- Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: Dion DiMucci was born July 18, 1939 in the Bronx, NYC. His father was a professional puppeteer ...
- ... who spent his summers performing in the Borscht Belt.
- Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: In his youth, Dion was a member of a local gang, the Fordham Daggers. He also spent evenings singing on local street corners.
- Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: His father introduced him to Paul Whitman a discoverer and promoter of young talent. At about twelve ...
- ... Dion began appearing with Whitman on TV & radio along the East Coast, including Whitman's own Teen Club.
- Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: In 1957 Dion recorded four rock and roll songs as a Valentines Day present for his mother. The demo...
- ... reached the producers of the Teen Club TV show out of Philadelphia, where he made his performing debut in 1954.
- Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: Irv Spice, owner of Mohawk Records, using unknown studio musicians, recorded Dion singing The Chosen Few ...
- ... and Out Of Colorado. There were few sales.
- Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: Dion founded the Belmonts (named after Belmont Avenue) by recruiting the three best street singers he knew, ...
- ... Carlo Mastrangelo & Freddy Millano, members of rival gang, the Imperial hoods, and Angelo D' Aleo.
- Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: I Wonder Why was their breakthrough record. Released the first week of May, 1958, it was on the ...
- ... national charts two weeks later. Before month`s end, they were on Dick Clark's Saturday night CBS-TV show.
- Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: The Belmonts toured frequently, often on package tours with other stars. In February 1959, Dion passed up a plane ride ...
- ... on the chartered plane that later crashed, killing Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and the Big Bopper.
- Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: Dion & The Belmonts had 9 songs reach the Billboard Hot 100 chart. 7 of those songs reached the Top Forty, 2 the Top 10: ....
- ... Where or When (#3) and A Teenager in Love.
- Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: Dion married Susan Butterfield on
23 March 1963. They had three children. - Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: By the early 60s Dion and the Belmonts broke up, the main reason being Dion's heroin habit which ...
- ... he had been nurturing since he was sixteen. The group got back together in the 70s for a short time.
- Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: Dion starred as himself in the 1961 movie Teenage Millionaire. Among other performers appearing ...
- ... as themselves were Jackie Wilson and Chubby Checker.
- Dion & The Belmonts Trivia: Dion was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
