Sammy Watkins (musician)

Sammy Watkins was the leader of the Sammy Watkins Orchestra, popular during the 1930s and 1940s. He continued to lead a band, based primarily in Cleveland, into the 1960s. The band's longest engagement was at Hollenden Hotel's Vogue Room in Cleveland, Ohio. Musicians included drummer Fred Borgerhoff and trumpeter "Scat" Davis.^[1]

During the early 1940s, a young man going by the name of Dino Martini was the band's male vocalist. At Watkins's urging, Martini dropped the ‘i’ in his stage name and subsequently became a star in the United States under his new stage name, Dean Martin.

References

1. Brief extract about Sammy Watkins