Dee Dee Sharp

Career

At age 13, Sharp learned her mother was seriously injured in a car accident after overhearing her grandparents discuss it. Wanting to help support her family, she got her grandmother's approval—on the condition she stay in school—and answered a newspaper ad seeking a singer who could sight-read music, play piano, and sing. Gospel singer Willa Ward Moultrie hired her as a backing vocalist. While still attending school, Sharp recorded with Lloyd Price, Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, and Jackie Wilson.

Rise to fame and mainstream success

By 1962, Chubby Checker was Parkway Records' biggest star, having charted nearly twenty singles and popularized the twist craze. According to Sharp, Checker discovered her while she sang backup at one of his sessions and recommended her to Bernie Lowe, head of Cameo-Parkway Records. The label paired them for a duet, though Sharp wasn't credited on the original single. Released in February 1962, "Slow Twistin'" entered the Top 10 within three weeks.

Sharp was immediately signed by Cameo Records as a solo artist. Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe renamed her Dee Dee Sharp—a nickname from her brother calling her "Dee" and because she sang in the key of D-sharp. The same day she recorded "Slow Twistin'," she also cut her debut solo single "Mashed Potato Time," released in February 1962. It reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, sold over a million copies, and earned a gold disc.

At 16, this made Sharp one of the first Black female teen idols. She was offered "The Loco-Motion" by Gerry Goffin and Carole King but declined; Little Eva recorded it and took it to No. 1 in 1962. In April 1962, Sharp opened for Checker at the Seattle World's Fair. She followed with more Top 10 hits: "Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)" (No. 9), "Ride!"

(No. 5), and "Do the Bird" (No. 10). "Ride!" also sold over a million copies and earned a gold disc. "Do the Bird" became her only UK Singles Chart entry, peaking at No. 46 in April 1963. Cameo marketed Sharp as a pop artist, so she made relatively few Chitlin' Circuit appearances and was sent to modeling and charm school.

From 1962 to 1981 she appeared several times on American Bandstand and was a regular on Clark's Caravan of Stars tours. In 1965, she performed "Steady, Steady" on The Ed Sullivan Show. Unhappy with record sales, she switched to Atco/Atlantic Records in 1966. In 1967, Sharp married Kenny Gamble of Gamble & Huff and recorded for Gamble Records and Philadelphia International.

Resurgence and later years

During the disco era, as Dee Dee Sharp Gamble, she hit the charts again with her version of 10 CC's "I'm Not In Love" and joined the Philadelphia International All Stars for "Let's Clean Up the Ghetto." In 1980, she spent four weeks at No. 1 on the Hot Dance Club Play chart with "Breaking and Entering"/"Easy Money." Sharp has continued performing into the 21st century, appearing at Pontins in the UK for the Northern Soul Show, the 2008 Detroit Jazz Festival, and Belgium's Salle de l'Hôtel de Ville in May 2009. In 2017, she performed at Jerry Blavat's Gospel, Soul and Doo Wop Reunion in Philadelphia.

Personal life

In the 1996 documentary Muhammad Ali: The Whole Story, Sharp revealed she was engaged to the boxer, then known as Cassius Clay. They met in 1963 while she had a residency at the Knight Beat nightclub in Miami's Overtown neighborhood. Ali proposed before his first heavyweight championship fight against Sonny Liston in Miami Beach in 1964. Sharp accepted, but Ali said he needed to consult Malcolm X first.

Malcolm X told Sharp she could marry Ali only if she converted to the Nation of Islam. Sharp's mother refused to give her approval, ending the engagement. Sharp was married to Kenny Gamble from 1967 to 1980, during which she was known as Dee Dee Sharp Gamble. She now lives in Medford, New Jersey, with her husband Bill Witherspoon.

Did You Know?

• Sharp was engaged to Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) in 1964, but the engagement ended when she refused to convert to the Nation of Islam.
• Sharp was inducted into the Philadelphia Music Alliance's Walk of Fame in 2017.