Mark Dinning

Pop singer Mark Dinning was born Max Edward Dinning in Manchester, Oklahoma, but raised in Nashville, Tennessee. His sisters already had a career in country/western music, and Mark followed in their footsteps, signing a recording contract with a local producer in 1957. However, it wasn't until 1959 that, now known as Mark Dinning, he hit the big time with the teenage lament "Teen Angel", which sold more than one million copies and earned him a gold record. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to build on that record's success. A worsening alcohol problem did his career no good, and his numerous instances of showing up drunk at concerts and unable to perform pretty much killed it. He died of a heart attack in Jefferson City, Missouri, in 1986 at age 52.