If you’re looking for the influence of Italy on popular music it’s interesting to compare the careers of two great Italian-American singers, Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. While Ol’ Blue Eyes steered clear of recording much Italian-based music, his pal was happy to embrace his cultural heritage. Multi-talented Dean found fame not once but twice – the first time as part of a double act in the Fifties with comedian Jerry Lewis. But his relaxed singing style had caught the ear even earlier when he followed Frank Sinatra into New York’s Riobamba Room in 1943. And the Sinatra connection would later give him yet another claim to fame. He, Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr would together lead the Rat Pack, a selection of entertainers completed by actors Peter Lawford and Shirley MacLaine and comedian Joey Bishop which hobnobbed with presidents and starred on record, screen and stage in various combinations in the early Sixties. This is a compilation of well-loved Italian love songs – second nature to a man who, like Sinatra, was the proud product of Italian immigrant parents. He was born Dino Paul Crocetti in Ohio in 1917 and, it’s said, spoke exclusively Italian for the first five years of his life. The result is a happy hour (and more) in the company of an acknowledged master.
