Ken Lane

Kermit "Ken" Lane (born December 20, 1912 in Brooklyn , New York , † November 23, 1996 in Lake Tahoe , California ) was an American musician and composer . His most successful composition is the song Everybody Loves Somebody , which became world famous in the interpretation of Dean Martin in the 1960s. Lane worked with Martin for 25 years. He was a pianist and key word giver in his show and television appearances.

Career

Lane began his musical career as a vaudeville pianist on the American east coast. In the 1940s he directed the Ken Lane Singers, a vocal ensemble that worked with Frank Sinatra , Frances Langford and Dinah Shore , among others . After World War II , Lane moved to Los Angeles . At the beginning of the 1950s, he worked for the Paramount studios as a speaking and singing teacher; Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis were among his students in the early 1950s .

Lane's musical collaboration with Dean Martin began in the spring of 1957. Lane replaced Dick Stabile , whose orchestra Martin had accompanied for half a decade during performances and studio recordings. Lane acted as Martin's pianist, and he also conducted the orchestra on many appearances. Lane became Martin's key word and often took on the role of the "straight man", ie Martin's serious opponent. The collaboration also existed on the Dean Martin Show , a television series broadcast by NBC from 1965 to 1974 . Lane was the musical advisor here. In every episode of the show, he played the piano accompaniment on a song.

Parallel to his engagements with Martin, Lane composed film music for cinema and television films well into the 1970s.

Everybody Loves Somebody

Lane's greatest success as a composer is the hit Everybody Loves Somebody . He wrote the song with Irving Taylor in 1947 for Frank Sinatra, who took the copyright. Sinatra recorded the song in 1948. In the same year Dean Martin sang it on Bob Hope's radio show ; a record was not yet recorded. In the early 1950s, versions by Peggy Lee and Dinah Washington followed ; but none of them reached chart placements.

In April 1964 Martin was working on the completion of his album Dream With Dean , the fifth studio album for Reprise Records . After eleven songs had already been recorded, Lane proposed his Everybody Loves Somebody as a final number. At the request of Martin's wife Jeannie, it was included as the twelfth song on the album. Martin made the recording on April 16, 1964, Lane played the piano. In May 1964, Reprise released the recording as a single, and the album was released a little later.

Dean Martin's version of Ken Lane's Everybody Loves Somebody was one of the most successful songs of 1964. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart on August 15, 1964 . Martin, for whom it was the first top 40 placement since 1958, ousted the Beatles from the top spot.

Everybody Loves Somebody later became Dean Martin's signature tune. On the first episode of the Dean Martin Show , which aired on September 16, 1965, Martin sang the song, but stopped after a few lines with the comment, “When I finish the song, buy later possibly the record is not ”. In almost every stage show, Martin at least played it. As part of his Drunk Act , he often spoofed it. The song line “If I had it in my power” often became “If I had you in my shower”.

Private life

Ken Lane had two children. His daughter Robin Lane (born 1947) is the singer of the rock band Robin Lane and the Chartbusters , his son Christopher does not work in the music industry.

Lane sat down with Dean Martin, who made his last live appearance in 1991. He died of emphysema less than a year after Dean Martin in Lake Tahoe .

literature

• Nick Tosches: Dino. Rat-Pack, the Mafia and the big dream of happiness . Heyne publishing house. Munich 2002 (pages 502, 508, 517, 607).

Web links

• Ken Lane in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Obituary in the Los Angeles Times on November 27, 1996