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Deana Martin with father Dean Martin.

Photo via deanamartin.com

Deana Martin is truly her father’s daughter

By Jim Gordon and Leeta Liepins

Published 12:25 PDT, Fri September 15, 2023

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Our City Tonight (OCT) interviewed Deana Martin (DM), the very talented daughter of iconic entertainer, Dean Martin. She is a singer, actor, best-selling author, and a nationally syndicated radio host.

OCT: You’re someone who has been in show business for a lot of years, you are extremely active on your website, on social media platforms, and with your regular Friday afternoon live show in your personal studio. People can see this show on your website, on YouTube, and on Twitter after the show. It’s all available at DeanaMartin.com You really put on a great show every Friday at 1 p.m. West Coast time, can you tell us more about that show?

DM: My show is called Deana Martin Live, and the one we are doing after this interview is number 171. To me that’s unbelievable as well, we have kept our musicians busy throughout the whole pandemic, and that’s how it started.

There were a lot of shows I had to cancel over three years ago when that all happened. I said to my assistant, “what am I going to do?” I will have to call all these people to tell them everything is canceled, and my assistant suggested that we do a different type of show. She mentioned doing a Facebook live show. I asked because I had no idea what that was. We took my iPhone and put it on a tripod right in my rehearsal room. I was casual, wearing flip-flops and I just sat down on my chair, and I had all of my music already recorded without my voice, so it was easier than first thought.

In my show, I perform some music, I tell some jokes, and we get lots of comments because people are watching it live. When I make mistakes, well, they’re there forever. It’s all great. I have fabulous music and I sing, I tell jokes, and I communicate with my audience while I’m doing the show. My assistant Rosario takes care of answering the incoming comments from the viewers. Since the show is live, I can say happy birthday to people watching the show is almost in real time as they type in their comments. It’s live, it’s fun, and the show is all over the world.

OCT: You were very close with your parents and of course your dad. It is amusing to note that for a guy who was viewed as someone who didn’t really like working, he was very busy working all the time. And it is also interesting that as a youngster you appeared on his show. In fact, the first time we recall seeing the incredible Dean Martin was on his landmark 1967 Christmas special. Your family and the Sinatra family were on that wonderful special.

You have absolutely seen show business from all different angles, the good and the bad. Please talk about some of the things you learned from your dad and your mom through the years.

DM: The valuable lessons that I learned from my dad, and of course my mom because they both were incredible, was number one, always be on time. I was taught that nobody was any more special than anybody else, so he taught me to always be there, always be early, know all your lines, know the lyrics, and again to reiterate, just be there.

He inspired me to do all those things so that when I left the people that I was working with, I would hope they would also be inspired that, despite the fame, you would be viewed in a very positive manner. That no one thought we were jerks. That’s how my dad was. He was just down to earth. But he always told me indefinitely; be there and know what you’re doing and if you make a mistake, go back and do it again correctly.

The Dean Martin Show was truly unbelievable. You mentioned the Christmas special with the Sinatra‘s and the Martin‘s. It was really so much fun because all these people were my friends. We all grew up together, so we all sang in this Christmas special. And they remain my friends to this day.

OCT: What really warms our hearts is that you embrace everything your dad was. You’ve clearly carved out a very successful career for yourself but every time we hear you singing one of your dad‘s songs, it puts a smile on our faces and so many others too.

DM: Thank you for all of your kind words. I wanted to mention my CD Memories Are Made of This which we never put on vinyl, but we are in the midst of doing that right now. And thank you for saying all those great things about my dad, the incredible Dean Martin. He really was down to earth, funny, and we all got his sense of humour and I think hopefully his timing.

OCT: It’s worth mentioning again that every Friday, rain, or shine, you can watch the Deana Martin Live show at 1 p.m. West Coast time. For more details go to DeanaMartin.com

For the video interview in full go to richmondsentinel.ca/videos