Emerging in the years after World War II, the pop trio the Three Suns centered on vocalist and organist Artie Dunn together with guitarist Al Nevins and accordionist Morty Nevins. Although the ensemble first assembled in 1939, broad recognition arrived only in 1944 with their Top 20 treatment of “Twilight Time,” a song the group wrote alongside Buck Ram that ultimately moved more than a million copies. Chart-topping success followed in 1947 when the Three Suns reached number one with “Peg o’ My Heart,” yet the 1950s brought repeated personnel changes: Al Nevins was succeeded first by Johnny Buck and later by Joe Negri, while Morty Nevins stepped aside in 1955 for accordionist and pianist Joe Vento. Following the group’s initial breakup, Artie Dunn reassembled the trio in 1957 with guitarist Johnny Romano and accordionist Tony Lovello; after decades as little more than an oddity, the original Three Suns recordings regained attention in the 1990s through the lounge-music revival and appeared on numerous exotica and “space-age bachelor pad” compilations. Al Nevins further cemented his legacy by joining Don Kirshner to launch Aldon Music, the publishing company that formed the core of the Brill Building songwriting operation.
