Dino Paul Crocetti was born in Steubenville, Ohio on June 7, 1917. A
high school drop out, he worked as a bootlegger, steelworker and a
boxer before changing his name to Dean Martin and becoming a
vocalist with the Sammy Watkins band.

Martin appeared permanently destined for the nightclub circuit until
he met fledgling comic Jerry Lewis in New York, where both men
were performing. Martin and Lewis soon formed a music-comedy
team. Their success led to a string of well-paying engagements up
and down the East coast, culminating with a triumphant run at the
crown jewel of nightclubs, New York's Copacabana.

Martin and Lewis were the hottest comedy act in America during the
early '50s, with Dean stepping out on his own to score a giant hit
with his recording, “That’s Amore” in 1953. Two years later in 1955
Dean Martin was at the top of the charts with his #1 hit, “Memories
Are Made of This” signaling the start of a break up that finally took
place in 1956. In 1958 Dean once again hit with his third million
selling single, “Return To Me” and also hit big with “Volare.”
1964 would deliver the biggest hit yet with, “Everybody Loves Somebody”
followed by “The Door Is Still Open to My Heart.” He would reach
the top ten one more time with “I Will” in 1965.

As a member of Frank Sinatra’s “Rat Pack”, Dean Martin played Las
Vegas to sold out audiences as a headliner for several years. In 2005,
Las Vegas renamed *Industrial Road “Dean Martin Drive".

With as estimated 600 songs and more than 100 albums to his
credit, NBC television launched the weekly Dean Martin Show in
1965, top rated for several years.

An accomplished actor, besides his comedy roles in several Martin
and Lewis films, Dean starred in dozens of motion pictures
including “The Young Lions” in 1957, “Rio Bravo” in 1959,
“The Sons of Katie Elder” in 1965, “The Silencers” in 1966,
“Bandolero!” in 1968 and “Airport” in 1970.

Dean Martin's world would crumble in 1987, when his son
Dean Paul Martin was killed in a plane crash while on
maneuvers with the California Air National Guard.

On Christmas morning, 1995, in his 78th year Dean Martin died of respiratory failure.

The lights of the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor.