Dee Dee Sharp
Biography
Dee Dee Sharp (born Dione LaRue, September 9, 1945, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States) is an American R and B singer, who began her career recording as a backing vocalist in 1961.
In 1962 she began a string of successful Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 hits: "Slow Twistin" (with Chubby Checker) (#3), "Mashed Potato Time" (#2), "Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)" (#9), "Ride" (#5) and "Do the Bird" (#10). Both "Mashed Potato Time" and "Ride" each sold over one million copies, and were awarded gold discs. "Do the Bird" provided her only entry in the UK Singles Chart, where it peaked at #46 in April 1963. In 1967, she married record producer Kenny Gamble and has since recorded under the name Dee Dee Sharp-Gamble.
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She had a brief career resurgence during the disco era and hit the charts again with her version of 10 CCs "Im Not In Love." She also joined Lou Rawls, Billy Paul, Teddy Pendergrass, The OJays and Archie Bell) as a member of the Philadelphia International All Stars, who had a minor hit with "Lets Clean Up the Ghetto." During this time she was married to Philadelphia International co-founder Kenny Gamble, and was known professionally as Dee Dee Sharp Gamble. The couple later divorced.
In 1981 she spent four weeks at number one on the Hot Dance Club Play chart with "Breaking and Entering" / "Easy Money," from her album Dee Dee.
More recent appearances included a performance at Pontins in the UK for the Northern Soul Show, and at the 2008 Detroit Jazz Festival. In May 2009, she appeared in Belgium at the Salle De LHotel de Ville.
Sharp and her husband Bill Witherspoon have been residents of Medford, New Jersey. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
Biography text from Last.fm, available under CC BY-SA.
