It's Mashed Potato Time

Born Dione LaRue in Philadelphia on September 9, 1945. Dee Dee began singing at church at a young age in her grandfather's choir. Like other teenagers at that time, she had her little girl groups but nothing happen with them, and the ones that stayed they didn't follow through with it, so she decided it'll be better for her to sing on her own. In 1961 she was hired as a background singer by the city's Cameo Parkway label. They also named her "Dee Dee Sharp", because they wanted a name that would stand out, they didn't like her birth name "Dione LaRue" because they thought that name was boring. They thought a name had a lot to do with the music. Here she met her friend and partner "Chubby Checker" and they song together, such as "Slow Twistin'" in 1962. The same year she signed as an artist with the label, scoring with three American dance hits "Mashed Potato Time", "Gravy", and "Ride!". In the UK "Do The Bird' reached the Top 50 in 1963. After a final "dance" record "Let's Twine" in 1965, Dee Dee settled into soul/r&b, releasing "Standing In The Need Of Love" in 1965 and "I Really Love You" in 1966. In 1967 she settled down and married her long-time boyfriend "Kenny Gamble" the famous singer/songwriter/producer and partners with Leon Huff that made Philadelphia deliver great music. She continued to sing at her label, but they didn't sell well. In 1975 she decided to sign to her husband's label, the Philadelphia International label as "Dee Dee Sharp Gamble". Here her albums were "Happy Bout' The Whole Thing" in 1975, including "Ooh Child" and "Touch My Life"; "What Colour Is Love" in 1977, including "I Believe In Love" and "I Wanna Be Your Woman"; and "Dee Dee" in 1980, including one of her last hits "I Love You Anyway" and "Easy Money".

Dee Dee Sharp had a beautiful, angelic voice. She was best known for her "dance music", she didn't really like singing it but "dance music" was very popular at the time and she wanted to please her fans. No one could ever sing "Mashed Potato" quite like her, many have tried to copy her but failed. Her and "Chubby Checker" were great friends and they did a lot of "Dance Duets" together. Every dance song that came out, her label had her do her version of the song. No one really remembered her but for only her "dance music", which she didn't like, but she wanted to sing what she loved soul/r&b. She gave wonderful performances, whenever she did shows and song the "Mashed Potato" she would kick her heels off and hike her skirt off and start dancing, that would drive the audiences crazy and that would have the audiences on their seats dancing like Dee Dee. Dee Dee Sharp wanted to settle into soul/r&b music, it wasn't that good for her and it didn't sell as well as her "dance music". Dee Dee was great friends with a lot of the other female soul singers such as "Patti Labelle", "Mary Wilson", "Diana Ross", and many others. She was also a hit with the guys. Around 1964 or 1965, she met up with Kenny Gamble and they started to date, he knew when he saw her that she had to be his. Guys flirted with her all the time, which made Kenny Gamble jealous, and any guy that flirted with her, he would try to beat up. Here's a story of many. The Temptations were on the same bill as Dee Dee was in Uptown Philadelphia, and "David Ruffin" thought she was cute and he would flirt with her, which Dee Dee liked it. Dee Dee and David became friends. When Kenny Gamble found out one day what was happening, he had some guys go along with him to "jump" him after the show. But "Otis Williams" didn't let that happen, he told him that he could get some guys to come up there to and fight, he wasn't going to let him jump him. Nothing happen of it, they made up. That was the end of Dee Dee's and David's friendship. Her and Kenny continue to date and they married in 1967, he ehlped his wife music career by helping write songs and help her get more gigs and shows. They divorced around in the 80s. Some people have said that she dated the famous boxer Muhammad Ali, I don't know if that's true or not, but I heard it a lot through out my life. Today, Dee Dee doesn't do much tv shows or oldies shows, she spends most of her time singing in church and helping out with the choir, she also helps form organizations for kids so they have somewhere to come after school so they won't have to get into trouble after school, there they learn how to do stuff, learn skills and help them be somebody. The last time she was seen was on a oldies show on tv, she was on with other oldies singers from the 50s and 60s. She was talking about her career and singing.