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| It’s a phrase that was originally coined to describe the innovative hybrid of rock ‘n roll and soul music pioneered by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield — two white singers who incorporated black musical stylings into their work to strike gold with the iconic 1960s pop duo, The Righteous Brothers. The mantle was picked up in the mid-1970s by another legendary musical dyad, Darryl Hall and John Oates, who went on in the ‘80s to become the best-selling pop duo of all time. | |||||||||||||||||||||
| And now, for the first time ever, an all-female twosome is following in these hallowed footsteps. At the heart of the new Blue Eyed Soul pairing are two beautiful and talented women with rich histories of show business experience working both separately and together. Their paths first intersected early in their careers — when each was barely into her twenties — and in front of tens of millions of television viewers who watched them on a weekly basis. The setting was one of the medium’s highest-rated regular series, The Dean Martin Show. Michelle DellaFave had already become a familiar face and well-established presence on that program, having started in 1969 as a member of The Golddiggers, the show’s gorgeous female singer-dancers who also occupied Dean’s time slot during the summer months. She then graduated to The Dingaling Sisters, a quartet of gals who eventually succeeded The Golddiggers as performers on Dean’s program. It was in 1972 that Lindsay Bloom received her first big break by being selected to become what would turn out to be the final girl chosen to be one of The Dingaling Sisters. And it was in that group that she and Michelle first became acquainted. Even though The Dings took their final bow at the end of that ’72-’73 season, all of the ladies who made up that final foursome remained friends through the years, with the two blonde, blue-eyed members of the ensemble keeping in especially close touch as each continued to pursue her own career and eventually started a family. |
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| Fast forward to 2007: Spawned by the huge and burgeoning revival of interest in Dean Martin, his television series, and the lovely women who brought so much to both, Michelle and Lindsay have, within just the past nine months, been able to reconnect professionally, both with one another and with their Dean Martin Show and Dingaling Sisters roots. The ball got rolling last summer, when Michelle joined two of the other original Dingaling Sisters for the first time in over 36 years for a concert that brought down the house at the annual convention of the Vietnam Veterans of America organization. The trio performed “Funky Chicken” — the very same number that they had played to America’s armed forces during their 1970 USO tour with Bob Hope — and the reaction of the crowd was every bit as wildly enthusiastic in 2007 as it had been in 1970. |
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| Three of the original Dingalings, (l to r) Susie Lund, Michelle DellaFave, Wanda Bailey | |||||||||||||||||||||
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So well received was that show that Michelle and the other two Dings were asked back for an encore at the 25th Anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall this past November. But the renaissance of lovely female talent from The Dean Martin Show at that gathering didn’t end there: Michelle also took her place on the Washington, D.C. stage with six of her original colleagues from The Golddiggers, as they performed together again for the first time since 1971.
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| However, far and away the biggest surprise and most crowd-pleasing part of the whole event was the unveiling of a brand new combo — the first to branch off an existing group of female singer-dancers from Dean’s show in more than a generation. Dubbed Blue Eyed Soul, the new duo reunited Michelle DellaFave with her longtime friend and onetime Dingaling Sister-in-arms, Lindsay Bloom — the latter making her triumphal return to show business after more than 15 years and a post-Dean Martin Show legacy that included leading parts in motion pictures and a supporting role on the popular weekly CBS television series of the 1980s Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer, which starred Stacy Keach. Although, as noted, Michelle and Lindsay had remained close over the years, it had been more than three decades since they had last performed together. Yet, to all who watched them steal the show at that November concert, it was as if time had stood still for both of them. Looking and sounding as fresh and dynamic as ever, Michelle and Lindsay proved that the magic never left and that their chemistry was as potent as ever. And now, these two radiant artists are ready to bring the energy and passion of their craft to audiences hungering once again for pure, organic, exciting and exhilarating live musical entertainment. |
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