Died On This Date (March 22, 1986) Mark Dinning / Had Hit With “Teen Angel”
themusicsover Mark Dinning
August 17, 1933 – March 22, 1986
One of nine siblings, Mark Dinning recycled an old song written by one of his sisters (of the Dinning Sisters) and turned it into an early rock ‘n’ roll hit. That song was “Teen Angel” which is one of those classic tragedies that tells the chilling story of a young lover killed when her car is stalled on the train tracks. It went to #1 on the Billboard charts even though some stations felt it was too morbid to play. Dinning died of a heart attack at age 52.
To many, Dean Paul Martin was best known as Dean Martin’s son, but to music fans he was Dino of Dino, Desi and Billy. The Desi being Desi Arnaz Jr. Forming the group in their early teens, DD&B had a couple of semi hits that targeted the teenage girl crowd. As he grew older, Dino became Dean Paul and went on to make a name for himself playing tennis. He even played Wimbledon. Flying was yet another passion of Martin’s. He got his pilot’s license at just 16 and later earned his wings with the Air National Guard. Then in 1987, Martin was flying his National Guard fighter jet when a bad snowstorm caused him to crash it in the mountains for California, killing him and his Weapons System Officer on impact. He was once married to Olympic ice skater, Dorothy Hammill and actress Olivia Hussey.