Happy Birthday to Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Dion DiMucci, who turns 82 on Sunday (July 18th)!!! Dion and his original backing group the Belmonts helped bring white doo-wop from the Bronx to the national charts with such hits as “I Wonder Why” and “A Teenager In Love.” The group went on to tour nationally, and were co-headliners on the ill-fated “Winter Dance Party” tour that took the lives of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson on February 3rd, 1959. Dion went solo from the group in 1960, and immediately scored with hits such as “The Wanderer,” “Runaround Sue,” “Donna The Prima Donna,” “Ruby Baby” — and later in the decade with “Abraham, Martin, And John.”
Last year, Dion's latest album, Blues With Friends, hit Number One on both the Billboard Blues Albums, and iTunes Blues Albums charts. The set has also topped the UK's Official Jazz & Blues Albums chart. Joining the Bronx legend for the set are such heavyweights as Bruce Springsteen & Patti Scialfa, Paul Simon, Jeff Beck, Van Morrison, Brian Setzer, Steve Van Zandt, Joe Bonamassa, and ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons
Recently released is Dion's long lost 1965 collection, Kickin' Child, which was originally recorded for Columbia Records but left unreleased until now.