Dickey Lee

by John BushCountry songwriter Dickey Lee began his career recording for the Sun label. He was born Dickey Lipscomb on September 21, 1936, in Memphis and began playing in a band while in high school. The group won several talent shows, earning them a spot on a local radio station. Deejay Dewey Phillips convinced Sun Records to sign Dickey Lee, so the singer recorded two singles in 1957, "Good Lovin'" and "Fool, Fool, Fool." Neither did especially well, so he moved to Texas and continued to play. Dickey Lee finally hit the big time in early 1962 when George Jones took his song "She Thinks I Still Care" to the top of the country charts, where it stayed for six weeks. The record became one of Jones' biggest hits and also hit number one when Anne Murray recorded it in 1974.
On the wings of Jones, Lee's "Patches" hit number six on the pop charts in August 1962; "I Saw Linda Yesterday" entered the same year and ended up at number 14 early in 1963. Lee recorded one other pop hit, 1965's "Laurie (Strange Things Happen)," but then focused strictly on production and songwriting during the late '60s. Persuaded to return to Nashville in 1969, he signed to RCA and in 1971 recorded a modest hit called "The Mahogany Pulpit." Dickey Lee's next single, "Never Ending Song of Love," crashed the country Top Ten in late 1971 and eventually reached number eight. He continued to record over the course of the '70s, usually peaking in the Top 30s and 40s except for two massive hits -- "Rocky," which topped the charts in 1975, and its number three follow-up, "9,999,999 Tears."
Lee stayed with RCA until 1978 and re-emerged on Mercury a year later. His two highlights during the Mercury years were Top 30 singles from 1980, "Workin' My Way to Your Heart" and "Lost in Love." The latter, a duet with Kathy Burdick, became a pop hit for Air Supply the same year. After his contract expired, Lee continued to write songs and perform on occasional package shows.