C&L's Music Club Remembers Pat DiNizio

The debut album by the Smithereens, Especially for You, was one of the albums that soundtracked the summer of 1986 for the crowd I ran with.

Originally formed in 1980 after singer and songwriter Pat Pat DiNizio placed an ad in the New Jersey alternative newspaper The Aquarian Weekly, the Smithereens landed over ten songs on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks charts between 1986 and 1992. Their sound harkened back to that of the Beatles and Byrds and were all penned by DiNizio.

Though he pursued other projects such as a run for the New Jersey senate in 2000 under the Reform Party ticket, the program director as a host on XM Sattelite's Unsigned station and releasing a handful of solo albums during the band's career, he also stayed active in his Smithereens gig too releasing 11 studio albums between 1986 and 2011.

DiNizio died on December 12, 2017. No cause of death has been released at this time.

Please keep comments on topic: music and memories of Pat DiNizio. The regular Music Club is posted at the usual time, Sunday through Friday. Thank you.