- Sam Dees
Sam Dees (born
December 17 ,1945 inBirmingham, Alabama USA) is a soul singer, songwriter and producer.Dees was born into a large family and quickly distinguished himself with his voice. At the age of 9, already champion of several singing contests, he founded his own vocal group, the "Bossanovians". As a teenager he traveled to perform and, in 1968 he recorded his first single at
Nashville, Tennessee 's SSS International. He put out his next few singles on Birmingham-based Lolo Records. At the same time he was beginning to earn respect as a writer and producer.Chess Records producer Lenny Sachs gave him an opportunity to self-produce two singles on the Chess label, which Dees recorded in a former church in Birmingham. From there he began recording for Atlantic, which released his landmark album "The Show Must Go On" in 1975.Since then, Dees recording career moved to the back burner while he wrote hits for other singers, such as "Am I Dreaming" (
Atlantic Starr ), "One in a Million You" (Larry Graham ), "Save the Overtime (For Me)" (Gladys Knight ), "Love All the Hurt Away" (George Benson andAretha Franklin ), and "Lover for Life" (Whitney Houston ). He released a solo single titled "After All" in 1989, but it only peaked at #95 in the UK.Dees continues to write and produce. He released recordings on his own Pen Pad label and also recorded for Ardent Records in England - "not" to be confused with
Ardent Records of Memphis, Tennessee. Another English label,Kent Records , has released early unissued recordings which earned high reviews in the European market.Other previously unissued recordings from the early 1970s are planned for release by
Selecta Records whose parent companyMillbrand Music control the copyrights to many of Sam's early songs.His song ‘Lonely for you baby’ was used and referenced in the cult British surf movie,
Blue Juice .External links
* *amg | id = 11:op8j1v7jzzua | label = Sam Dees
* [http://www.sdees.com/ Sam Dees] website (under development)
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