Joey Dee and the Starliters
Encyclopedia
Joey Dee and The Starliters (also credited as Joey Dee and the Starlighters) is an American
popular music
team. Best known for their successful million-selling recording "Peppermint Twist
" (1961), the group
was initiated by Joey Dee.
for the team after meeting him during a gig at Garfield High School
in New Jersey
. David and Joey would subsequently share lead vocal honors for The Starliters, with Joey ultimately becoming the primary lead singer. Another early single for the group was "Face of an Angel," with David as lead vocal, released on Scepter Records
; the flipside was "Shimmy Baby." An album entitled The Peppermint Twisters and credited to "Joey Dee and The Starlighters" was subsequently released by the company Scepter as well.
Various members of The Starliters, such as vocalist Freeman and drummer Don Martin, came and went during the next few years; the most famous team of Joey Dee and The Starliters is considered to be Joey Dee, David Brigati, Larry Vernieri (vocals), Carlton Lattimore (organ), Sam Taylor (guitar) and Willie Davis (drums). Later members of the touring group would include Eddie Brigati
(David's brother), Gene Cornish, and Felix Cavaliere
- three-quarters of The Young Rascals - as well as guitarist Jimmy James (later known as Jimi Hendrix
), Charles Neville of The Neville Brothers
and a young Joe Pesci
on guitar.
nightclub called Oliveri's. The group was booked at an intimate venue on 45th Street in New York City
called the Peppermint Lounge
for what was supposed to be a one-time weekend gig. During their initial appearance at the nightclub, actress Merle Oberon
and Prince Serge Oblinski were dancing much of the night there. This being related in print the next morning by columnists Earl Wilson
and Cholly Knickerbocker, it took barricades and mounted police to keep the crowds in line, which had backed to Broadway, the next night. For several months, the craze would continue at the Lounge. Celebrity visitors continued to come and included Judy Garland
, John Wayne
, Jackie Kennedy, Nat "King" Cole, Shirley MacLaine
, Tennessee Williams
, Truman Capote
, and Liberace
. Dee and company made such a sensation that they ended becoming the house band for the Peppermint Lounge, remaining for more than a year. Dee wrote "Peppermint Twist," along with producer Henry Glover, as a tribute to the lounge and the song scored #1 on the U.S. charts
during early 1962. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
. By this time the team had contracted with Roulette Records
.
One night during 1961, a trio of pretty teenagers were waiting on line outside the nightclub hoping to be allowed inside. Dressed in matching brightly colored dresses, they looked like professional entertainers (which in fact they were) and in a case of mistaken identity, thinking they were the dancers he'd hired, the manager of the Peppermint Lounge ushered the girls - Ronnie and Estelle Bennett and their cousin, Nedra Talley - up to the stage and told them to dance. The Ronettes
spent the rest of that night dancing and singing along with Joey Dee and The Starliters, and the reaction from the group and the crowd was so positive that the nightclub manager, having realized his error, offered the girls a job. Every night, The Ronettes would dance and perform along with The Starliters at the Peppermint Lounge, even traveling with them to the nightclub's Miami, Florida
location during early 1962.
Also during 1961, Joey Dee and The Starliters filmed the movie Hey, Let's Twist, starring Jo Ann Campbell
and Teddy Randazzo, for Paramount Pictures
. Hey, Let's Twist was a fictional story of Joey Dee (Randazzo and Dino DiLuca played the parts of Joey's brother and father, respectively) and the Peppermint Lounge; its release capitalized on the current Twist
craze and made the once-obscure Lounge famous. The movie and soundtrack album did their part in making the Peppermint Lounge a world-famous venue. Successful singles spawned from Hey, Let's Twist were the title track and "Shout - Part I," which became the group's second-biggest selling record, reaching #6 on the U.S. charts. It also sold a million copies, giving the group their second gold disc. Other albums released during this time were Doin' The Twist At The Peppermint Lounge, which was recorded live at the venue, and All The World's Twistin' With Joey Dee & The Starliters.
During 1962, Joey Dee and The Starliters starred in their second motion picture, Two Tickets to Paris, along with Gary Crosby, Jeri Lynne Fraser and Kay Medford
. One of the songs from this film, "What Kind Of Love Is This," written by Johnny Nash
, was released during September of that year and scored Top Twenty. During December 1962, the original Starliters did their final recording session as a team, producing "Help Me Pick Up the Pieces," also composed by Nash, and "Baby, You're Driving Me Crazy," written by Joey Dee and Henry Glover. During 1963, Joey Dee recorded an album entitled Dance, Dance, Dance, with The Ronettes as his backup group. During spring of that year, Roulette released the track "Hot Pastrami with Mashed Potatoes," from the previously issued live album, as a two-part single; the record made the U.S. Top Forty
. The company later released "Ya Ya" and "Fannie Mae" from the same album. During October and November 1963, The Starliters toured Europe, performing one extraordinary night in Stockholm with The Beatles (already the biggest band in Northern Europe) as their opening act! During 1964, Joey Dee toured with various Starliters including Cornish, Cavaliere, and Eddie Brigati. Other group members at different times included Jimi Hendrix, who toured with the group in late 1965 , Charles Neville, later of the Neville Brothers and, early in their history, Joe Pesci
played guitar with the band.
During 2001, the group was featured on a PBS special, Rock, Rhythm and Doo-Wop, and in 2005 they appeared on the Jerry Lewis
Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy
.
As of 2009 Joey Dee and The Starliters consists of Dee sometimes performing with Bob Valli (brother of Frankie Valli
) and original Starliter David Brigati and at other times with the original Soul Survivors
Charlie and Richie Ingui, with the three singers taking the lead and performing their own hits as well as covers. Joey's son Ronnie DiNicola often plays saxophone and sings back up vocals for his father.
On Sunday September 19, 2010, Joey Dee and The Starliters have achieved a street corner dedicated to the band in their home town of Passaic NJ. The street signing took place on the corner of Washington Place and Columbia Ave.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
popular music
Popular music
Popular music belongs to any of a number of musical genres "having wide appeal" and is typically distributed to large audiences through the music industry. It stands in contrast to both art music and traditional music, which are typically disseminated academically or orally to smaller, local...
team. Best known for their successful million-selling recording "Peppermint Twist
Peppermint Twist
"Peppermint Twist" is a song written by Joey Dee and Henry Glover, recorded and released by Joey Dee and the Starliters in 1961. Capitalizing on the Twist dance craze and the nightclub in which Dee performed , the song hit number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in early 1962...
" (1961), the group
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
was initiated by Joey Dee.
Early singles
With lead singer Rogers Freeman, Joey Dee and The Starliters' first single was "Lorraine," backed with "The Girl I Walk To School," during 1958, distributed by the company Little. That same year, Joey Dee recruited David BrigatiDavid Brigati
David Brigati is an American singer.-Hi-Fives:David got his musical start as the lead singer of a doo-wop group known as the Hi-Fives. In 1958, the group recorded a number of songs on the Decca label. One of those recordings was entitled "Dorothy" and became a regional hit in the New York...
for the team after meeting him during a gig at Garfield High School
Garfield High School (New Jersey)
Garfield High School is a four-year public high school located in Garfield, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, operating as part of the Garfield Public Schools...
in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
. David and Joey would subsequently share lead vocal honors for The Starliters, with Joey ultimately becoming the primary lead singer. Another early single for the group was "Face of an Angel," with David as lead vocal, released on Scepter Records
Scepter Records
Scepter Records is a record company founded in 1959 by Florence Greenberg. She had just sold Tiara Records with The Shirelles for $4000 to Decca Records. When The Shirelles didn't produce any hits for Decca, they were given back to Greenberg, who promptly signed them. By 1961 Greenberg launched a...
; the flipside was "Shimmy Baby." An album entitled The Peppermint Twisters and credited to "Joey Dee and The Starlighters" was subsequently released by the company Scepter as well.
Various members of The Starliters, such as vocalist Freeman and drummer Don Martin, came and went during the next few years; the most famous team of Joey Dee and The Starliters is considered to be Joey Dee, David Brigati, Larry Vernieri (vocals), Carlton Lattimore (organ), Sam Taylor (guitar) and Willie Davis (drums). Later members of the touring group would include Eddie Brigati
Eddie Brigati
Eddie Brigati is an American singer and songwriter.Most memorably, Brigati shared vocals, and played tambourine, in the pop group The Young Rascals from 1965 to 1970...
(David's brother), Gene Cornish, and Felix Cavaliere
Felix Cavaliere
Felix Cavaliere is an American songwriter, singer, music producer, and musician.Although he was a member of Joey Dee and His Starlighters best known for their hit "Peppermint Twist", he is best known for his association with The Young Rascals during the 1960s. The other members of The Rascals...
- three-quarters of The Young Rascals - as well as guitarist Jimmy James (later known as Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
), Charles Neville of The Neville Brothers
The Neville Brothers
The Neville Brothers, an American R&B and soul group, was formed in 1977 in New Orleans, Louisiana.-History:The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art , Charles , Aaron , and Cyril The Neville Brothers, an American R&B and soul group, was formed in 1977 in...
and a young Joe Pesci
Joe Pesci
Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks...
on guitar.
The 1960s
During 1960, The Starliters were noticed by agent Don Davis while performing at a Lodi, New JerseyLodi, New Jersey
Lodi is a borough in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the borough population was 24,136. The borough of Lodi is governed under the 1923 Municipal Manager Law.Lodi owes its name to the Italian city of Lodi...
nightclub called Oliveri's. The group was booked at an intimate venue on 45th Street in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
called the Peppermint Lounge
Peppermint Lounge
The Peppermint Lounge was a popular discotheque located at 128 West 45th Street in New York City that was open from 1958 to 1965. It was the launchpad for the global Twist craze in the early 1960s, and also where Go-Go dancing originated....
for what was supposed to be a one-time weekend gig. During their initial appearance at the nightclub, actress Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon
Merle Oberon was an Indian-born British actress best known for her screen performances in The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Cowboy and the Lady . She began her film career in British films as Anne Boleyn in The Private Life of Henry VIII . She travelled to the United States to make films for Samuel...
and Prince Serge Oblinski were dancing much of the night there. This being related in print the next morning by columnists Earl Wilson
Earl Wilson
Robert Earl Wilson was a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox , Detroit Tigers and San Diego Padres . Wilson batted and threw right-handed...
and Cholly Knickerbocker, it took barricades and mounted police to keep the crowds in line, which had backed to Broadway, the next night. For several months, the craze would continue at the Lounge. Celebrity visitors continued to come and included Judy Garland
Judy Garland
Judy Garland was an American actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of her 47 years and for her renowned contralto voice, she attained international stardom as an actress in musical and dramatic roles, as a recording artist and on the concert stage...
, John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
, Jackie Kennedy, Nat "King" Cole, Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine
Shirley MacLaine is an American film and theater actress, singer, dancer, activist and author, well-known for her beliefs in new age spirituality and reincarnation. She has written a large number of autobiographical works, many dealing with her spiritual beliefs as well as her Hollywood career...
, Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
, Truman Capote
Truman Capote
Truman Streckfus Persons , known as Truman Capote , was an American author, many of whose short stories, novels, plays, and nonfiction are recognized literary classics, including the novella Breakfast at Tiffany's and the true crime novel In Cold Blood , which he labeled a "nonfiction novel." At...
, and Liberace
Liberace
Wladziu Valentino Liberace , best known simply as Liberace, was a famous American pianist and vocalist.In a career that spanned four decades of concerts, recordings, motion pictures, television and endorsements, Liberace became world-renowned...
. Dee and company made such a sensation that they ended becoming the house band for the Peppermint Lounge, remaining for more than a year. Dee wrote "Peppermint Twist," along with producer Henry Glover, as a tribute to the lounge and the song scored #1 on the U.S. charts
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
during early 1962. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc
Music recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
. By this time the team had contracted with Roulette Records
Roulette Records
Roulette Records is an American record label, which was founded in late 1956, by George Goldner, Joe Kolsky, Morris Levy and Phil Khals, with creative control given to producers and songwriters Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore. Levy was appointed as director...
.
One night during 1961, a trio of pretty teenagers were waiting on line outside the nightclub hoping to be allowed inside. Dressed in matching brightly colored dresses, they looked like professional entertainers (which in fact they were) and in a case of mistaken identity, thinking they were the dancers he'd hired, the manager of the Peppermint Lounge ushered the girls - Ronnie and Estelle Bennett and their cousin, Nedra Talley - up to the stage and told them to dance. The Ronettes
The Ronettes
The Ronettes were a 1960s girl group from New York City, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett ; her older sister, Estelle Bennett; and their cousin Nedra Talley...
spent the rest of that night dancing and singing along with Joey Dee and The Starliters, and the reaction from the group and the crowd was so positive that the nightclub manager, having realized his error, offered the girls a job. Every night, The Ronettes would dance and perform along with The Starliters at the Peppermint Lounge, even traveling with them to the nightclub's Miami, Florida
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
location during early 1962.
Also during 1961, Joey Dee and The Starliters filmed the movie Hey, Let's Twist, starring Jo Ann Campbell
Jo Ann Campbell
Jo Ann Campbell is an American pop singer.Campbell began attending music school at the age of four, and won many honors as a drum majorette at Fletcher High School...
and Teddy Randazzo, for Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film production and distribution company, located at 5555 Melrose Avenue in Hollywood. Founded in 1912 and currently owned by media conglomerate Viacom, it is America's oldest existing film studio; it is also the last major film studio still...
. Hey, Let's Twist was a fictional story of Joey Dee (Randazzo and Dino DiLuca played the parts of Joey's brother and father, respectively) and the Peppermint Lounge; its release capitalized on the current Twist
Twist (dance)
The Twist was a dance inspired by rock and roll music. It became the first worldwide dance craze in the early 1960s, enjoying immense popularity among young people and drawing fire from critics who felt it was too provocative. It inspired dances such as the Jerk, the Pony, the Watusi, the Mashed...
craze and made the once-obscure Lounge famous. The movie and soundtrack album did their part in making the Peppermint Lounge a world-famous venue. Successful singles spawned from Hey, Let's Twist were the title track and "Shout - Part I," which became the group's second-biggest selling record, reaching #6 on the U.S. charts. It also sold a million copies, giving the group their second gold disc. Other albums released during this time were Doin' The Twist At The Peppermint Lounge, which was recorded live at the venue, and All The World's Twistin' With Joey Dee & The Starliters.
During 1962, Joey Dee and The Starliters starred in their second motion picture, Two Tickets to Paris, along with Gary Crosby, Jeri Lynne Fraser and Kay Medford
Kay Medford
Kay Medford , was an American character actress and comedienne.She was born Margaret Kathleen O'Regan in New York City to James and Mary O'Regan, first-generation Irish-American parents, both of whom had died by the time she was 15 years old...
. One of the songs from this film, "What Kind Of Love Is This," written by Johnny Nash
Johnny Nash
John Lester "Johnny" Nash, Jr. is an American pop singer-songwriter, best known in the US for his 1972 hit, "I Can See Clearly Now". He was also the first non-Jamaican to record reggae music in Kingston, Jamaica.-Life and career:...
, was released during September of that year and scored Top Twenty. During December 1962, the original Starliters did their final recording session as a team, producing "Help Me Pick Up the Pieces," also composed by Nash, and "Baby, You're Driving Me Crazy," written by Joey Dee and Henry Glover. During 1963, Joey Dee recorded an album entitled Dance, Dance, Dance, with The Ronettes as his backup group. During spring of that year, Roulette released the track "Hot Pastrami with Mashed Potatoes," from the previously issued live album, as a two-part single; the record made the U.S. Top Forty
Top Forty
The Top Forty or Top 40 is a music industry shorthand for the currently most-popular songs in a particular genre. When used without qualification, it typically refers to the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music songs of the previous week...
. The company later released "Ya Ya" and "Fannie Mae" from the same album. During October and November 1963, The Starliters toured Europe, performing one extraordinary night in Stockholm with The Beatles (already the biggest band in Northern Europe) as their opening act! During 1964, Joey Dee toured with various Starliters including Cornish, Cavaliere, and Eddie Brigati. Other group members at different times included Jimi Hendrix, who toured with the group in late 1965 , Charles Neville, later of the Neville Brothers and, early in their history, Joe Pesci
Joe Pesci
Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks...
played guitar with the band.
Later history
Dee continued to record and issue solo recordings from the mid-1960s to the mid-1970s, as well a song he wrote with original Starliters David Brigati and Larry Vernieri entitled "How Can I Forget" during the late 1960s which was released under the name Joey Dee and The New Starliters. He continued to travel and make personal appearances with various Starliters.During 2001, the group was featured on a PBS special, Rock, Rhythm and Doo-Wop, and in 2005 they appeared on the Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis
Jerry Lewis is an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is best known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team of Martin and Lewis...
Telethon for Muscular Dystrophy
Muscular Dystrophy Association
The Muscular Dystrophy Association is an American organization which combats muscular dystrophy and diseases of the nervous system and muscular system in general by funding research, providing medical and community services, and educating health professionals and the general public...
.
As of 2009 Joey Dee and The Starliters consists of Dee sometimes performing with Bob Valli (brother of Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli
Frankie Valli is an American musician, most famous as frontman of The Four Seasons. He is well-known for his unusually powerful falsetto singing voice...
) and original Starliter David Brigati and at other times with the original Soul Survivors
Soul Survivors
Soul Survivors is a 2001 psychological thriller film starring Melissa Sagemiller as a college student named Cassie, whose boyfriend Sean died in a car accident that resulted from her driving after a night of partying...
Charlie and Richie Ingui, with the three singers taking the lead and performing their own hits as well as covers. Joey's son Ronnie DiNicola often plays saxophone and sings back up vocals for his father.
On Sunday September 19, 2010, Joey Dee and The Starliters have achieved a street corner dedicated to the band in their home town of Passaic NJ. The street signing took place on the corner of Washington Place and Columbia Ave.
Members
- Joey Dee - vocals (born Joseph DiNicola, June 11, 1940, PasaicPassaic, New JerseyPassaic is a city in Passaic County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city had a total population of 69,781, maintaining its status as the 15th largest municipality in New Jersey with an increase of 1,920 residents from the 2000 Census population of 67,861...
, New JerseyNew JerseyNew Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
) - David BrigatiDavid BrigatiDavid Brigati is an American singer.-Hi-Fives:David got his musical start as the lead singer of a doo-wop group known as the Hi-Fives. In 1958, the group recorded a number of songs on the Decca label. One of those recordings was entitled "Dorothy" and became a regional hit in the New York...
- vocals (born October 29, 1940, Garfield, New JerseyGarfield, New JerseyGarfield is a city in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was 30,487.When the area that is now Garfield was first developed in 1873, it was known as East Passaic. In 1881, the community's name was changed to Garfield in honor of...
) - Larry Vernieri - vocals (born 1941, Newark — died December 7, 1999)
- Carlton Lattimore - organ (born c. 1941, [Passaic)
- Willie Davis - drums (born c. 1940, Passaic)