Sammy Watkins

Who is Sammy Watkins?

Sammy Watkins was the leader of the Sammy Watkins Orchestra, popular during the 1930s and 1940s. He continued to lead a band, based primarily in Cleveland, into the 1960s. The band's longest engagement was at Hollenden Hotel's Vogue Room in Cleveland, Ohio. Musicians included drummer Fred Borgerhoff and trumpeter "Scat" Davis.

During the early 1940s, a young man going by the name of Dino Martini was the band's male vocalist. At Watkins's urging, Martini dropped the ‘i’ in his stage name and subsequently became a star in the United States under his new stage name, Dean Martin.