Biography
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Years Active
1960 – 1969 (9 years)
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Members
- Dee Dee Sperling
- Dick St. John
Dick and Dee Dee were American musical entertainers. Dick St. John (born Richard St. John Gosting, 1940 - died December 27, 2003), was the male half of the duo, and Dee Dee Sperling (real name Mary) was the female half. Formed while students in high school in Santa Monica, California, the duo were not romantically linked.
They teamed up in the 1950s, but their first major hit was the million-selling rock and roll song "The Mountain's High" (1961). The song spent two weeks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, kept out of the top spot by Bobby Vee's "Take Good Care of My Baby." The track reached #37 in the UK Singles Chart.
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 in the middle notes.
The duo recorded three Rolling Stones tracks 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 the BBC Radio, recorded in 2006, Sperling revealed that their singing was overdubbed onto backing tracks recorded by the Stones, with Mick Jagger's vocals removed.
Their other hits included "Turn Around", "Tell Me", "Thou Shalt Not Steal" (their second-biggest hit, reaching #13 in 1965, with a special picture sleeve issued promoting Triumph Motorcycles), and "Young and in Love".
By 1969, both singers had married other people and the duo disbanded.
St. John died in 2003 after falling from the roof of his home. In 2006, Sperling published a book about her experiences as half of Dick and Dee Dee, entitled Vinyl Highway. In 2008, Sperling teamed with actor/singer Michael Dunn singing St. John's parts, and the two are performing as "Dick and Dee Dee."
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