Dick and Dee Dee Official Web Site
Dick and Dee Dee Biography
The California duo, Dick and Dee Dee, (Dick St. John and Mary Sperling) first met in junior high school in the late fifties. The duo lost track of each other until Dee Dee's first year at college when they both started working at See's Candies in Los Angeles. On their lunch breaks they discovered a mutual love of song writing and ended up collaborating on a song called, "I Want Someone."
The flip side, The Mountain's High, became their first gold record, storming up the charts in summer of 1961. The song spent two weeks at the #2 position on the Billboard Hot 100. The Mountain's High reached the #37 position in the UK Singles Chart. Dick and Dee Dee played in the Los Angeles area for six months, backed by the new, upcoming surf band, The Beach Boys.
Throughout the Sixties, Dick and Dee Dee recorded a total of eight chart singles, five of which made the top 30 nationally...
Throughout the Sixties, Dick and Dee Dee recorded a total of eight chart singles, five on which made the top 30 nationally, and five albums. Touring with most of the popular recording artists of the era, they traveled throughout the United States, Europe and Japan, singing their biggest hits, The Mountain's High, Tell Me, Turn Around, Young and In Love and Thou Shalt Not Steal.
Dick and Dee Dee performed as semi-regulars on the hit television show, "Shindig" and in the original pilot for the television show, "Where the Action Is." The duo appeared numerous times on American Bandstand and in the movie, "Wild, Wild Winter." They made one Scopitone (similar to today's music videos), shot at Santa Monica pier.
In a London recording session in 1964, produced by Rolling Stones producer Andrew Oldham, the duo added their voices to several tracks with instruments and back up vocals by the Rolling Stones. The songs "Blue Turns to Grey" and "Something's Just Stick in You Mind," penned by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were Picks of the Week on Shindig, but never climbed the charts nationally.
The duo disbanded in 1969. In the Eighties, Dick performed briefly as Dick and Dee Dee with his wife Sandy. He passed away in 2003.
In 2007 Dee Dee Phelps released her memoir, Vinyl Highway, Singing as Dick and Dee Dee. Fans at book signings and talks told her how much the songs of Dick and Dee Dee meant to them and what they wouldn't give to hear those songs sung live again.
With those comments in mind, in 2008 Dee Dee re-created the act Dick and Dee Dee with her new partner, singing/actor Michael Dunn. After five years of performing in Doo Wop and Rock & Roll shows, Michael left for Indonesia and Dee Dee started rehearsing with Jan (Deke) Detanna, lead singer of Deke and the Blazers.
In 2015 Dee Dee reunited with singer Michael Dunn. On February 21st, they performed in Houston at the Stafford Center for the Performing Arts Ultimate Doo Wop Show.
For more information, please visit: www.dickanddeedee.com
Billboard Magazine Discography
| Year | Single | Chart | Highest Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 | The Mountain's High | Pop Singles | No. 2 |
| 1962 | Tell Me | Pop Singles | No. 22 |
| 1963 | Young and in Love | Adult Contemp. | No. 6 |
| 1963 | Young and in Love | Pop Singles | No. 17 |
| 1963 | Where Did All the Good Times Go? | Pop Singles | No. 93 |
| 1964 | All My Trials | Pop Singles | No. 89 |
| 1964 | Turn Around | Pop Singles | No. 27 |
| 1965 | Be My Baby | Pop Singles | No. 87 |
| 1965 | Thou Shalt Not Steal | Pop Singles | No. 13 |
