Samuel Mendola (born August 26, 1942,

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

, United States), known professionally as Vic Dana, is an American dancer and singer.

Biography

Discovered by

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...

, Dana was an excellent male dancer, particularly in tap, and was encouraged by Davis to move to Los Angeles to further his career. With the decline of dancing as a form of entertainment, Dana began a singing career. He is best known for his 1965

recording A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

of the

Sid Tepper Sid Tepper (June 25, 1918 – April 24, 2015) was an American songwriter. He is best known for his collaborations with Roy C. Bennett, which spawned several hits for Elvis Presley. Between 1945 and 1970, Tepper and Bennett published over 300 so ...

and

Roy C. Bennett Roy C. Bennett (August 12, 1918 – July 2, 2015) was an American songwriter known for the songs he wrote with Sid Tepper, which spawned several hits for Elvis Presley. Between 1945 and 1970, Tepper and Bennett published over 300 songs. Biograp ...

song "

Red Roses for a Blue Lady "Red Roses for a Blue Lady" is a 1948 popular song by Sid Tepper and Roy C. Bennett (alias Roy Brodsky). It has been recorded by a number of performers. Actor-singer John Laurenz (1909–1958) was the first to record the song for Mercury Recor ...

", that was a

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Top Ten

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

single. His album of the same title made it into the Top 20. Preceding this success as a solo artist, Dana was the lead singer of

The Fleetwoods The Fleetwoods were an American vocal group from Olympia, Washington whose members were Gary Troxel (born November 28, 1939), Gretchen Christopher (born February 29, 1940), and Barbara Ellis (born February 20, 1940). Early history The band mem ...

(for live performances only), replacing original vocalist

Gary Troxel The Fleetwoods were an American vocal group from Olympia, Washington whose members were Gary Troxel (born November 28, 1939), Gretchen Christopher (born February 29, 1940), and Barbara Ellis (born February 20, 1940). Early history The band mem ...

when Troxel went into the U.S. Navy. Other hit recordings on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

in the 1960s: " Little Altar Boy", "

I Will "I Will" is a song by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles, from their 1968 double album ''The Beatles (album), The Beatles'' (also known as "the White Album"). It was written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and featur ...

", "

More More or Mores may refer to: Computing * MORE (application), outline software for Mac OS * more (command), a shell command * MORE protocol, a routing protocol * Missouri Research and Education Network Music Albums * ''More!'' (album), by Booka S ...

", "

Shangri-La Shangri-La is a fictional place in Asia's Kunlun Mountains (昆仑山), Uses the spelling 'Kuen-Lun'. described in the 1933 novel ''Lost Horizon'' by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, ge ...

", "I Love You Drops", and "If I Never Knew Your Name". "I Love You Drops" was

written Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically inscribed, mechanically transferred, or digitally represented symbols. Writing systems do not themselves constitute h ...

and recorded by

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

singer Bill Anderson, and was popular enough to be recorded by others including

Don Cherry Donald Stewart Cherry (born February 5, 1934) is a Canadian former ice hockey player, coach, and television commentator. Cherry played one game in the National Hockey League (NHL) with the Boston Bruins, and later coached the team for five se ...

and

Teresa Brewer Teresa Brewer (born Theresa Veronica Breuer; May 7, 1931 – October 17, 2007) was an American singer whose style incorporated pop, country, jazz, R&B, musicals, and novelty songs. She was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of th ...

. He also scored a chart record in 1970 with

Neil Diamond Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adul ...

's "

Red Red Wine "Red Red Wine" is a song originally written, performed and recorded by American singer Neil Diamond in 1967 that appears on his second studio album, '' Just for You''. The lyrics are written from the perspective of a person who finds that drinki ...

", years before it was turned into a UK number one hit by

UB40 UB40 are an English reggae and pop band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the ...

. His last nationally charted record was

Larry Weiss Laurence D. "Larry" Weiss (born March 25, 1941) is an American songwriter and musician. He wrote "Rhinestone Cowboy", a US no.1 hit for Glen Campbell in 1975; and co-wrote "Bend Me, Shape Me", "Hi Ho Silver Lining" and several other international ...

' "Lay Me Down (Roll Me Out To Sea)" on the Casino label, which hit the top 20 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary survey. Six Dana songs reached the ''Music Vendor'' (later ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

'') chart without appearing in the ''Billboard'' chart. Dana had a brief foray as an actor on three TV appearances, first in 1965 on the series '' Burke's Law'' in the episode "Who Killed Wimbledon Hastings?" as Forrest Shea, and then in 1966 on the WWII drama ''

Combat! ''Combat!'' is an American television drama series that originally aired on ABC from 1962 until 1967. The exclamation point in ''Combat!'' was depicted on-screen as a stylized bayonet. The show covered the grim lives of a squad of American sol ...

'' in the episode "Ask Me No Questions" as Pvt. James. He also appeared in the 1968 television movie ''Shadow Over Elveron'' as Tino.

Personal life

Dana has three children, Steven, Jason and Justin. Dana retired from the entertainment industry and now resides in

Paducah Paducah ( ) is a home rule-class city in and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky. The largest city in the Jackson Purchase region, it is located at the confluence of the Tennessee and the Ohio rivers, halfway between St. Louis, Missour ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

Discography

Albums

*''This Is Vic Dana'' (1962) *''Warm & Wild'' (1962) *''More'' (1963) *''Shangri-La'' (1964) *''Vic Dana Now!'' (1964) *''Red Roses for a Blue Lady'' (1965) *''Moonlight and Roses'' (1965) *''Crystal Chandelier'' (1966) *''Viva! Vic Dana'' (1966) *''Town & Country'' (1966) *''Golden Greats'' (1966) *''Warm & Wonderful'' (1966) *''Little Altar Boy and Other Christmas Songs'' (1966) *''Foreign Affairs'' (1967) *''On the Country Side'' (1967) *''If I Never Knew Your Name'' (1970)

Singles

References

External links

Vic Dana discography
a
Discogs
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dana, Vic 1942 births Living people 20th-century American singers 20th-century American male singers American male dancers American male pop singers American tap dancers Columbia Records artists Dolton Records artists Glendale High School (Glendale, California) alumni Liberty Records artists Musicians from Buffalo, New York Singers from New York (state) Traditional pop music singers