R.I.P. Dominick "Randy" Safuto of Randy and the Rainbows

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Celebrated Summer, Oct 18, 2018.

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  1. Celebrated Summer

    Celebrated Summer Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    Dominick Safuto, the lead singer of the early '60s doo-wop group Randy and the Rainbows, has died according to several announcements on his Facebook page.

    Safuto, who was in his early 70s, had suffered a heart attack this past spring. He had been an active performer on the oldies circuit for several decades previously.

    In 1962, Safuto formed Randy and the Rainbows with his brother Frank. The group's first single was their biggest: "Denise," which came out in early 1963 and got to #10 on the charts. It was released on the Laurie Records subsidiary of Rust Records.

    According to the book "American Singing Groups: A History From 1940 To Today," Safuto was around age 16 when the group had its big hit, having formed his previous group The Dialtones at age 12 in 1959.

    Randy and the Rainbows are often called One-Hit Wonders, but if you want to be picky (as I do about such matters), they actually had two minor followup hits. According to Joel Whitburn's "Top Pop Singles" and "Bubbling Under the Hot 100" books, "Why Do Kids Grown Up" got to #97 in late 1963 and their version of The Elegants' "Little Star" bubbled under #133 in late 1964.

    Randy and the Rainbows enjoyed a revival of sorts when Blondie had a big European hit with a cover of "Denise" (retitled "Denis") in 1978. It was featured on Blondie's second album, Plastic Letters. This cover version was released as a single in the U.S., but didn't make the American charts. However, I remember it getting some airplay on college radio in its day.

    Safuto's death comes on the heels of the recent passing of another artist who was part of the Laurie Records stable, Bernadette Carroll. Carroll scored a Top 50 hit with Ernie Maresca's "Party Girl" in early 1964.

    R.I.P. Dominick Safuto.

     
    john hp and Milton Brown like this.
  2. Milton Brown

    Milton Brown New Member

    Location:
    Waterloo Iowa
    Last big doo wop hit.
     
  3. JozefK

    JozefK Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dixie
    Silent performance footage w/ "Denise" dubbed over it

     
  4. paulewalnutz

    paulewalnutz Forum Resident

    Location:
    NJ
    RIP,I was listening to this today on Sirius.
     
  5. John54

    John54 Senior Member

    Location:
    Burlington, ON
    Rest in peace. I have Denise cranked up right now. Great song, a favourite of mine since 1963.
     
  6. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    great band! R.I.P. Randy (Dominick)...
     
  7. Bob J

    Bob J Forum Resident

    Sorry to hear this news. Dominick' s brother Frank briefly dated a girl who lived in my apartment building. She told him that I collected records so one day when he came to pick her up for a date, he brought me an autographed picture of the group and a copy of "Denise" before it was released. He said, "I hope you like it". Little did I know that he was handing me a future Doo-Wop classic.
     
    Bertly likes this.
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