio series.
After Martin's second marriage, they and Lewis increasingly began to have conflicts - it seemed to Lewis that now they were working much less productively. This situation led to the breakup of the duo in 1956.
Charismatic and artistic Martin was in great demand in the cinema. He was the owner of the prestigious Golden Globe Award, which he received in 1960 for his participation in the comedy film Who Was That Lady? The film was a resounding success with the Americans.
Dean Martin broadcast on NBC
In 1964, on the NBC channel, the actor launched a new project, The Dean Martin Show, which was in a comedy format. In it, he appeared as a joker, a lover of wine and women, allowing himself obscene words. Dean spoke in his native language. The show was very popular.
It was in this program that the famous band The Rolling Stones debuted in the USA. For 9 years, the program was released 264 times, and Dean himself received another Golden Globe.
Musical creativity of the singer
Regarding the musical creativity of Dean Martin, his result was about 600 songs and more than 100 albums. And this despite the fact that the performer did not know the notes and actually pronounced the words to the music! In this regard, he has been compared to Frank Sinatra.
The main song of Martin's life was the composition Everybody Loves Somebody, which "bypassed" even The Beatles in the US hit parade chart. The singer then enjoyed great popularity.
The Italian was not indifferent to country style and in 1963-1968. released albums with compositions in this direction: Dean Tex Martin Rides Again, Houston, Welcome to the My World, Gentle On my Mind.
Dean Martin was named Person of the Year by the Country Music Association.
Martin's last studio album was The Nashvill Sessions (1983).
Martin's most famous hits: Sway, Mambo Italiano, La vie en Rose Let it Snow.
"Rat Pack"
Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, Humphrey Bogart, Judy Garland, Sammy Davis were called the "Rat Pack" by American audiences and were on all the famous US stages. In the programs of the artists there were various numbers, often topical, on the topics of drugs, sex, racial problems. Martin and Sinatra even ignored the venues where their black friend Sammy Davis was banned from performing. All the events of those years became the plot of the movie "The Rat Pack" (1998).
Dean Martin starred in 1987 in the video clip, which was the only one in the history of creativity. It was made for the song Since I Met You Baby, and it was directed by Martin's youngest son, Ricci.
Dean Martin: personal life
Dean Martin's wife was Elizabeth Ann McDonald, whom he married in 1941. The family had four children: Stephen Craig, Claudia Dean, Barbara Gale and Diana. Elizabeth had problems with alcohol, so the couple broke up and left the kids to their father. During the divorce, the court considered that he was better than his mother to cope with their upbringing.
The second wife of the famous artist is tennis player Dorothy Jean Bigger. With her, the artist lived for a quarter of a century and got three more children: Dean Paul, Ricci James and Gina Caroline.
Martin was already 55 years old when, having divorced his second wife, he met with Catherine Hawn, who at that time was only 26 years old, but she already had a daughter. The couple lived together for only three years. And Dean spent the rest of his life with his ex-wife Dorothy Bigger, reconciled with her.
In 1993, Dean Martin was overtaken by a serious illness - lung cancer. Perhaps the disease was provoked by the artist's "irrepressible" passion for smoking. He refused the operation. Perhaps this happened due to depression - he recently experienced terrible news - the death of his son in a disaster. Dean Martin passed away in December 1995.
