Kool Deadwood Nites begins this weekend, and the headliners are Davy Jones of the Monkees and Ron Dante of the Archies. Davy Jones is a very familiar name to me — I confess to being a Monkees fan in my pre-teen youth.

But Ron Dante? I grew up reading Archie comics, and I remember a couple of recordings. I also remember that the Archies — real musicians — played at the Wylie Park Pavilion in Aberdeen once.

The Archies seem like hardly a claim to fame. But I just read that Ron Dante has a musical resume that includes so much more. He was a producer for Barry Manilow, Cher, Dione Warwick, Pat Benatar, Ray Charles and John Denver.

In fact, Barry Manilow owes a measure of his success to Ron Dante. Ron produced several Manilow hits including “Mandy,” “Copacabana” and “I write the songs.” (Which Manilow didn’t write.)

Also, Dante sang on several popular TV and radio commercials over the years.

By the way, Dante takes the Main Street stage in Deadwood at 5 p.m. Saturday. The concert is free.