Please note: She also received a Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award in 2001 at the Apollo Theatre!!! Along with Sly and the Family Stone, the Emotions, Fontella Bass, and others!
Dee Dee had a great voice and cut some great records once she got past that early 60s dance craze phase. She really deserved wider recognition and greater chart success/sales
I've ALWAYS loved Dee Dee Sharp's vocal performances so I was very elated to get to meet her during the filming of that documentary "The Twist". It was filmed at a huge 5,000-seat club called Lulu's in Kitchener, Canada in August 1989. I was there playing keyboards for Gladys Horton of the original Motown Marvelettes on her song "Twistin Postman". It's just too bad that all of the fine live performances about the twist from Dee Dee Sharp, Gladys Horton, Hank Ballard & the Midniters, Chubby Checker, Joe Dee, Gary U.S. Bonds, and others that were filmed didn't end up in the documentary. In fact, during the live show, Chubby Checker decided not to do "Slow Twistin''' with Dee Dee, so she decided to do an old Moonglows song instead called "I Only Have Eyes For You," with just her and her five excellent backup guys and no music whatsoever. She and they were AWESOME and brought the house down!!! Nobody gave a damn about SLOW TWISTIN' after that. LOL It was a great once-in-a-lifetime experience I'll always treasure. And I wish her the very best ALWAYS in life and in her career. She's always such a classy first-class pro!!
Robert, you are an encyclopedia of information! You should write a book and name it, "Playing With The Greats" I would sure love to read it! Thanks for sharing!
Cecilie, thanks so much for the compliment and such a cool idea. :) Yep, it was a teenager's dream come true to be out there and "doing it for real" on many shows with many original-hit-making artists (NOT THE FAKES) of the '60s. Those pioneers paid some hard dues and paved the way for all artists who came later to be respected and treated better and certainly paid A LOT BETTER than all of the cheating, disrespect, and discrimination that went on in the early years of rock and roll. I certainly commend all of the survivors who are still out there and FINALLY reaping some long-overdue rewards and credit nowadays!! :)
Dee Dee Sharp Was Going On For Young Girls And Teens Back In The Day. When Mash Potatoes Came Out , It Was The Dance Craze, After That I Pretty Much Lost Track Of Her. She Was Still A Phenomenal Artist. Thx For For This Fantastic Bio. I Was Unaware That She Was Married To Kenny Gamble. I Just Luv Her.
Excellent mini documentary! I always wondered why she was not bigger than she should have been and this explains it! She had more misses than hit with that Cameo stuff, the Atlantic and PIR records should have been bigger! She had some good stuff with them!
I have the albums Dee Dee and Color of Money and both are great. Not a bad song in the bunch! Thanks for doing this mini bio. There was a lot of things I learned.
Nice story! I remember Dee Dee Sharp songs played on any oldies stations around town playing "Mashed Potato Time". It was a great show to watch. BTW, you mentioned "Monster Mash", a classic for Halloween, and it was a #1 hit in 1962, and then the song was re-released in 1973 on the Parrot label and re-entered the charts, and made it into the Top 10. "Monster Mash" was a hit in both 1962, and 1973 as well. In addition, another interesting story about Kenny Gamble and the Philadelphia International label, and the TSOP sub-label. There was another guy named Vincent Montana Jr. which was originally from Philadelphia formed the Salsoul Orchestra where they inspired the Philadelphia soul sound, and put out many of their albums for the Salsoul label, a New York based label founded by singer Joe Bataan. Those were part of a Philadelphia soul connection between PIR and Salsoul. And one more thing to add, the song "Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" was a remake of Barry Manilow's hit in 1975. I'm glad see did a good cover version of his classic.
Thanks for posting, this was a great show. All of Dee Dee’s later recordings on atco and gamble are superb sounding recordings. I’m surprised they did not chart considering she could have been up there with Aretha. Thank you
In the 1960's I was too involved with Motown and the music. However, in the 1970's I was introduced to PIR and most of the artist on the label. Dee's 1st lp on TSOP was good, but, the two next lps released on PIR were WONDERFUL. As complete lp's they are two of my favs from the PIR catalog. If you are not aware of them, find them, listen and love. The Three Degrees got lucky with "When Will I See You Again", Jean Carn maybe, "Free Love" and Patti Labelle with "If Only You Knew" & "Love Need And Want You" but that was AFTER she left the label. What was it about female singers that PIR wasn't lucky with? Dee Dee, thanks for your PIR input!
Another interesting fact that around 14:44, this song later remade by the Ambassadors about 4 years later in 1969 on the Arctic label where they did a cover version of her classic song.
I love you play samples of each song you talk about. saves me looking each up here. did Never pick a pretty boy come before or after If you want to be happy (Jimmy Soul)? what exactly happened to her in the south that traumatized her? -its 2023 i think we can talk about it now
Great tribute to the beautiful Dee Dee Sharp🏆🏆🏆🏆. She’s a very classy lady with a wonderful voice. One of my favorite female artists ♥️
I remember I use to take Dee Dee’s 45 Of Mash Potatoes To School So We Could Dance To In our music class. I was in the 3rd grade!! We All Had Fun!!
I never knew of this! What an excellent Bio of Dee Dee! Classics and Oldies, never die! Thanks for posting! 🎶👍🎶💃🎶
Please note: She also received a Rhythm and Blues Foundation Pioneer Award in 2001 at the Apollo Theatre!!! Along with Sly and the Family Stone, the Emotions, Fontella Bass, and others!
Hi LaVern. Thank u for honoring the Greats.
I love me some Dee Dee Sharp philly owner lady top singer. She have Beautiful Voice. Thanks for doing this Story
She’s an Incredible artist! The discography is amazing, Good Job!
Magnificent program of Dee Dee Sharp. Thank you for mentioning Clara Ward and her sister.
Dee Dee had a great voice and cut some great records once she got past that early 60s dance craze phase. She really deserved wider recognition and greater chart success/sales
I Really Love You sounds like a classic.
Dee Dee Sharp was/is soo beautiful with a voice that's sooo powerful!!!
Love her songs especially the Philly soul songs all of them.they weren't pushed enough
She was powerful sadly I didn't know her much thank you she seem to have great hit's
I've ALWAYS loved Dee Dee Sharp's vocal performances so I was very elated to get to meet her during the filming of that documentary "The Twist". It was filmed at a huge 5,000-seat club called Lulu's in Kitchener, Canada in August 1989. I was there playing keyboards for Gladys Horton of the original Motown Marvelettes on her song "Twistin Postman".
It's just too bad that all of the fine live performances about the twist from Dee Dee Sharp, Gladys Horton, Hank Ballard & the Midniters, Chubby Checker, Joe Dee, Gary U.S. Bonds, and others that were filmed didn't end up in the documentary.
In fact, during the live show, Chubby Checker decided not to do "Slow Twistin''' with Dee Dee, so she decided to do an old Moonglows song instead called "I Only Have Eyes For You," with just her and her five excellent backup guys and no music whatsoever. She and they were AWESOME and brought the house down!!! Nobody gave a damn about SLOW TWISTIN' after that. LOL It was a great once-in-a-lifetime experience I'll always treasure. And I wish her the very best ALWAYS in life and in her career. She's always such a classy first-class pro!!
Robert, you are an encyclopedia of information! You should write a book and name it, "Playing With The Greats" I would sure love to read it! Thanks for sharing!
Cecilie, thanks so much for the compliment and such a cool idea. :) Yep, it was a teenager's dream come true to be out there and "doing it for real" on many shows with many original-hit-making artists (NOT THE FAKES) of the '60s. Those pioneers paid some hard dues and paved the way for all artists who came later to be respected and treated better and certainly paid A LOT BETTER than all of the cheating, disrespect, and discrimination that went on in the early years of rock and roll. I certainly commend all of the survivors who are still out there and FINALLY reaping some long-overdue rewards and credit nowadays!! :)
Dee Dee Sharp Was Going On For Young Girls And Teens Back In The Day. When Mash Potatoes Came Out , It Was The Dance Craze, After That I Pretty Much Lost Track Of Her. She Was Still A Phenomenal Artist. Thx For For This Fantastic Bio. I Was Unaware That She Was Married To Kenny Gamble. I Just Luv Her.
Excellent mini documentary! I always wondered why she was not bigger than she should have been and this explains it! She had more misses than hit with that Cameo stuff, the Atlantic and PIR records should have been bigger! She had some good stuff with them!
I have the albums Dee Dee and Color of Money and both are great. Not a bad song in the bunch! Thanks for doing this mini bio. There was a lot of things I learned.
I saw Dee Dee Sharp perform live in Chicago the fall of 1976 at The Roberts 500 promoting the Happy bout the whole thing album. she was very good.
Is that your real profile pic
I got some of her songs from way back in the day THAT WAS MUSIC!!
Beautiful Music Thank You 🙏🏾
Nice story! I remember Dee Dee Sharp songs played on any oldies stations around town playing "Mashed Potato Time". It was a great show to watch.
BTW, you mentioned "Monster Mash", a classic for Halloween, and it was a #1 hit in 1962, and then the song was re-released in 1973 on the Parrot label and re-entered the charts, and made it into the Top 10. "Monster Mash" was a hit in both 1962, and 1973 as well.
In addition, another interesting story about Kenny Gamble and the Philadelphia International label, and the TSOP sub-label. There was another guy named Vincent Montana Jr. which was originally from Philadelphia formed the Salsoul Orchestra where they inspired the Philadelphia soul sound, and put out many of their albums for the Salsoul label, a New York based label founded by singer Joe Bataan. Those were part of a Philadelphia soul connection between PIR and Salsoul.
And one more thing to add, the song "Tryin' to Get the Feeling Again" was a remake of Barry Manilow's hit in 1975. I'm glad see did a good cover version of his classic.
Thanks for posting, this was a great show. All of Dee Dee’s later recordings on atco and gamble are superb sounding recordings. I’m surprised they did not chart considering she could have been up there with Aretha. Thank you
Been a big fan of hers for years. Thanks for letting me learn her story.
In the 1960's I was too involved with Motown and the music. However, in the 1970's I was introduced to PIR and most of the artist on the label. Dee's 1st lp on TSOP was good, but, the two next lps released on PIR were WONDERFUL. As complete lp's they are two of my favs from the PIR catalog. If you are not aware of them, find them, listen and love. The Three Degrees got lucky with "When Will I See You Again", Jean Carn maybe, "Free Love" and Patti Labelle with "If Only You Knew" & "Love Need And Want You" but that was AFTER she left the label. What was it about female singers that PIR wasn't lucky with? Dee Dee, thanks for your PIR input!
Another interesting fact that around 14:44, this song later remade by the Ambassadors about 4 years later in 1969 on the Arctic label where they did a cover version of her classic song.
Thank You soooo Much for posting this!!!! I love Dee dee Sharp! I own a couple of her 45's.
This made my day
Thanks Michael you do an awesome job on your videos Dee Dee and I share same birthday month ❤️🌹🌹
Thank you for this. This is excellent music history.
She look good
I wish Chance B would make a Mabel King youtube video.
What an amazing lady !!!!
Gamble love het
I love you play samples of each song you talk about. saves me looking each up here. did Never pick a pretty boy come before or after If you want to be happy (Jimmy Soul)? what exactly happened to her in the south that traumatized her? -its 2023 i think we can talk about it now
Philly.Soul.R&B.Pop.Rock.Gospel🙏🙏⛪⛪
Overbrook Brook High School same school the great Wilt Chamberlain attended.
"Mashed Potato Time"👣
You are so soso sososo phenomenal
M. Ali lost a lot of women because of difference in religious beliefs.
WOW! She was pretty!
If thats true about chubby..where did he come from?from under what rock?
You are the goat
No body can't never ever take your place
I love your voice
You kill this jam
Could somebody name the ladies from *Left to Right?* I know the one in the middle is Rosetta Hightower?
King Records was/is in Cincinnati, OH?
Yes. In Cincinnati.
Same age as Bob Marley
:)