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 Mary Sperling. They eventually changed their names to Dick St. John and Dee Dee Sperling (currently Dee Dee Phelps). They had their first hit in 1961 when "The Mountain's High" reached No. 2 on the Billboard 100. They toured with the Beach Boys and opened for the Rolling Stones during the Stones's 1964 tour of California. Regulars on the show Shindig!, the duo had multiple hit songs before St. John and Sperling disbanded in 1969. In the 1980s, St. John toured with his wife, Sandy. Dick St. John died on December 27, 2003, after a fall at his home.

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 See's Candy store, and St. John was looking for a job. They realized they were singer-songwriters, and together they began writing songs and singing the vocal parts. The duo were not romantically linked.

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.

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. and in 2008 she teamed with actor and singer Michael Dunn to again revive the classic Dick and Dee Dee songs on stage.

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| "Room 404"

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|align=left| "When Blue Turns to Grey"

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| "Some Things Just Stick in Your Mind"

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|align=left| "Use What You've Got"

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| "New Orleans"

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|rowspan="3"| 1966

|align=left| "Till"

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| "Sha-La"

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|align=left| "So Many Things We Don't Know"

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| "She Didn't Even Say Goodbye"

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|align=left| "Make Up Before We Break Up"

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| "Can't Get Enough of Your Love"

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|rowspan="2"| 1967

|align=left| "I'll Always Be Around"

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| "Long Lonely Nights"

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|align=left| "One in a Million"

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| "Baby, I Need You"

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|rowspan="1"| 1968

|align=left| "The Escape Suite"

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|rowspan="3"| Dot Records

| "I'm Not Gonna Get Hung-Up About It"

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|rowspan="2"| 1969

|align=left| "In the Season of Our Love"

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| "We'll Sing in the Sunshine"

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|align=left| "Do I Love You"

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| "You Come Back to Haunt Me"

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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

Further reading

  • Interview with Dick St. John
  • Interview with Dee Dee Sperling