Formed in The Bronx, New York City in 1957, Dion and the Belmonts was a pop / rock vocal quartet fronted by Dion DiMucci. The trio of Angelo D’Aleo, Carlo Mastrangelo, and Fred Milano originally came together as the Belmonts in 1955, but the group didn’t gain a lot of attention until connecting with vocalist / guitarist Dion DiMucci in 1957. Their debut single, “We Sent Away,” was released in late 1957 but was not a success. Their next single, “I Wonder Why,” was issued in April of 1958 and rose to number 22 on Billboard’s Hot 100. Their next single, “No One Knows,” did slightly better, climbing to number 19 during the summer of ’58. Their final single of the year was “Don’t Pity Me,” which just barely made the Top 40. Their next single, March 1959’s “Teenager in Love,” was their biggest hit yet, hitting number 5. It has become the song they are best known for. Later that year, “Every Little Thing I Do” stalled at number 48, but their November 1959 single “Where or When” went all the way to number 3. Things began to slip in 1960 when their singles “When You Wish Upon a Star” and “In the Still of the Night” reached number 30 and 38, respectively. Behind the scenes, the group was dealing with Dion DiMucci’s heroin addiction as well as financial issues and musical differences. With only a handful of singles and two albums – Presenting Dion & the Belmonts (1959) and Wish Upon a Star (1960) – Dion split with the Belmonts to pursue a solo career. He scored several solo hits – “Runaround Sue,” “Lonely Teenager,” and “The Wanderer” – while the Belmonts’ series of singles failed to ignite the charts. The group reunited in 1966 for the album Together Again and released two singles that were marginally successful, but the momentum ran out and they split again in 1967. The quartet reunited in 1972 for a live performance at Madison Square Garden in New York, later releasing the show on a live album. One more live performance in 1973 occurred at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, but not recordings surfaced of that show. Dion continued with a solo career while the Belmonts continued to perform in various configurations until 2023. Fred Milano died on January 1, 2012, followed four years later by Carlo Mastrangelo on April 4, 2016.
