Dion

One of the most popular singers at the turn of the 1960s, with hits such as "A Teenager in Love", "The Wanderer " and "Runaround Sue", Dion (born Dion DiMucci in New York on July 18, 1939) was a singer of doo-wop-influenced teen rock, with a style on the edge of rock'n'roll and rhythm'n'blues. With his band The Belmonts, he racked up a number of chart hits before embarking on a solo career as a singer-songwriter. Although he failed to recapture the success of his early days, he offered a mature rock sound on his albums Born to Be With You (1975), Return of the Wanderer (1978), Yo Frankie (1989) and Bronx in Blue (2005). Now a cult figure of New York rock that influenced Lou Reed, Dion pays tribute to the blues on Son of Skip James (2007) and Tank Full of Blues (2012), followed in 2015 by New York Is My Home, in collaboration with Paul Simon. He spent 2016 on the road defending the album, before releasing the following year a ghost of the past, Kickin' Child: The Lost Album 1965, from sessions that remained in the archives of Columbia, which had not wished to release it at the time. In 2020, he continued his declaration of love to the blues with Blues with Friends, bringing together on one platter the names of Bruce Springsteen (a long-time admirer), Paul Simon, Jeff Beck, Joe Bonamassa, Sonny Landreth, Van Morrison and Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top), as well as Bob Dylan for the liner notes. This was the first album in a series of duets that continued with Stomping Ground (2021) and its booklet by Pete Townshend, then Girl Friends (2024), on which he was joined on guitar or vocals by Carlene Carter, Susan Tedeschi, Shemekia Copeland, Danielle Nicole, Sue Foley, Debbie Davies, Rory Block, Maggie Rose and Joanne Shaw Taylor. In 2025, The Rock'n'Roll Philosopher continues with contributions from Bonamassa, Landreth, Eric Clapton, Mark Knopfler, Lauren Aquilina and Scott Kempner.

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