Dean Parrish
Encyclopedia
Dean Parrish is an American
soul
singer
from New York
, best known for the song, "I'm On My Way", which became famous for being the last record
that was played at Northern Soul
all-nighters at the Wigan Casino
.
parents and was raised in Little Italy
, New York. He lived by the train lines in Brooklyn
. Anastasi sang second tenor
in a street corner doo-wop
group and attended the School of Industrial Arts. He was spotted by the same manager
who looked after The Mystics
and The Passions who tried to convince Anastasi to go from second tenor to lead/solo singer.
The Peppermint Lounge was New York's premier nightclub
in the very early 1960s. Anastasi frequented the establishment and would eventually appeared on the bill. On the advice of The Ronettes
lead singer Ronnie Spector
, he changed his name to Dean Parrish, and began his own recording
career in 1964.
He signed a recording contract
with the Laurie
record label
. Between 1964 and 1967 Parrish recorded for four major U.S.
labels Laurie, Warner Bros.
, Musicor Records
and Boom.
Parrish achieved some success with his soul singles
"I'm On My Way", "Tell Her", "Determination", "Skate" and "Bricks, Broken Bottles and Sticks". He toured on Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars
, appearing alongside such leading luminaries as Mitch Ryder
and the Detroit Wheels, The Capitols
and Lou Christie
; he even appeared on a Motown
revue bill with The Supremes
. However, his singing career began to fade.
In 1967 Parrish reverted to his original name, and became an actor
, who began to appear on television
and in film
s.
He kept his hand in musically by playing guitar
with Herbie Mann
, and sometimes as frontman for The Rosecrucians and Steeplechase. He worked as a session musician
with Jimi Hendrix
and Santana
in 1970, and played guitar with Bob Marley
in 1972.
The Northern soul
scene had taken a firm hold in the nightclubs of mid 1970s in the United Kingdom
where rare American soul music recordings were played. Parrish's recording of "I'm On My Way" came to the attention of Russ Winstanley
, a disc jockey
at the Wigan Casino
. He began playing the gramophone record
and it soon became one of the more popular records at the venue. It was re-released in 1975 on the UK Records
label, and sold around 200,000 copies. The track reached #38 in the UK Singles Chart
in February 1975. It has consequently gone on to sell over a million copies . Interest in Parrish's mid 1960s recording career began to gain in popularity but Parrish himself remained completely unaware of his popularity on the other side of the Atlantic
.
He had changed his name back to Phil Anastasi and no one had been able to track him, with his former U.S. US labels no longer in touch with him. However, in 2001, Parrish contacted Winstanley, and he made his first trip to the UK, some thirty years since his last concert
performance. Parrish found himself performing in front of thousands at a Prestatyn
, Wales
based Northern soul weekend. More trips to Europe followed as well as a growing number of acting roles.
Parrish met up with Paul Weller's guitarist and Ocean Colour Scene
member, Steve Cradock
. Craddock was a friend of Winstanely's and handed Parrish "Left Right and Centre", a song Weller had composed at the age of fifteen. Parrish recorded the song with Lord Large in 2006. Back in New York he recruited some of his old friends (including members of Santana) and came up with a new single, a cover version
of Timi Yuro
's, "It'll Never Be Over for Me", his first solo single for 41 years. His first ever album, Determination - The Northern Soul Sound of Dean Parrish, was due to be released in 2008.
Under the name 'Philip J. Anastasia', he appeared as an emcee in an episode of The Sopranos
.
I'm On My Way – The Dean Parrish Story was broadcast on Saturday 12 January 2008 on BBC Radio 2
. Billed as 'The Northern Soul star sold over one million records, but barely received a penny for his work. Pete Mitchell travels to New York to track down Parrish, revealing a remarkable story that takes in The Sopranos and Jimi Hendrix along the way.'
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
singer
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
from New York
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...
, best known for the song, "I'm On My Way", which became famous for being the last record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
that was played at Northern Soul
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...
all-nighters at the Wigan Casino
Wigan Casino
The Wigan Casino was a nightclub in Wigan, Lancashire, England. Operating between 1973 and 1981, it was known as a primary venue for northern soul music. It carried forward the legacy created by clubs such as the Twisted Wheel in Manchester and the Golden Torch in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent...
.
Career
Anastasi was born to Italian and SpanishSpanish people
The Spanish are citizens of the Kingdom of Spain. Within Spain, there are also a number of vigorous nationalisms and regionalisms, reflecting the country's complex history....
parents and was raised in Little Italy
Little Italy
Little Italy is a general name for an ethnic enclave populated primarily by Italians or people of Italian ancestry, usually in an urban neighborhood.-Canada:*Little Italy, Edmonton, in Alberta*Little Italy, Montreal, in Quebec...
, New York. He lived by the train lines in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. Anastasi sang second tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
in a street corner doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...
group and attended the School of Industrial Arts. He was spotted by the same manager
Management
Management in all business and organizational activities is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals and objectives using available resources efficiently and effectively...
who looked after The Mystics
The Mystics
The Mystics is an American rock and roll group that began in Brooklyn, New York, in the late 1950s. The group was known as The Overons, a quintet that, when signed to Laurie Records, consisted of Phil Cracolici , Albee Cracolici , George Galfo , Bob Ferrante , and Al Contrera...
and The Passions who tried to convince Anastasi to go from second tenor to lead/solo singer.
The Peppermint Lounge was New York's premier nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
in the very early 1960s. Anastasi frequented the establishment and would eventually appeared on the bill. On the advice of 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...
lead singer Ronnie Spector
Ronnie Spector
Veronica Yvette "Ronnie" Spector is an American rock and roll and popular music vocalist, and was the lead singer of the 1960s hit-making girl group, The Ronettes, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. She is known as the "original bad girl of rock and roll."-Personal...
, he changed his name to Dean Parrish, and began his own recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
career in 1964.
He signed a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
with the Laurie
Laurie Records
Laurie Records was a record label started in 1958 by Gene Schwartz and Allan I. Sussel. Sussel was a multi-millionaire whose earlier record company, Jamie Records , had been unsuccessful. As a result, Sussel joined forces with Schwartz to found Laurie Records, this time named after his other...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. Between 1964 and 1967 Parrish recorded for four major U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
labels Laurie, Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Bros. Records Inc. is an American record label. It was the foundation label of the present-day Warner Music Group, and now operates as a wholly owned subsidiary of that corporation. It maintains a close relationship with its former parent, Warner Bros. Pictures, although the two companies...
, Musicor Records
Musicor Records
Musicor Records was a New York City based record label, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The label was founded by songwriter Aaron Schroeder and distributed by United Artists Records...
and Boom.
Parrish achieved some success with his soul singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"I'm On My Way", "Tell Her", "Determination", "Skate" and "Bricks, Broken Bottles and Sticks". He toured on Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars
Caravan of Stars
In 1959, Dick Clark formed the Caravan of Stars, a road show featuring some of the most popular stars and musical groups of the day. Chubby Checker, Duane Eddy, Bobby Darin, Fabian, Buddy Holly, Annette Funicello and Bo Diddley toured with the Caravan...
, appearing alongside such leading luminaries as Mitch Ryder
Mitch Ryder
William S. Levise, Jr , better known by his stage name Mitch Ryder, is an American musician who has recorded over two dozen albums in more than four decades.-Career:...
and the Detroit Wheels, The Capitols
The Capitols
The Capitols were a Detroit, Michigan-based soul trio widely known in the late 1960s for their Billboard hit single "Cool Jerk".-Formation and Disbandment:...
and Lou Christie
Lou Christie
Luigi Alfredo Giovanni Sacco , known professionally as Lou Christie, is an American singer-songwriter best known for three separate strings of pop hits in the 1960s , including his 1966 smash, "Lightnin' Strikes" and his incredible 3 octave vocal range.-Biography:Sacco was born in Glenwillard,...
; he even appeared on a Motown
Motown Records
Motown is a record label originally founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, United States, on April 14, 1960. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, is also a nickname for Detroit...
revue bill with The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
. However, his singing career began to fade.
In 1967 Parrish reverted to his original name, and became an actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, who began to appear on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and in film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s.
He kept his hand in musically by playing guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
with Herbie Mann
Herbie Mann
Herbert Jay Solomon , better known as Herbie Mann, was a Jewish American jazz flutist and important early practitioner of world music...
, and sometimes as frontman for The Rosecrucians and Steeplechase. He worked as a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
with Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix
James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix was an American guitarist and singer-songwriter...
and Santana
Santana (band)
Santana is a rock band based around guitarist Carlos Santana and founded in the late 1960s. It first came to public attention after their performing the song "Soul Sacrifice" at the Woodstock Festival in 1969, when their Latin rock provided a contrast to other acts on the bill...
in 1970, and played guitar with Bob Marley
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta "Bob" Marley, OM was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and musician. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead singer for the ska, rocksteady and reggae band Bob Marley & The Wailers...
in 1972.
The Northern soul
Northern soul
Northern soul is a music and dance movement that emerged from the British mod scene, initially in northern England in the late 1960s. Northern soul mainly consists of a particular style of black American soul music based on the heavy beat and fast tempo of the mid-1960s Tamla Motown sound...
scene had taken a firm hold in the nightclubs of mid 1970s in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
where rare American soul music recordings were played. Parrish's recording of "I'm On My Way" came to the attention of Russ Winstanley
Russ Winstanley
Russ Winstanley born October 1952 is an English DJ, originating from the Beech Hill area Wigan, Greater Manchester. He is best known for his championing of Northern Soul music, most famously when he founded the Wigan Casino in 1973 in his hometown. Since its closure in 1981, Russ has still been...
, a disc jockey
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
at the Wigan Casino
Wigan Casino
The Wigan Casino was a nightclub in Wigan, Lancashire, England. Operating between 1973 and 1981, it was known as a primary venue for northern soul music. It carried forward the legacy created by clubs such as the Twisted Wheel in Manchester and the Golden Torch in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent...
. He began playing the gramophone record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
and it soon became one of the more popular records at the venue. It was re-released in 1975 on the UK Records
UK Records
UK Records was launched in 1972 by Jonathan King to distribute his own releases and some other artists. The abbreviation UK stands for "United King". The label was distributed at first by Decca Records and, after 1976, by PolyGram...
label, and sold around 200,000 copies. The track reached #38 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in February 1975. It has consequently gone on to sell over a million copies . Interest in Parrish's mid 1960s recording career began to gain in popularity but Parrish himself remained completely unaware of his popularity on the other side of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
.
He had changed his name back to Phil Anastasi and no one had been able to track him, with his former U.S. US labels no longer in touch with him. However, in 2001, Parrish contacted Winstanley, and he made his first trip to the UK, some thirty years since his last concert
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
performance. Parrish found himself performing in front of thousands at a Prestatyn
Prestatyn
Prestatyn is a seaside resort, town and community in Denbighshire, North Wales. It is located on the Irish Sea coast, to the east of Rhyl. At the 2001 Census, Prestatyn had a population of 18,496.-Prehistory:...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
based Northern soul weekend. More trips to Europe followed as well as a growing number of acting roles.
Parrish met up with Paul Weller's guitarist and Ocean Colour Scene
Ocean Colour Scene
Ocean Colour Scene are an English Britpop band formed in Moseley, Birmingham in 1989. They have had five Top 10 albums and six Top 10 singles to date.-Early days :...
member, Steve Cradock
Steve Cradock
Steve Cradock is an English guitarist, most notable for playing in the rock group Ocean Colour Scene. Cradock is also the second guitarist in Paul Weller's band, having appeared on all of Weller's solo records following Weller's self titled debut album.He is a distinctive guitarist, who has a...
. Craddock was a friend of Winstanely's and handed Parrish "Left Right and Centre", a song Weller had composed at the age of fifteen. Parrish recorded the song with Lord Large in 2006. Back in New York he recruited some of his old friends (including members of Santana) and came up with a new single, a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Timi Yuro
Timi Yuro
Timi Yuro was an American soul and R&B singer. She is considered to be one of the first blue-eyed soul stylists of the rock era.-Early years:...
's, "It'll Never Be Over for Me", his first solo single for 41 years. His first ever album, Determination - The Northern Soul Sound of Dean Parrish, was due to be released in 2008.
Under the name 'Philip J. Anastasia', he appeared as an emcee in an episode of The Sopranos
The Sopranos
The Sopranos is an American television drama series created by David Chase that revolves around the New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano and the difficulties he faces as he tries to balance the often conflicting requirements of his home life and the criminal organization he heads...
.
I'm On My Way – The Dean Parrish Story was broadcast on Saturday 12 January 2008 on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
. Billed as 'The Northern Soul star sold over one million records, but barely received a penny for his work. Pete Mitchell travels to New York to track down Parrish, revealing a remarkable story that takes in The Sopranos and Jimi Hendrix along the way.'