Dee Dee Sharp

Dee Dee Clear hit the largest with her 1st record for the Cameo/Parkway label, a blessing that pigeonholed the Philly songstress like a teenybopper forever to become identified with her number 1 smash from 1962, “Mashed Potatoes Period.” Surviving in Philadelphia, the house of Dick Clark’s American Bandstand helped her profession; she appeared within the syndicated teenager dance show often from 1962 to 1981. The 1st black female young idol, Clear also became a fixture on Clark’s Caravan of Superstars travels, and a familiar encounter in the favorite 16 Magazine. Blessed Dione LaRue on Sept 9, 1945, she performed piano from an early on age, and aimed choirs at her grandfather’s and various other churches in Philadelphia. After her mom suffered debilitating accidents from a vehicle accident when LaRue was just 13, she obtained a job being a history singer and created the abilities to focus on periods by Lloyd Cost, Frankie Avalon, Fabian, Bobby Rydell, Jackie Wilson, and Chubby Checker. Lady good luck helped when her vocals had been put into Chubby Checker’s “Gradual Twistin'” (1962) rendering it a duet. Her initial solo program was scheduled the very next day — the “Mashed Potatoes Period” program — with 17, Dione LaRue was became an right away sensation. Companies Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe didn’t like LaRue’s name therefore they made Dee Dee Clear, since everyone known as her D and she sang in D sharpened. Smaller hits implemented: “Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes),” “Trip,” “Perform the Parrot,” “Outrageous,” “Willyam, Willyam,” “Hardly ever Pick a Very Boy,” and “I MUST SAY I Like You” in 1965 — Sharp’s initial R&B record. non-e marketed like her initial, but the youthful singer did fine. She made an appearance on American Bandstand to market every discharge; Cameo marketed her as pop therefore she didn’t find a lot of the chitlin’ circuit; the label also delivered her to modeling and appeal school. Clear and Checker installed and documented an record together entitled Right down to Earth, among nine LPs that Cameo released on Clear (all with blinding multi-colored shades). Languishing record product sales prompted her leave from Cameo to Atco/Atlantic Information. The Atco offer materialized partly as the label was aiming to snag her soon-to-be hubby Kenny Gamble to create records, and utilized Clear as bait. Three singles made an appearance (from 1966-1968) including a duet with Ben E. Ruler (“Whatcha Gonna Perform ABOUT ANY OF IT”). The monitors, done mainly in Memphis, had been harder compared to the Cameo edges, but the advertising wasn’t there. Displeased at Atco’s initiatives, Clear, Gamble, and Leon Huff began Gamble Information in 1967, which released three Dee Dee Clear singles. Two even more made an appearance on Gamble & Huff’s TSOP label, like the LP Content ‘Bout the whole lot. She then agreed upon with Philadelphia International (PIR) — as Dee Dee Sharp-Gamble — for five singles and “Conquer the Globe Collectively,” a duet with Bunny Sigler (as David Siqler). Clear also collaborated (uncredited) on lots of the tracks on Gamble Information, but by enough time her second PIR recording arrived, she had started divorce proceedings, finalized by 1980. A fresh earthier, advanced, foxy Sharp surfaced following the Cameo recordings but nothing at all occurred. While Checker produced a career slicing dance strikes and became a global superstar, Sharp’s profession lacked the hp, though she taken care of good presence via tv, trips, concerts, and golf club dates that got her all over the world. Besides her many tv spots, she made an appearance in movies including Desperately Looking for Susan, Don’t Knock the Twist, Hairspray, Sister Work, and Troop Beverly Hillsides. A beauty, Clear remarried (to Expenses Witherspoon) and continues to be connected romantically with Gene Chandler, Muhammad Ali, and David Ruffin. Clear enjoyed a successful profession, despite minimal graph actions after 1966. And aside from some racial situations in the South experienced by many African-American performers in the period, she surfaced unscathed, un-addicted, and unscarred.