Kenny Dino

Kenneth J. Diono, known professionally as Kenny Dino (July 12, 1939 – December 10, 2009)^[1] was an American singer born in Astoria, Queens, New York, United States.^[2]

Dino's family moved to

His lone hit was "Your Ma Said You Cried in Your Sleep Last Night", a No. 24 U.S. Pop hit in 1961.^[3] The three back-up singers were Lois Green, Leslie Smith and Alan Eichler, who were all students at Syosset High School at the time.^[4] When all further releases yielded no commercial gain, Dino switched to acting and appeared in the film, Valley of the Dolls.^[3] Robert Plant later covered this tune on his 1990 release, Manic Nirvana.^[2]

Death

On December 9, 2009, Kenny Dino had finished his second music gig of the day and was driving from Melbourne, Florida on Interstate 95 to his home in Cocoa, Florida. He pulled over to the side of the road where construction workers found him unconscious. They called the Florida Highway Patrol and paramedics, but Dino died from a heart attack in the early hours of December 10, 2009.^[5]

References