Remember Dino?
That dance-pop artist?
From the 90s?
I’m sure you don’t.
But you most certainly have heard of him when I put his track “Romeo” at #3 for my list of most forgotten hit songs of 1990:
He’s managed to gain five top 40 hits, two of them being top 10 hits, and yet he wouldn’t even be recognized when he walks on the street.
I bet no one even knows who he looks like!
He’s never had a definitive “breakthrough single” or “signature song”, as all of his tracks have completely faded into obscurity.
He isn’t as famous as his stylistic peers, such as Taylor Dayne, Teddy Riley, Paula Abdul, and NKOTB, let alone as good as the breakthrough artists that were around during his time, like Wilson Phillips, Sinead O’Connor, and the Fine Young Cannibals!
He has less than a million streams on half of his songs! That’s how obscure he is.
How could a name as memorable as Dino end up having the same fate as his namesake?
Instead of entirely dedicating this post to insulting his success, let’s take a deep dive into his short-lived career.
The Age of the Dino…Soars?
Before he became a hitmaker, Dino was born Dean Esposito in Encino, California.
When Dino was born, fellow Californians Jan and Dean’s “Surf City” was the #1 song in America.
There is very limited information about his backstory, making this entire section scarce.
And from what little I can find about the guy, I found an interview with him and a Las Vegas based DJ called DJ Right On Beat aka DJ R.O.B.
Dean spent his childhood going places, from Hawaii to a multi-racial neighborhood in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
He eventually moved to Las Vegas because her mom had health issues. He experienced a recording session with a choir once before joining a group called Esquire that never really took off.
Dino had also worked as a DJ for both a college radio station, even getting his own radio show, and a CHR station.
The Hitmaking Period
Dino eventually became a solo artist, releasing his debut album 24/7 in 1989 and peaking at #50 with his song “Summergirls”, a very 80s dance-pop dirge.
He eventually hit it big with the pretty good funk track “I Like It”, peaking at #7.
Since then, he’s performed with fellow freestyle acts like Sweet Sensation and Linear, even opening for NKOTB, who spent the entire first half of the 90s bigger than ever.
However, the connections to Jordan Knight or Donnie Wahlberg didn’t warrant him any newfound success:
Like his closer peer Tommy Page:
Who, need I remind you, also managed to be forgotten just by collaborating with a kid on the block.
(NKOTB would eventually work with another singer named Dino; more specifically, the guy from K-pop band Seventeen:)
(He would also collaborate on Jordan Knight’s solo records.)
The album eventually went on to stall out at gold and peak at #34 on the Billboard 200. He was at his peak of fame.
In 1990, Dino released his sophomore album, Swingin.’
Its highest-charting hit was “Romeo”, a new jack swing track reminiscent to its closest contemporary, “She Ain’t Worth It,” in terms of structure and production.
(We’re hitting all the forgotten pop stars here today, folks.)
“Gentle,” its second single, peaked at #31,
After releasing Swingin’, he started his own production company.
In 1993, he released his final album, The Way I Am. It contained a cover of The Five Stairsteps’ “Ooh Child”, a Hot 100 hit in 1970, peaking at #8.
Dino’s version made it to #27 on the regular chart, but because of airplay, it peaked at #3 on the Mainstream Top 40. That was his final Top 40 hit.
Falling Into Extinction
After his freestyle-like style of dance pop quickly started out in favor of alt rock, R&B, G-funk, and Ace of Base, Dino decided he should become a songwriter.
His Wikipedia bio claims that he had written for artists like Jordan Knight, Sheena Easton, and Paula Taylor, but I just looked him up on Discogs and I couldn’t see any writing credits for anything other than his music.
His last moment of fame was appearing on a Legally Blonde deep cut, producing “Watch Me Shine” for Joanna Pacitti.
Where is he now?
His Wikipedia biography seems to end there.
There are limited interviews of him (other than that interview I linked above.)
There is no biography of him, no Facebook page, nothing. He is an absolute anomaly.
But if the real Dean Esposito (not calling him Dino because it’s an overused name) finds this blog in the corners of the internet, I hope he tells us what he’s been up to now.
So if you read this, Dean:
Just let me know how you are!
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I listened to a couple of his songs and don’t remember them at all, but I never listened to much Freestyle or Top 40. However, I just found this biography of him, updated less than a month ago, that says he’s alive and well and living in southern California, and this one says he lives in Las Vegas. Both say he’s married to one of the original Cover Girls.
Looking at that CD cover photo, I can’t help but think that there is an alternative universe out there, where this is the version of Sly Stallone they got instead of Rocky/Rambo et al. Or maybe somehow Sylvester and Frank got fused into one person.
I think it’s possible to have multiple top 20 hits and not enough buzz to ensure you won’t be largely forgotten when your time on the charts is up. I was familiar with at least a song or two from most of the top artists at that time or at least knew their names, but this guy I have never heard of and his music is completely unfamiliar to me. Another issue is that the sound of that freestyle/new jack swing era for the most part didn’t carry over into future listening habits. A song like “Poison” is the rare exception. That whole sound just sort of stayed frozen in time. Even many of Janet Jackson’s huge hits from that era have faded in recognition by the masses over time.
Lastly, there was a CCM artist named Dino, who was basically a Christian version of Liberace. He was very popular in that scene in the 80s, and at first I thought this was an article about him, which would have shocked me. Out of curiosity, I looked him up. He’s in his 80s, and resides in Branson, MO, and is still performing out there.
I’d never heard of Dino until your last piece. He draws a complete blank on the UK charts. Though based on other comments and what you’ve written it seems that despite the US success his legacy amounts to that same blank.
I do find it fascinating that someone with a couple of top 10 hits can disappear so completely off the radar.
I’ve sampled some of his work now and its safe to say I won’t be going back for more. His cover of Ooh Child was particularly bad. The best I can say is the songs are of their time. That goes for his hair as well.
I don’t have any recollection of these by name. I will have to listen later when I’m in another location. I hope that whether he is in California or Las Vegas, he is happy and healthy, and not still chasing the fame monster.
The main thing I remember about Dino is there was a time when he had a hit in the Top 40 at the same time as Pebbles, leading to a wonderful Paul Grein nugget in Billboard’s Chart Beat.
I was thinking: How can “Summergirls” be considered a dirge?
I looked up “dirge”. Oh, a dirge doesn’t have to be slow and atonal. If the song depresses you, it’s a dirge, even in 4/4 time.