From:   "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Nov 7, 2002  6:17 am
Subject:  Born To Be With You : Dee Clark
 
DEE CLARK (By Tony Wilkinson)

Born Delecta Clark, 7th November 1938, Blythsville, Arkansas

Died 7th December 1990, Smyrna, Georgia


Dee Clark vocally is probably the chameleon of rock 'n' roll plus R&B and early
soul come to that. On certain tracks such as 'Seven Nights', he effectively
imitates Clyde McPhatter whilst on '24 Boyfriends' he sounds like Little Richard
and on 'Dance On Little Girl' he comes across as an alternative Chuck Berry.
Incidentally, as far as can be traced, the last mentioned title was only ever
issued on the Vee Jay various artists album 'Tomorrow's Hits' (#LP-1042).
Certainly it has not been included on the various compilation CDs of this
artist's work, which is a real pity as it is a great rocker. However, Dee also
had his own unique vocal styling, which is evident on his biggest hit
'Raindrops' or the wonderfully atmospheric 'Blues Get Off My Shoulder'.


Born Delecta Clark in 1938, he came to the attention of Red Saunders who was the
house bandleader at the Regal Theatre and Club De Lisa in Chicago and in 1952
Dee was a member of The Hambone Kids and appeared on the Okeh label minor hit
record 'Hambone', which was a forerunner to the Bo Diddley beat. This track was
later re-issued as the flip side to Link Wray's 'Rumble Mambo' (Okeh 7166). From
here, Clark joined the Goldentones vocal group in 1954. This outfit was
'discovered' by Chicago disc jockey Herb 'Kool Gent' Kent who renamed the guys
as The Kool Gents and secured them a recording contract with Vee Jay Records and
its subsidiary labels Abner and Falcon. The first outing was their version of
Otis Blackwell's 'I Just Can't Help Myself'.


The group, now renamed as The Delegates, secured a small hit in 1956 with 'The
Convention', a novelty parody of a Democratic Party national convention and in
1957 covered the De'Bonairs 'Mother's Son' which Billy Vera justifiably
describes as 'one of the most dangerous sounding records evoking the menace of
the streets'. Later that year, Clark went out as a solo act but the first record
issued under his own name, however in reality Delegates tracks, 'Gloria/Kangaroo
Hop' flopped.


For his first real solo record, he used Little Richard's ex backing group The
Upsetters on the aforementioned magical 'Seven Nights/24 Boyfriends' but Clark
was only to start achieving national success when he started to revert to his
own vocal style with the self penned 'Nobody But You' and Otis Blackwell's 'Just
Keep It Up', although the last mentioned does have Clyde McPhatter overtones. By
now, his band was lead by guitarist Phil 'You Can't Sit Down' Upchurch and the
pair came up with the smash 'Hey Little Girl' complete with a Bo Diddley beat
(or should that read the Hambone riff?).


From hereon, there were a series of small hits or near misses with the likes of
'How About That', 'You're Looking Good' and 'Your Friends'. Then came the real
biggie, 'Raindrops' which has been called the near perfect record. Certainly
Clark's vocal gymnastics match Phil Upchurch's inspired guitar playing and the
Riley Hampton arrangement. Clark and Upchurch seemingly composed the song as a
result of driving through a rainstorm on a return trip from New York in May
1961. By the middle of that year, Dee had secured a number 2 national pop hit.
Clark recorded prolifically for Vee Jay and went on to score further successes,
none of which however came near the success of 'Raindrops'.


In either late 1962 or early 1963, Ewart Abner left Vee Jay and in partnership
with Bunky Sheppard formed Constellation Records. Clark joined them in late 1963
and over the next three years released a number of singles for the label, the
first of which ('Crossfire Time') made # 92 on the charts. None of the other ten
singles for Constellation were successful. Dee then moved onto Columbia for a
solitary single before turning up on the Wand label 1968. There were a few
spasmodic other releases on Liberty and other companies but none made the USA
charts. However in 1975, he released 'Ride A Wild Horse' on Chelsea Records. The
disc meant very little in the USA but here in the UK, it started to break out
and reached position #16, his biggest hit over here. Seemingly contracts were
signed for a European visit, airline tickets sent, but Clark failed to turn up.


Basically, apart from a couple of road albums, that was it for Clark's recording
career. He eked out a living touring the USA, especially the southern states,
but he started to suffer health problems. He suffered two heart attacks and a
stroke in 1987 but did not have health insurance and so he was caught in a catch
22 situation as he had to carry on working to pay for medical treatment. I
caught him around this time appearing on the Ralph Emery show along with Duane
Eddy and Dave Sommerville of the Diamonds. He did not look well but his voice
was still good. On 7th December 1990, at the age of 52, he succumbed to a fatal
heart attack. A sad end to a great vocal talent.


Suggested CD Listening:

(UK) Charly CD CHARLY 69 'Raindrops' (1987) (Vee Jay sides)

(French) Fan Club FCD 108 'The Dee Clark Show' (1992) (road album)

(USA) Vee Jay NVD2-703 'Rain Drops' (!993) (Vee Jay recordings)

(Belgium) Marginal MAR 039 'Ultimate Collection' (1996) (Vee Jay & Constellation
cuts)

(UK) Prestige CDSGP0230 'Raindrops - The Best Of Dee Clark' (1996) (unknown
source)

(UK) Westside WESA 805 'Take Care of Business - The Constellation Masters
1963-66' (1998)

(USA) Collectables COL-CD-7250 'Dee Clark/How About That' (2000) (two Vee Jay
LPs on one CD)

(USA) Collectables COL-CD-7265 ''You're Looking Good/Hold On It's Dee Clark'
(2000) (the other two Vee Jay albums on one CD)

(UK) Neon NE 34538 'Raindrops' (2000) (Vee Jay sides on a mid price release)