The great African-American Pop and RnB singer Lee Dorsey was born Irvin Glee Dorsey on the 24th December 1924, in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.
His successful years and biggest hits were during the 1960s with “Ya Ya” in 1961 and “Working In The Coalmine” in 1966, with many of his recordings produced by Allen Toussaint and tunes written by Allen Toussaint.
Lee was a childhood friend of the great Fats Domino, and at ten years old moved to Portland, Oregon, USA.
During World War 2 Dorsey served in the United States Navy, and began his first career as a prize fighter, boxing as a featherweight in Portland during the early 1950s. His boxing name was “Kid Chocolate” and after a period of about 4 years, unsuccessfully, he returned to New Orleans, and in 1955 opened an auto repair business, alongside singing in nightclubs.
Lees first recordings were on Cosimo Mattasa’s Rex Label, in 1958 “Rock Pretty Baby” / “Lonely Evening”, followed by releases for the Valient Label in late 1960, “Lottie No” / “Lover Of Love”, and these releases were commercially unsuccessful. However around 1960 he met A&R Man / Record Producer Marshall Sehorn, who guided him to an agreement with Bobby Robinsons Fury Records, and at a party in New Orleans, he met the songwriter and record producer Allen Toussaint.
A song inspired by a group of children singing nursery rhymes, entitled “Ya Ya” was recorded and it hit at No 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart in 1961, selling over 1 Million Copies and achieving a gold disc, and the follow up “Do-Re-Mi” also hit the charts, but other later releases on the Fury Label were not as successful.
After this initial success, Lee returned to running his auto repair business, but at the same time released singles on the Smash and Constellation Record Labels in 1963 and 1964 respectively.
In1965 Lee was again approached by Allen Toussaint to record some newly penned songs for the Amy Label, a subsidiary of the Bell Records Label.
The song was “Ride Your Pony” and it reached No 7 on the Billboard RnB Charts in late 1965, and was followed by other hits “Get Out Of My Life Woman”, “Working I The Coal Mine” and “Holy Cow”. All of these made it to the Pop Charts in the USA and UK and this led to international tours for Lee Dorsey.
Dorsey made several albums with Toussaint, notably “The New Lee Dorsey” in 1966, and “Yes We Can” in 1970, and the single “Yes We Can”, was the last recording of Lee Dorsey to enter the US Singles Chart, and this tune was a later hit for The Pointer Sisters, entitled “Yes We Can, Can”.
1976 saw Dorsey appear on the album by Southside Johnny and The Asbury Jukes, entitled “I Don’t Want To Go Home”, which induced other recordings of his own on ABC Records, including his album “Night People”.
In 1980 he opened for UK punk band “The Clash” on their USA tour, and toured in support of Jerry Lee Lewis and James Brown.
Sadly Lee Dorsey developed emphysema and died on the 1st December 1986 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. He was 61 years old.
Sleeve Note: Keith C Thomas
Special thanks to Jim Horner (Deceased) of Music Trax Inc (USA) and Keith C. Thomas of Prestige Elite Records Ltd.
