Dave Somerville Dies: The Diamonds Founder And ‘Little Darlin’ Hitmaker Succumbs To Cancer [Video]

Dave Somerville, founding member of the 1950s doo-wop group The Diamonds, died on Tuesday at 81-years-old. Somerville, originally from Guelph, Ontario, succumbed to pancreatic cancer in a hospital in Santa Barbara, California, a press release said.

“Diamond Dave” Somerville, as he was known, founded the popular singing group in 1953 when he met four guys waiting in a hallway for an audition. Somerville asked the guys to sing a song with him, and from there, The Diamonds were born. Diamond Dave initially worked as the band’s coach, but after the original lead singer, Stan Fisher, had a test he couldn’t miss — he was studying to become an electrical engineer — and had to skip out on a gig, Somerville stepped in to sing in his place. Fisher never returned to the band, and Dave became lead singer.

While recording an album in 1957, the band decided to throw in “Little Darlin'” at the last minute, Somerville said in an interview in 2010. It was a last minute decision that would become the band’s most well-known hit.

“It was a throw-away at 3:45 in the morning. We did one take. We had to be out of there by 4 o’clock. The drummer had already been released. There are no drums on ‘Little Darlin’.”

Somerville and The Diamonds scored big with “Little Darlin’,” which spent eight weeks at No. 2 on the Best Sellers in Stores chart — the leading chart before the Billboard Hot 100 was established the following year — and was No. 3 on Billboard’s year-end recap of the Best Sellers in Stores, behind Elvis Presley’s “All Shook Up” and Pat Boone’s “Love Letters in the Sand,” which charted at No. 1 and No. 2, respectively.

The band, with Somerville at the helm, had 16 hit singles between 1956 and 1961, including “Silhouettes,” “The Stroll,” and their version of “Why Do Fools Fall in Love.”

In 1961, Dave Somerville left the group to pursue a solo career as David Troy. He joined The Four Preps in 1967, but left them in 1969 with band member Bruce Belland to form their own folk-comedy act called Belland & Somerville. The two were regulars on The Tim Conway Show and also appeared on The Johnny Cash Show.

Together, Belland and Somerville co-wrote “The Troublemaker,” which became a hit for Willie Nelson.

Somerville was also an actor and boasted Leonard Nimoy as his acting coach. In 1966, he played a small role, alongside Nimoy, in a season one episode of Star Trek entitled “The Conscience of the King.”

Dave Somerville may have died, but his music will always live on. He is survived by his wife, Denise, his son, David, and his grandson, Chilao.

[Image Credit: Billboard]