Leonard George DeStoppelaire (January 5, 1923 – February 12, 2006), better known as Lenny Dee, was a virtuoso organist who played many styles of music. His record albums were among the most popular of easy listening and space age pop organists of the 1950s through the early 1970s. His signature hit, Plantation Boogie, charted as a Top 20 hit in 1955. He also had a gold record with 1970's Spinning Wheel.
Dee played a variety of songs in numerous styles. He played original compositions, popular songs, and novelty tunes, and was a master of improvisation. Although his unique style was a pop/boogie-woogie blend, he also played ballads, country and western, jazz, rock, and patriotic songs.
Biography
Early years
Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1923, Dee was an only child (though it is sometimes erroneously reported that he was one of eleven or twelve children). As a child, he sang in his church's choir; he also played ukulele, banjo and accordion. As a teenager, he turned playing the accordion into a profession in his uncle's quartet, which he continued until he volunteered into the Navy during World War II in 1943.
Provided to YouTube by The state51 Conspiracy
Chicken in the Rough · Lenny Dee
The Lenny Dee Show
℗ 2015 TP4 Music
Released on: 2001-09-20
Auto-generated by YouTube.
published: 10 Jun 2016
Lenny DEE in Nashville
It was not until the early 1950s that Dee was signed up to Decca after country singer Red Foley heard him playing at the Plantation Inn in Nashville, Tennessee, and thought Dee's unique sound would be a good contrast to the label's then prominent organist, Ethel Smith.
Dee made good, and his original composition, Plantation Boogie charted at #18 in 1955. Dee re-recorded the hit on numerous albums, and was often imitated, even plagiarized, but never duplicated. Dee wrote 'Chicken in the Rough', and recorded the song as a duet with saxophonist, Boots Randolph. The uncanny similarity of 'Yakety Sax' to Dee's 'Chicken in the Rough" is often noted.
Dee ventured into recording albums for Decca starting in 1954 with his first LP, Dee-lightful. Part of Dee's charm was his albums' zany covers fea...
published: 10 Feb 2018
Almost Ready Teaser: Dee Slut
Dave "Dee Slut" Turgeon of The Sluts shares his thoughts on Ian MacKaye.
from Almost Ready: the Story of Punk Rock in New Orleans
facebook.com/almostreadymovie
published: 15 Aug 2018
Smith's Square Chrisps
An Award winning Commercial from 1982 with Lenny Henry
Provided to YouTube by The state51 Conspiracy
Chicken in the Rough · Lenny Dee
The Lenny Dee Show
℗ 2015 TP4 Music
Released on: 2001-09-20
Auto-generated b...
Provided to YouTube by The state51 Conspiracy
Chicken in the Rough · Lenny Dee
The Lenny Dee Show
℗ 2015 TP4 Music
Released on: 2001-09-20
Auto-generated by YouTube.
Provided to YouTube by The state51 Conspiracy
Chicken in the Rough · Lenny Dee
The Lenny Dee Show
℗ 2015 TP4 Music
Released on: 2001-09-20
Auto-generated by YouTube.
It was not until the early 1950s that Dee was signed up to Decca after country singer Red Foley heard him playing at the Plantation Inn in Nashville, Tennessee,...
It was not until the early 1950s that Dee was signed up to Decca after country singer Red Foley heard him playing at the Plantation Inn in Nashville, Tennessee, and thought Dee's unique sound would be a good contrast to the label's then prominent organist, Ethel Smith.
Dee made good, and his original composition, Plantation Boogie charted at #18 in 1955. Dee re-recorded the hit on numerous albums, and was often imitated, even plagiarized, but never duplicated. Dee wrote 'Chicken in the Rough', and recorded the song as a duet with saxophonist, Boots Randolph. The uncanny similarity of 'Yakety Sax' to Dee's 'Chicken in the Rough" is often noted.
Dee ventured into recording albums for Decca starting in 1954 with his first LP, Dee-lightful. Part of Dee's charm was his albums' zany covers featuring Dee in various situations, and titles with puns that usually included his name, such as Dee-Lirious, Dee-Licious, and Dee-Most! His recordings featured organ with other instruments that were produced by Owen Bradley and developed into the Nashville sound and country pop of the 1970s and 1980s. He was nearly always backed by percussion; depending on the song, he also recorded with guitar legends, Les Paul and Chet Atkins; bass; a backup chorus; strings; horns such as saxophones, trombones, trumpets; and even the banjo. Dee played various instruments, and was highly influential in the history of organs and keyboards. Dee was recognized for his contribution to the field of music by Time Life for what Dee described as "bringing the organ out of the church and into mainstream music".
When Dee married his second wife, Hendrica, in 1960, the couple settled down in Sarasota and eventually St. Petersburg, Florida, which would become the base of Lenny's operations for the rest of his career. They had two children: Raymond and Georgia. Lenny Dee Jr., his drummer, was one of three children from his first marriage (Betty), daughters are Barbara and Linda.
Despite his contract with Decca, Lenny Dee's first love was live performance. Dee loved people and he loved to entertain them with music and laughter. Dee was a show man and a performer. In the mid-1950s he performed for several summers at the Lake Breeze Hotel lounge, at Buckeye Lake, just east of Columbus, Ohio. Around 1960, he played for a few years at a lounge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. During the 1960s and 70s, St. Petersburg Beach was a popular vacation destination, complete with an early theme park and a few luxury resorts. In 1967, after performing regularly at Davy Jones Locker, and later in hotel super clubs at St. Petersburg Beach like the Desert Ranch and Dolphin Beach resorts, Dee started his own up-scale supper club, named Lenny Dee's Dolphin Den. He held two shows each night with full bands playing dancing music between shows, and he packed the supper club nightly. Dee was a significant attraction to St. Petersburg Beach for decades. In the 1980s, he later opened Lenny Dee's King's Inn a few miles away. His supper club format — with dinner, drinks, opening acts and his musical and his comedy routines — was popular with local fans and visitors from around the world. The supper club's menu included the "One Pound Pork Chop," along with other high-end steak house selections
Music, Art, Film, Authors, History, Transportation and the Sciences http://www.sherwayacademy.ca
It was not until the early 1950s that Dee was signed up to Decca after country singer Red Foley heard him playing at the Plantation Inn in Nashville, Tennessee, and thought Dee's unique sound would be a good contrast to the label's then prominent organist, Ethel Smith.
Dee made good, and his original composition, Plantation Boogie charted at #18 in 1955. Dee re-recorded the hit on numerous albums, and was often imitated, even plagiarized, but never duplicated. Dee wrote 'Chicken in the Rough', and recorded the song as a duet with saxophonist, Boots Randolph. The uncanny similarity of 'Yakety Sax' to Dee's 'Chicken in the Rough" is often noted.
Dee ventured into recording albums for Decca starting in 1954 with his first LP, Dee-lightful. Part of Dee's charm was his albums' zany covers featuring Dee in various situations, and titles with puns that usually included his name, such as Dee-Lirious, Dee-Licious, and Dee-Most! His recordings featured organ with other instruments that were produced by Owen Bradley and developed into the Nashville sound and country pop of the 1970s and 1980s. He was nearly always backed by percussion; depending on the song, he also recorded with guitar legends, Les Paul and Chet Atkins; bass; a backup chorus; strings; horns such as saxophones, trombones, trumpets; and even the banjo. Dee played various instruments, and was highly influential in the history of organs and keyboards. Dee was recognized for his contribution to the field of music by Time Life for what Dee described as "bringing the organ out of the church and into mainstream music".
When Dee married his second wife, Hendrica, in 1960, the couple settled down in Sarasota and eventually St. Petersburg, Florida, which would become the base of Lenny's operations for the rest of his career. They had two children: Raymond and Georgia. Lenny Dee Jr., his drummer, was one of three children from his first marriage (Betty), daughters are Barbara and Linda.
Despite his contract with Decca, Lenny Dee's first love was live performance. Dee loved people and he loved to entertain them with music and laughter. Dee was a show man and a performer. In the mid-1950s he performed for several summers at the Lake Breeze Hotel lounge, at Buckeye Lake, just east of Columbus, Ohio. Around 1960, he played for a few years at a lounge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. During the 1960s and 70s, St. Petersburg Beach was a popular vacation destination, complete with an early theme park and a few luxury resorts. In 1967, after performing regularly at Davy Jones Locker, and later in hotel super clubs at St. Petersburg Beach like the Desert Ranch and Dolphin Beach resorts, Dee started his own up-scale supper club, named Lenny Dee's Dolphin Den. He held two shows each night with full bands playing dancing music between shows, and he packed the supper club nightly. Dee was a significant attraction to St. Petersburg Beach for decades. In the 1980s, he later opened Lenny Dee's King's Inn a few miles away. His supper club format — with dinner, drinks, opening acts and his musical and his comedy routines — was popular with local fans and visitors from around the world. The supper club's menu included the "One Pound Pork Chop," along with other high-end steak house selections
Music, Art, Film, Authors, History, Transportation and the Sciences http://www.sherwayacademy.ca
Dave "Dee Slut" Turgeon of The Sluts shares his thoughts on Ian MacKaye.
from Almost Ready: the Story of Punk Rock in New Orleans
facebook.com/almostreadymovie...
Dave "Dee Slut" Turgeon of The Sluts shares his thoughts on Ian MacKaye.
from Almost Ready: the Story of Punk Rock in New Orleans
facebook.com/almostreadymovie
Dave "Dee Slut" Turgeon of The Sluts shares his thoughts on Ian MacKaye.
from Almost Ready: the Story of Punk Rock in New Orleans
facebook.com/almostreadymovie
Provided to YouTube by The state51 Conspiracy
Chicken in the Rough · Lenny Dee
The Lenny Dee Show
℗ 2015 TP4 Music
Released on: 2001-09-20
Auto-generated by YouTube.
It was not until the early 1950s that Dee was signed up to Decca after country singer Red Foley heard him playing at the Plantation Inn in Nashville, Tennessee, and thought Dee's unique sound would be a good contrast to the label's then prominent organist, Ethel Smith.
Dee made good, and his original composition, Plantation Boogie charted at #18 in 1955. Dee re-recorded the hit on numerous albums, and was often imitated, even plagiarized, but never duplicated. Dee wrote 'Chicken in the Rough', and recorded the song as a duet with saxophonist, Boots Randolph. The uncanny similarity of 'Yakety Sax' to Dee's 'Chicken in the Rough" is often noted.
Dee ventured into recording albums for Decca starting in 1954 with his first LP, Dee-lightful. Part of Dee's charm was his albums' zany covers featuring Dee in various situations, and titles with puns that usually included his name, such as Dee-Lirious, Dee-Licious, and Dee-Most! His recordings featured organ with other instruments that were produced by Owen Bradley and developed into the Nashville sound and country pop of the 1970s and 1980s. He was nearly always backed by percussion; depending on the song, he also recorded with guitar legends, Les Paul and Chet Atkins; bass; a backup chorus; strings; horns such as saxophones, trombones, trumpets; and even the banjo. Dee played various instruments, and was highly influential in the history of organs and keyboards. Dee was recognized for his contribution to the field of music by Time Life for what Dee described as "bringing the organ out of the church and into mainstream music".
When Dee married his second wife, Hendrica, in 1960, the couple settled down in Sarasota and eventually St. Petersburg, Florida, which would become the base of Lenny's operations for the rest of his career. They had two children: Raymond and Georgia. Lenny Dee Jr., his drummer, was one of three children from his first marriage (Betty), daughters are Barbara and Linda.
Despite his contract with Decca, Lenny Dee's first love was live performance. Dee loved people and he loved to entertain them with music and laughter. Dee was a show man and a performer. In the mid-1950s he performed for several summers at the Lake Breeze Hotel lounge, at Buckeye Lake, just east of Columbus, Ohio. Around 1960, he played for a few years at a lounge in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. During the 1960s and 70s, St. Petersburg Beach was a popular vacation destination, complete with an early theme park and a few luxury resorts. In 1967, after performing regularly at Davy Jones Locker, and later in hotel super clubs at St. Petersburg Beach like the Desert Ranch and Dolphin Beach resorts, Dee started his own up-scale supper club, named Lenny Dee's Dolphin Den. He held two shows each night with full bands playing dancing music between shows, and he packed the supper club nightly. Dee was a significant attraction to St. Petersburg Beach for decades. In the 1980s, he later opened Lenny Dee's King's Inn a few miles away. His supper club format — with dinner, drinks, opening acts and his musical and his comedy routines — was popular with local fans and visitors from around the world. The supper club's menu included the "One Pound Pork Chop," along with other high-end steak house selections
Music, Art, Film, Authors, History, Transportation and the Sciences http://www.sherwayacademy.ca
Dave "Dee Slut" Turgeon of The Sluts shares his thoughts on Ian MacKaye.
from Almost Ready: the Story of Punk Rock in New Orleans
facebook.com/almostreadymovie
Leonard George DeStoppelaire (January 5, 1923 – February 12, 2006), better known as Lenny Dee, was a virtuoso organist who played many styles of music. His record albums were among the most popular of easy listening and space age pop organists of the 1950s through the early 1970s. His signature hit, Plantation Boogie, charted as a Top 20 hit in 1955. He also had a gold record with 1970's Spinning Wheel.
Dee played a variety of songs in numerous styles. He played original compositions, popular songs, and novelty tunes, and was a master of improvisation. Although his unique style was a pop/boogie-woogie blend, he also played ballads, country and western, jazz, rock, and patriotic songs.
Biography
Early years
Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1923, Dee was an only child (though it is sometimes erroneously reported that he was one of eleven or twelve children). As a child, he sang in his church's choir; he also played ukulele, banjo and accordion. As a teenager, he turned playing the accordion into a profession in his uncle's quartet, which he continued until he volunteered into the Navy during World War II in 1943.