Mark Dinning

The Dinning Sisters were a recording group who had some hits in the 40s, and they had a brother named Mark, who had 4 top 100 records in the very early 60s, one of which reached number 1 and 3 of which never made it past the top 60. I got his one big hit from the American Graffiti soundtrack, where it sits safely ensconced between Chantilly Lace and Crying In The Chapel.

Mark Dinning:

• Teen Angel - ”Teen” not used as a term of endearment, but in the sense of an actual spiritual being. It was Joey Reynolds’ Endless Sleep that first broached the subject of death, but nobody actually died in that song. It was Teen Angel that made the top 40 safe for tales of the bucket kickers, and what was the first of a genre that would include Tell Laura I Love Her, Last Kiss, Leader Of The Pack, and Laurie (Strange Things Happen) with its immortal (sorry) line: “A strange force drew me to the graveyard.” This was nothing more than rock music’s first real attempt to tackle serious subject matter, and while it gets an E for effort, the attempt was misguided, morbid, and silly. After a bit Dylan came along and showed everyone how to do serious content right. There are other songs called Teen Angel, that seem to be about living people, one by Dion & The Belmonts, one by Donovan. This one was number 1 in early 1960. “They buried you today… “ Sheesh.