Dean Martin could return as a Las Vegas hologram
Dean Martin could return as a Las Vegas hologram. Photo: Getty
Let it glow, let it glow, let it glow…
Dean Martin could make a return to the Las Vegas stage in hologram form as soon as next year, his daughter has revealed.
The crooner – nicknamed The King Of Cool – died in 1995 but could follow other stars including Tupac Shakur and Roy Orbison in having a digital likeness projected in front of audiences.
His daughter, the singer and actress Deana Martin, says she has been in contact with a company from Las Vegas about bringing a hologram of her father back to the city with which he is closely linked.
Martin, along with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford, formed the Rat Pack, known for performing at the gambling mecca.
Describing the hologram concept as “very interesting”, Deana said she is in favour and floated the idea of performing duets with her father’s likeness.
“It’s good. I have no idea how they do it, and I may be doing something like that next year, hopefully with him, which could be fun so I could do duets with him.”
It’s not the first time the idea has been floated.
Vanity Fair reported on the prospect in 2015, after Hologram USA CEO Alki David and Laura Lizer of the Dean Martin Family Trust announced “a new generation is about to be blown away by the extraordinary presence of Dean Martin.”
Deana, a prolific performer who had tour dates planned throughout the year before the coronavirus pandemic, believes a hologram would be a fitting way of continuing her father’s legacy.
She said: “Anything that would bring the people we love back so we could see them and experience that, because there are so many huge Dean Martin fans who never got to see him live: kids, so many teenagers who just love him because their parents were smart enough to introduce them to him.”
The idea of a Martin hologram raises the prospect of a digital Rat Pack reunion in their old haunt of Las Vegas.
Deana, 71, would be in favour but understands there would be a number of legal hurdles to surmount.
She said: “I wonder. It probably could but then you’ve got all of the clearance rights, Frank’s people and Sammy’s people, it gets kind of murky there.
“But you never know. I have no idea but I think it would be great.”
Holograms of dead stars have become increasingly popular in recent years.
Rapper Shakur, who was shot dead in 1996, was digitally recreated at the Coachella music festival in 2012 while a Roy Orbison projection toured the US in 2018, 30 years after his death in 1988.
watched a vid of Tupac’s hologram performing live at Coachella in 2012 and i cried man💔 the ending was so sad and epic pic.twitter.com/4FXne02mT2
— 𝖋𝖆𝖗𝖆𝖍. (@fvrahi) May 7, 2020
Ethical concerns have been raised, however. Plans for an Amy Winehouse hologram tour were postponed in February last year.
-with AAP