16 Facts About Ron Dante

Ron Dante was a member of the parody group the Detergents around 1965.

The group recorded a novelty song called "Leader of the Laundromat", although Ron Dante was not on that recording.

Ron Dante became lead singer of the fictional cartoon band The Archies, whose single "Sugar, Sugar", written and composed by producer Jeff Barry with Andy Kim, was the number-one selling record of 1969 in the United States.

Concurrent with his work on the Archies project, Ron Dante was employed as a session singer and performed many television and commercial jingles.

Ron Dante provided both lead and background vocals through overdubbing, as he did with most of the male Archies vocals.

For three weeks in October 1969, Ron Dante had two hits in the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot 100: both the Cuff Links' "Tracy" and, on its way down from number one, the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar", though neither single's label credited the anonymous studio singer.

Dante's first album release under his own name, which he recorded on Don Kirshner's label, was Ron Dante Brings You Up in 1970.

In 1972, under the supervision of Kirshner, Ron Dante became lead vocalist for another cartoon group, The Chan Clan.

Ron Dante appeared on a 1975 CBS TV pilot show called Hip Patches.

Ron Dante is interviewed by a group of young musicians in a band named Silvermoon who were meant to be the stars of the show.

Also in 1979, Ron Dante performed the theme to the NBC television series $weepstake$: "Don't Be Afraid To Dream", whose lyrics were written by Norman Gimbel with music composed by Charles Fox.

From 1973 to 1981, Ron Dante was the record producer for singer Barry Manilow, and often sang backup on Manilow's recordings, including his 1974 No 1 single "Mandy".

Ron Dante continued to record sporadically during those years; in 1975, with Manilow as the producer, Ron Dante released a dance version of "Sugar, Sugar" under his own name.

In 1982, Ron Dante sang the theme song for the NBC sitcom Silver Spoons, "Together".

Ron Dante appeared with the CBS Orchestra on the Late Show with David Letterman on July 28,2010.

In mid-2018, Ron Dante joined the Happy Together tour, filling in for the Turtles' Howard Kaylan, who was sidelined due to health issues.