"Everybody Loves Somebody"is a great

song that I can still remember the words to today,

sung by legendary singer and actor Dean Martin.

He was one of the few singers that everybody

in the family liked to listen to. He had a rather

unique and interesting life. I think that his story

will help explain his vast appeal to so many people

of all age groups.

Dean Martin,born Dino Paul Crocetti, June 7, 1917

was an American singer, film actor, and comedian.

He was one of the most famous music artists in the

1950s and 1960s. His hit singles included the songs

"Memories Are Made Of This", "That's Amore", "Every-

body Loves Somebody", "Mambo Italiano", "Sway",

"Volare" and "Ain't That a Kick in the Head". He

was the only star to be a major hit in all four

major areas of show business: concert stage,

recordings, motion pictures, and television.

Martin dropped out of school in the tenth grade He

delivered bootleg liquor, served as a speakeasy

croupier, wrote crafty anecdotes and was a

blackjack dealer, worked in a steel mill and boxed

as welterweight. At the age of 15, he was a boxer

who billed himself as "Kid Crocett" (Kro-Shey).

From his prizefighting years, Martin earned a

broken nose (later fixed), a permanently split

lip, and many sets of broken knuckles He only won

1 of his 12 bouts [ For a while he with Sonny

King, who like Martin, was just starting out in

show biz and had little money. Martin and King

held bare knuckle matches in their apartment,

fighting until one of them was knocked out. People

paid to watch the sight.

After serving in the Army for one year he started

singing in night clubs on a regular basics. It

was rumored that he had help from the mob bosses in

Chicago who owned saloons. There was even a rumor

that one of the bosses wanted to put out a contract

on him.

Martin then met Jerry Lewis at the glass hat club

in New York and they both teamed up at the 500 club

in Atlantic city in 1946where eventually were

successful. After a series of engagements up and

down the east coast.In 1949 they were signed by

Paramount producer Ha, Wallis as a comedy relief

for the film My Friend Irma.

They eventually moved to California and together

they were the hottest act in America during the

1950's, but eventually the pressure of show

business and the never ending bashing of the

critics, led to their breakup exactly 10 years

after their first official teaming.

Afterwords, Martin went into acting and his first

sole film was a bomb. His appearance in the 1957

film The Young Lions was his major comeback as an

actor.

Meanwhile he copied the styles of Bing Crosby and

Perry Como and began his own singing style. He

recorded more than 100 albums and 600 songs. One of

his greatest hits "Everybody Loves Somebody"

even knocked the Beatles "A Hard Days Night'

out of first place in 1964. He said that he was

heavily influenced by country music and a lot of

his songs during the sixties were composed of

popular country and western songs. Who could ever

forget "Welcome To My World" and "Gentle On My

Mind"

Martin even had his own comedy show and many of

his guests were country and western singers. He

was even named man of the year by the country

music association in 1966. Dean died in 1995 at

the ripe old age of 78.

But looking back now, I remember him as being

one of the so called "Rat Pack." Martin and Sinatra,

along with friends Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and

Sammy Davis, Jr. formed the legendary Rat Pack,

They were legendary for their Las Vegas performances

which were almost never pre-announced.

One very important aspect of their routine was

that The Rat Pack was largely responsible for the

integration of Las Vegas, as Sinatra and Martin

steadfastly refused to appear anywhere that barred

Davis, forcing the casinos to open their doors to

African-American entertainers and patrons, and to

drop restrictive covenants against Jews.