Granddad Knew Who to Trust

Next to the Twist, the mode of dance we liked best back in the early 1960s was unquestionably launched by Dee Dee Sharp’s “Mashed Potato Time.”
Just 16, Sharp was already an accomplished musical talent, thanks to the time spent at the Third Eternal Baptist Church on Chew Ave. in North Philadelphia.
“My grandfather started that church, and I began playing piano there at the age of nine,” she told me in a recent telephone interview. “I was also a singer and even directed the choir for a time.”
But at age 14, fate pushed her a little harder.
“My mother had been injured in an auto accident,” she explained, “and I overheard my grandparents saying that they would need extra money to pay the bills. I asked my grandmother if I could get a job and help out. She said OK!”
So Sharp answered an ad that had been placed by Willa Ward, sister of Clara Ward who was then the leader of the Famous Philadelphia Gospel group, The Ward Singers.
“The ad was for someone who could sing, play piano, and ‘sight read’ music,” Sharp said. “I told Willa that I could do all three.”
A singer who can sight read music sheets can sing the melody by just looking at the notes — without hearing the music. So the talented young Dione LaRue (Sharp’s true name) was shortly thereafter in the studio, and at one point just happened to be overheard by Chubby Checker’s manager. Soon she was singing background music for performers such as Lloyd Price, Frankie Avalon, Freddy Cannon, and of course, Chubby Checker.
Philadelphia pop song writers Kal Mann and Bernie Lowe (who had founded Cameo-Parkway Records in 1956) had just written a song they called “Mashed Potato Time,” and Mann approached Sharp.
Ed. note: For a more detailed presentation of just how important Philadelphia was to the music of the 1950s-60s, see James Rosin’s “Philadelphia City of Music,” Camino Books, 2006, www.caminobooks.com.
“Kal told me that he thought I could do the song,” Sharp said. “Willa Ward was there and told Kal that I could do the song, but I would have to get some money of it.”
Mann agreed, and ‘Mashed Potato Time’ was cut as a demo.
“But it became a record,” Sharp noted — with one change suggested by Lowe. “He said we would have to change my name.”
Sharp liked her Christian name, but Mann and Lowe soon came up with Dee Dee Sharp.
“Because I sang in the key of D-sharp,” she said.
Dee Dee Sharp will revisit her hits at this year’s Fabulous 50s Weekend when she appears on stage at the Wildwoods Convention Center Oct. 16 with other stars from the early rock ‘n roll era. Her Web site (deedeesharp.com) can get you up to date on her appearances, her induction into the Philly Walk of Fame, and her career that spans Gospel music, rhythm & blues, and pop music.
“I’m really looking forward to Wildwood,” she said. “I don’t perform in the area at all, so I’m anxious to do this show. I do perform in Europe; the audiences there are beautiful. They’re so glad to see you.”
She credits her success to her deep roots in the Third Eternal Baptist Church, where she is still active.
“I grew up singing and playing piano in that church,” she said. “And my grandfather told me, ‘Someday, people all over the world are going to know your name.’ And he always said, ‘As long as you put God first, you can’t go wrong.’
“I love to sing,” she continued. “I trust in God, my husband, my family…and my dog. I go to the gym twice a week…I lead a full life.
“I didn’t have a clue at the time,” she admitted, “but today, I look at my grandfather’s picture and say, ‘You sure knew what you were doing.’”