Max E. Dinning was born on August 17, 1933, near Drury,
Oklahoma but grew up on a farm outside of Nashville, Tennessee. His
recording efforts met with limited success until 1960, when he recorded
a 45rpm single called "Teen Angel" that was written by his
sister Jean and her husband Red Surrey. The lyrics told of the death of
a teenage love that radio stations in the United Kingdom deemed too
morbid to be aired, but it went to No.1 on the Billboard Charts in the
United States. Despite complete lack of airplay in the UK, the song
reached #37 on the UK Singles Chart. Although Dinning never duplicated
the success of "Teen Angel", he had three minor hit records in
the ensuing years. Dinning continued to perform in the music industry
until his unexpected death at the age of fifty-two from a heart attack
in Jefferson City, Missouri on March 22, 1986.
This is a non-profit, informational web page, meant to be a
reminder of the music we listened to 50 years ago. Use of copyrighted
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