Sammy Watkins was the leader of the Sammy Watkins Orchestra, popular during the late 1920s, 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 Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

. Musicians included Norbert Kuenzel, drummer Fred Borgerhoff and trumpeters "Scat" Davis and Robert H. Shelley (1912 - January 10, 1954). 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 Dean Martin (born Dino Paul Crocetti; June 7, 1917 – December 25, 1995) was an American singer, actor and comedian. One of the most popular and enduring American entertainers of the mid-20th century, Martin was nicknamed "The King of Cool". M ...

. He sued Dean Martin in July 1950 for unpaid royalties, claiming that he had only been given $1,000 since 1943 when Dean was supposed to give him 10% of his earnings ― which were $335,594 ― as Sammy had become Dean's agent at the time. Dean had filed for bankruptcy in January 1949.

References

Orchestra leaders Musicians from Cleveland Year of birth unknown Year of death unknown {{US-conductor-stub