From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Sun Aug 4, 2002  2:09 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Big Dee Irwin
 
BIG DEE IRWIN

Born DiFosco Ervin, 4 August 1932, New York City, NY
Died 29 August 1995, Las Vegas, Nevada

R&B baritone singer Big Dee Irwin came up thru the ranks, first as a
member of the Rocketeers, a vocal group he had formed in 1955 when
he was an air force sergeant stationed in Greenland. Rechristened
the Pastels, the group was signed by Hull Records in the Brill Building.
Their first record, cut in October 1956, was "Been So Long", co-written
by Irwin. It was kept in the can for a year before eventually surfacing
on the Hull subsidiary Mascot Records. The disc started breaking in
Washington, D.C. and was swiftly picked up by Chess for national
distribution via their Argo label. April 1958 saw the Pastels poised at
# 4 on the R&B chart and, a month later, peaking at # 24 pop. By this
time all four members had been discharged from the Air Force. The guys
were free to tour with such luminaries as Frankie Lymon, the Platters,
Sam Cooke and Larry Williams.
Still contracted to Hull, Irwin made some solo records as Dee Erwin,
which were ignored by the record buyers. Don Kirshner added Irwin to
his Aldon stable of songwriters in the Brill Building and then set up his
own record label, Dimension Records, in 1962. The first release on that
label gave Irwin his biggest success as a songwriter : "He Is The Boy".
Never heard of it? Just flip over your copy of Little Eva's "The Loco-motion".
Royalty rates are the same for both sides of a hit, and, over the years,
most reissues of this multi-million seller have retained the original coupling.
Big bucks for Big Dee!
As a solo act, Irwin enjoyed a # 38 pop hit in 1963 with a remake of Bing
Crosby's "Swinging On A Star", with uncredited backing vocals by Little Eva
(who would also make an appearance on several subsequent recordings by
Dee). In the UK it was an even bigger hit, peaking at # 7. In late 1963 Dee paid
his first visit to Britain to promote his hit, taking time out for new
recordings
under the supervision of Tony Hatch. Two more British tours followed in
1964, but in spite of some strong releases, Dee would have no further hits
on either side of the Atlantic. The mid-sixties saw him recording for Roulette
and in 1972 he did a comeback album for the short-lived Signpost label.
As DiFosco he had a small R&B hit in 1976, "Face To Face" on Roxbury.
He was almost forgotten when, at the age of 63, he suddenly died of heart
failure in 1995.

CD: Another Night With Big Dee Irwin : The Complete Dimension Recordings
And More (Westside WESM 511). 25 tracks, including "Been So Long".

BTBWY will be back on Wednesday.