Dion DiMucci was one of many significant names of the rock ‘n’ roll era to emerge from the Italian diaspora of the USA’s north-western states, his career encompassing doowop-influenced early hits with Dion & The Belmonts followed by landmark solo successes, all within the space of a few intense years of chart action. Born in the Bronx in 1939, he was the son of a vaudeville entertainer and came to music early, singing on street corners and in bars, auditioning for producers for whom he made records as Dion & The Timberlanes for the Mohawk label, before assembling the Belmonts to get a deal with the New York label Laurie, making the charts with “I Wonder Why”. The Top 5 “Teenager In Love” and No.3 “Where or When” followed and they had nine hits before Dion left to go solo in 1960, and over the next three years he had a dozen hits including the classics “Runaround Sue”, a No. 1, and “The Wanderer” a No. 2.

This set comprises the A & B sides of his early Mohawk releases, plus the A & B sides of the Dion & The Belmonts singles and Dion solo singles during this era, along with selected titles from the Dion & The Belmonts LPs “Presenting Dion & The Belmonts” and “When You Wish Upon A Star”, and from Dion’s solo albums “Alone With Dion”, “Runaround Sue” and “Lovers Who Wander”. It naturally includes the 21 chart entries he had across the two phases of his career during these years, and provides a fine showcase for his highly distinctive style as a vocalist both in the group format and solo, and underlines why his contribution to rock ‘n’ roll was so significant.

REVIEWS

“This very welcome release gathers together Dion’s wonderful work with The Belmonts, his work on Laurie, and his first single with Columbia at the end of 1962. The collection very neatly shows the large range and scope of the recordings, both group and solo, and illustrates well the artistic differences that led to them leaving them... Dion is a great artist, be it with the superb Belmonts in a rock n roll-type harmony setting, as a teen idol, as a tough rocker, as an interpreter of oldies, and later as a folkie and fine blues guitarist. Not all of these 58 tracks were great material, but they all have a great performance from our hero. He deserves his place in any pantheon of rock ’n’ roll stars.”  –  Pete Bowen (Now Dig This Issue 444)

“Every home should have at least one Dion collection, and if you don’t have one, this reasonably priced 58 track chronological compilation should solve your problem. Excellent booklet accompanies the collection, everything you wanted to know about the early Dion. His career continues.”  –  John Howard (UK Rock & Roll Magazine Issue 196)