LIVE STREAM: Hall of Fame Series event with Dion DiMucci | The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum hosted a Hall of Fame Series with inductee Dion DiMucci Wednesday, July 7 in the Foster Theater. The evening began with a special hour-long film done in conjunction with Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum President Terry Stewart about Dion’s memories of the Winter Dance Party tour of 1959 with Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and The Big Bopper.

The film was followed with a live interview with Dion by Dave Marsh and the Rock Hall’s Vice President of Education and Public Programs, Dr. Lauren Onkey. Questions were taken from the audience at the end of the interview.

Dave Marsh wrote the liner notes to Dion’s box set King of the New York Streets and has this to say of Dion’s work: “If you really know Dion, you know this: Rock'n'roll didn't grow up into the music that conquered the world just because it was easy and fun and got you the girls. There was something deeper there, and like Dion's country soul, it was there right from the start.”

During his vast career, Dion created some of the most vital and exciting rock and roll music on the American scene. He formed Dion and The Belmonts in 1957, and their first hit “I Wonder Why” topped the charts that same year. He turned to a solo career in 1960. He found success as a solo artist with such hits as “Runaround Sue,” “Lovers Who Wander” and “The Wanderer.” Dion is the first rock and roll artist ever signed to Columbia Records and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.