Dick and Dee Dee
Dick and Dee Dee | |
|---|---|
Dee Dee Sperling | |
| Website | www.DickandDeeDee.com |
Dick and Dee Dee (or Dick and Deedee) are an American singer-songwriter duo who reached popularity in the early to mid-1960s. The group was founded by California classmates Richard Gosting and
History
Founding
Dick St. John and Dee Dee Sperling met while students at Paul Revere Junior High School in Los Angeles, California. They attended different high schools, only to re-encounter one another after graduation. At the time Sperling was attending college and working at a
The Mountain's High
The first Dick and Dee Dee 45 rpm release ("I Want Someone" backed by "The Mountain's High") was on Lama Records, a small company started by their record producers, the Wilder brothers and Don Ralke. Their recordings were created with four voice tracks. Each of them sang two separate harmony lines. St. John sang the highest and lowest parts including the falsetto, and Dee Dee sang the middle notes. Without telling the duo, the record producers changed Mary's name to Dee Dee, something the duo did not discover until after the record was released.[1][7]
The
Touring with the Beach Boys, Rolling Stones
In the United States early on in their career, Dick and Dee Dee performed at California high school assemblies with the upcoming surf band
Dick and Dee Dee were the opening act for the
Later singles
The duo had eight other singles chart with a total of five reaching the Top 30. Their other hits included "Tell Me" (1962), "
Disbanding, revivals
In 1965, Dee Dee married the duo's manager (later executive television producer for Dick Clark Productions), Bill Lee, and had one son.[4] In 1969, St. John and Sperling parted ways. Dick St. John continued as a songwriter, co-writing "Yellow Balloon" for the group of the same name.[5][7] After her divorce in the early seventies, Dee Dee married Kane Phelps and moved to Big Sur for the remainder of that decade. They raised two other children, moving back to the Los Angeles area in the 1980s, and are still married as of 2011[update].[8]
In the 1980s, St. John revived the Dick and Dee Dee act with his wife, Sandy. The two of them also authored a cookbook in 1993, The Rock and Roll Cookbook, which featured recipes of various rock and roll artists. St. John died on December 27, 2003, after a fall from the roof of his house, at the age of 63.[4]
Dick & Dee Dee are (sarcastically?) name-checked several times (as rumored to be re-uniting) in the 1980 movie "One Trick Pony" written by, and starring, Paul Simon.
Dick and Dee Dee today
In 2006, Dee Dee Phelps published Vinyl Highway, Singing as Dick and Dee Dee in the Sixties,[9][10] and in 2008 she teamed with actor and singer Michael Dunn to again revive the classic Dick and Dee Dee songs on stage.[5][6]
Dunn was trained at the
Discography
Albums
| Year | Album | Record Label |
|---|---|---|
| 1962 | Tell Me – The Mountain's High | Liberty Records |
| 1963 | Young and in Love | Warner Bros. Records
|
| 1964 | Turn Around | |
| 1965 | Thou Shalt Not Steal | |
| 1966 | Songs We've Sung on Shindig | |
| 1995 | The Best of Dick and Dee Dee | Varèse Vintage |
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Record Label | B-side | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | AC | UK
| |||||
| 1961 | "The Mountain's High" | 2 | – | 37 | Liberty Records | "I Want Someone" | Tell Me – The Mountain's High |
| "Goodbye to Love" | – | – | – | "Swing Low" | |||
| 1962 | "Tell Me" | 22 | – | – | "Will You Always Love Me" | ||
| "Life's Just a Play" | – | – | – | "All I Want" | |||
| "The River Took My Baby" | – | – | – | "My Lonely Self" | |||
| 1963 | "Young and in Love" | 17 | 6 | – | Warner Bros. Records
|
"Say to Me" | Young and in Love |
| "Love Is a Once in a Lifetime Thing" | 103 | – | – | "Chug-A-Chug-A Choo Choo" | |||
| "Where Did the Good Times Go" | 93 | – | – | "Guess Our Love Must Show" | Thou Shalt Not Steal | ||
| "Turn Around" | 27 | 15 | – | "Don't Leave Me" | Turn Around | ||
| 1964 | "All My Trials" | 89 | – | – | "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" | ||
| "Not Fade Away" | – | – | – | "The Gift" | Thou Shalt Not Steal | ||
| "Remember When" | – | – | – | "You Were Mine" | |||
| "Thou Shalt Not Steal" | 13 | – | – | "Just 'Round the River Bend" | |||
| 1965 | "Be My Baby" | 87 | – | – | "Room 404" | ||
| "When Blue Turns to Grey" | – | – | – | "Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind" | |||
| "Use What You've Got" | – | – | – | "New Orleans" | |||
| 1966 | "Till" | – | – | – | "Sha-La" | ||
| "So Many Things We Don't Know" | – | – | – | "She Didn't Even Say Goodbye" | |||
| "Make Up Before We Break Up" | – | – | – | "Can't Get Enough of Your Love" | |||
| 1967 | "I'll Always Be Around" | – | – | – | "Long Lonely Nights" | ||
| "One in a Million" | – | – | – | "Baby, I Need You" | |||
| 1968 | "The Escape Suite" | – | – | – | Dot Records | "I'm Not Gonna Get Hung-Up About It" | |
| 1969 | "In the Season of Our Love" | – | – | – | "We'll Sing in the Sunshine" | ||
| "Do I Love You" | – | – | – | "You Come Back to Haunt Me" | |||
TV, film performances
- Television
- American Bandstand
- Where the Action Is
- Shindig!
- Ready, Steady, Go(UK)
- Motion Picture
- Wild Wild Winter (1966) – sang "Heartbeats", their only film appearance
References
- ^ ISBN 0-214-20512-6.
- ^ a b c Leigh, Spencer. "Dee Dee Interview". BBC Radio. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
- ^ ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- ^ a b c d e f Leigh, Spencer. "Dick St. John (1940-2003)". Spectropop. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f James, Gary. "Gary James' Interview With Dee Dee Sperling of "Dick and Dee Dee"". Classic Bands. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
- ^ a b Aushenker, Michael (June 11, 2008). "New 'Mountain': Dick and Dee Dee Return!". Palisadian Post. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
- ^ a b c d e James, Gary (2008). "Dick St. John Interview ("Dick and Dee Dee")". FamousInterview.ca. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
- ^ "Show Stars: Dee Dee Phelps". Chuck Stevens Oldies. Archived from the original on December 13, 2010. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
- ^ Waxler, Jerry. "Memoir Interview with 1960s Celebrity Dee Dee Phelps". Memory Writers Network. Retrieved January 31, 2011.
- ISBN 978-1-934321-75-1.
Further reading
External links
- Official website
- Dick and Dee Dee discography at Discogs
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