Dean Martin could make a return to the Las Vegas stage in hologram form as soon as next year, his daughter has revealed.
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The beloved 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, told the PA news agency 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 and Sammy Davis Jr, 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," she told the PA news agency.
"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."
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 accepts it could be a difficult business deal to make.
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.
Ethical concerns have been raised, however. Plans for an Amy Winehouse hologram tour were postponed in February last year.
Australian Associated Press
