More with Kenny Dino Goldmine: You've got a great scrapbook. Here's a picture with you, Freddie Cannon, Tony Orlando and Bobby Vee... At The Clay Cole Extravaganza, 1963 Kenny Dino: That was at a Clay Cole Extravaganza on Staten Island in '63. Goldmine: Here's a picture of you on stage at Palisades Park... Kenny Dino: That show was in 1963. Backstage, behind the door is Neil Sedaka, waiting to go on with "Calender Girl". On the other end of the stage was Clint Eastwood. That's where I first met him. Goldmine: What was Clint doing in a rock show? Kenny Dino: Clint was a singer at the time. Palisades Park was the first time we got together. I mean, forget it, I was a big Clint Eastwood fan. The show, "Rawhide", had just ended. It was over. He went out on tour to support the cook, Sheb Wooley. And Clint was going out as a singer. Later on, around '68, my P.R. man, Irwin Zucker, looked to see what he could set up for me in the acting business. He set up two things: "The Valley Of The Dolls" movie and a TV show, "The Guns of Will Sonnett" with the old man, Walter Brennen. I was going to play the old man's son but Dack Rambo got the part. See, what happened is they set up the audition and they wanted a singer that had experience but also someone that the public didn't know. Irwin had a lot of push and power. But I blew it, I never got out to L.A. The money that I was making on the tour was generating so much that it regenerated a couple of more tours. And I was in Toronto doing well, so I stayed there and never made it to TV. But I eventually auditioned for Danny Thomas and Aaron Spelling. They wanted me to do the bad cowboy part, the young kid cowboy, the stuck-up kid, the one whose daddy owned the valley. That's the kind of part they had me set up for. But it never came to anything. I lost interest in it. Goldmine: You look very sharp in these pictures. Kenny Dino: Oh,everything I wore in those days was all custom made, all top quality stuff Goldmine: And you're very thin... Kenny Dino: I was 129 pounds until I turned 42. Goldmine: How is the road now? Kenny Dino: Better than ever. Really. You know, I remember my first standing ovation and it feels just as good today. Goldmine: Tell me about it. Kenny Dino: Let's see...it was funny. It was in the early '60s...at Grossinger's in The Catskills. Grossinger's was the biggest hotel then. Anyway, I was with The Belmonts. We were sent up to do some "kiddie shows", you know, teenage shows. I was in pretty good voice...people used to say, "How could such a big voice come from such a skinny little body!" I had been taking lessons with Gian Carlo Menotti and with Eddie Matthews, a Broadway coach, so I could reach the back of the theater, you know, without a microphone. I was taught to sing the right way. So, anyway, somebody from the hotel comes and asks us to play the adult room because the headliner couldn't make it in due to the snowstorm. So we worked with the orchestra and put together what we were gonna play. So I get out there and did three songs. They loved it. Now, Grossinger's was supposed to be the toughest audience you could play, in the world! It had a hell of a reputation, you know. And here, I got a standing ovation. I did "You'll Never Walk Alone." It was some feeling seeing all those people enjoying themselves. It's the same feeling I see today. I love it. I'm very fortunate to have always made my living at this. Goldmine: It's a good job. Robert Plant and Kenny Dino at Jones Beach, July 1990 Kenny Dino: You said it. You know, I was playing a carnival several weeks ago and I started "Your Ma Said..." These young girls, maybe 14 or 15, are around the bandstand singing the backup from Robert Plant's version. It was wonderful. It happens a lot these days. Robert, who is a super guy--can you believe that he knows the B-sides of my records! I don't even remember them! Suddenly, people are listening again. My agent, Stan Wiest, has done good things for me, too. I still get lots of work...lots of corporate parties and private, high-pay gigs. Recently, at a party, these two Huntington housewives came up to me and requested "Your Ma Said..." It turns out they were the Syosset girls who sang on the original! I stay busy. Surprisingly, I do better in other parts of the country, more so than Long Island. Next weekend, I'm going down to Virginia and then North and South Carolina. You should see the reaction down there. It's as though I had fifteen hits in a row! Wonderful audiences. Incredible! Goldmine: You must feel very satisfied. There is certainly something to be said for longevity in this business! Kenny Dino: Incredible! I'm into a good sound now. I would love to cut some sides now. My music is better than ever. It's a sort of rock and country...maybe an R&B based country, I don't know. I don't like to peg it. It's rock 'n' roll, I guess. It's a sound that will never die, you know, although they said it would...and a long time ago, at that. It's the sound I do...what I've always done. I suppose it might be the real rock 'n' roll. Click here for Kenny Dino's discography Click here to go back to "Bands!Bands!Bands!" Click Here To return to the Index This interview originally appeared in Goldmine Magazine, May 15,1992. Volume 18, Number 10, Issue 308 © Richard Arfin 1987 Revised 2004 All Rights Reserved