Dean Martin's passion for music started when he was just a teenager and took up drumming as a hobby. Later on, he started singing with local bands and in nightclubs. He was first influenced by the style of Harry Mills, and then he used to copy the styles of Perry Como and Bing Crosby. For a while, he performed together with Jerry Lewis in music-comedy shows and had great success.

Later on, Martin started developing his own personal style and was able to hold on to it while singing in duets with Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby. He didn't know to read music but managed to record more than 600 songs and released over 100 albums. Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes, probably his most popular song, reached the first position in US music tops in 1964, knocking A Hard Day's Night, a popular song of the Beatles. Another song of his, The Door is Still Open To My Heart, followed the same style and reached the 6th place. Dean Martin's singing inspired many musicians. One of them is Elvis Presley, especially for Love Me Tender.

Dean Martin was influenced by country music too. Many of his albums released before 1965, including Welcome To My World, Gentle On My Mind and The Hit Sound Of Dean Martin were made of western and country songs. These songs became very popular later on with the contribution of artists like Buck Owens, Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash. A song that he performed in Ocean's Eleven called Ain't That a Kick in the Head didn't have much success back then but became very popular a few decades later.

Dean Martin was one of the most popular artists in Las Vegas for thirty years. He was also a smooth comedian and a great performer. He used to sing in nightclubs, at parties with the Rat Pack and at various shows. It is also said that members of the mafia, who had helped him out in his early years as a musician and got him more concerts, used to call him over on occasion to sing for them.