To some he was one of the new stars arriving on board the rock and roll gravy train, to others he was one of the first pop vocalists to take the Mambo and Cha-Cha craze into the Record Charts, but to those in the know he was a much under-rated vocalist, who had been on the scene since the mid Forties, finally getting his due. His name was Alan Dale.

Dale was an American vocalist of Italian heritage who started with the Carmen Cavallaro Orchestra. In 1947 he was signed to Signature Records where he recorded some of the earliest tracks on this collection with the Orchestra of Ray Bloch. He moved to Coral in the 1950s and the six-year partnership produced approximately 60 tracks, many of which appear on this collection for the first time since those days. The mid Fifties were the high spot in Alan Dale's career. He could be found in the charts with the biggest vocal version of the 'mambo' success with 'Cherry Pink And Apple Blossom White', and followed it with a 'Cha-Cha' hit, 'Sweet And Gentle'. His friendship with Alan Freed gave him the chance to play the part of the rock and roll singer in the 1956 movie 'Don't Knock the Rock' where he starred alongside Little Richard and Bill Haley and His Comets.

Not long after there were rumours that Dale had offended the Mafia. Whether this was true or not it seemed that effectively his career disappeared overnight as the bookings fell away, and of course by the Sixties musical styles and tastes were fast changing.

Alan Dale died in New York in 2002 and surprisingly there has been precious little of his material reissued. Time, we feel, to alter this situation. The earlier tacks from his Signature days include a spirited 'Waiting For The Robert E. Lee' and 'Poinciana'. Then comes a big bundle of his hits with Coral with tracks that recall his Italian heritage, 'In Old Sorrento', 'Gioia Mia', ballads such as 'Here In My Heart', 'I'm Sorry' and of course those rock and roll hits, 'Don't Knock The Rock' and 'The Girl Can't Help It'. Add to the mix items as individual as 'Moonlight And Roses', 'Lisbon Antigua' and 'The Birds And The Bees' and you can see that he was comfortable with whatever material he was offered. And we can't close without adding that with a name like Alan Dale, who better than he to record 'Robin Hood'!

Additional Details

Label: Sepia Records

Genre: Adult Contemporary/MOR

Release Date: 07/08/08

UPC: 5055122111153