Dick and Dee Dee – Lighting Strikes (Shindig 1964)
Description
In the United States early on in their career, Dick and Dee Dee performed at California high school assemblies with the upcoming surf band the Beach Boys. They eventually sang in 49 of the 50 states, with acts like Roy Orbison, the Righteous Brothers, Ike and Tina Turner, Dionne Warwick, the Shirelles, The Dick Clark Caravan of Stars, Murray the K’s Brooklyn Paramount Theatre review, Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Kingsmen, Patti La Belle, the Crystals, the Drifters, Ben E. King, Jan and Dean, the Miracles, the Dovells, Johnny Tillotson, Jackie Wilson, and Sonny and Cher.
Dick and Dee Dee were the opening act for the Rolling Stones when the band came to California for their first tour in 1964. The duo recorded their voices on three Rolling Stones tracks while visiting London in 1964, including “Blue Turns to Grey“, and “Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind“, penned by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. In an interview with BBC Radio recorded in 2006, Dee Dee Phelps revealed that their singing was overdubbed onto backing tracks recorded by the Rolling Stones with Mick Jagger’s vocals removed. The songs were officially sanctioned, largely at the behest of Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham, and released on Warner Bros. Records.
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.
