SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES HIM

From teen idol to troubled addict, from a folk scene rebirth to his newfound status as keeper of the blues flame, Dion is a happy Wanderer these days - as he tells Terry Staunton

Dion DiMucci has often been called upon to recount the story of the last time he saw Buddy Holly. With his group The Belmonts, Dion was a supporting act on the package tour that featured Holly, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper, and was offered a seat on the plane that took off from Clear Lake, Iowa, in February 1959. However, the down-to-earth star felt the $36 ticket was too much of an extravagance – it was the same sum as his parents’ monthly rent when he was a kid.

Consequently, his frugality on The Day The Music Died saved his life. By his own confession, music had already done the same job, offering an escape from the gangs and crime of his native Bronx, and later, his faith would also be a life-saver, when the pressures of the music world led him to drug addiction.

Life today is good for the 72-year-old Dion Francis DiMucci, best known for more than half a century by just his first name. When not on the road performing, he divides his time between homes in New York and Miami, is involved in a musical play about his early career (which will be premiered this year), and he’s just released Tank Full Of Blues, the third in a trilogy of albums that have seen him reconnect with his first musical love.

Along the way there’s been teen idol stardom (Runaround Sue, The Wanderer), a reinvention as a Greenwich Village folky with …

by Terry Staunton
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