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Lee Dorsey

Lee Dorsey

27 articles

Audio interviews

Lee Dorsey (1980)

Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages audio, Summer 1980

Interviewed at New Orleans' legendary Sea-Saint studio, Dorsey talks about his recent motorbike crash, then looks back at his first hit, 'Ya Ya', and his subsequent recording career; keeping his automobile repair shop; touring Europe; his recent tour with the Clash; recording with producer Allen Toussaint; his Yes We Can and Night People albums, and the advantages of having a decent road band.

File format: mp3; file size: 29.5mb, interview length: 30' 43" sound quality: ***

List of articles in the library

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Marshall Sehorn Joins Constellation

Report by uncredited writer, Billboard, 14 March 1964

CHICAGO — Marshall Sehorn, head of his own Seahorn label, last week joined Constellation Records here in a move that brings three strong pop artists ...

Lee Dorsey: Lee's Back — Thanks To The Talented Mister Toussaint

Interview by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 30 April 1966

YOU PROBABLY first heard of Lee Dorsey after you asked the DJ what that record was he just played with the gun banging in it. ...

Lee Dorsey: Things You Don't Know About Lee

Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 30 April 1966

FOR A LONG time Lee Dorsey has been the golden boy of the in-most R&B hippies. His first couple of American hits were 'Ya Ya' ...

Lee Dorsey: Panel-Beating Gave Him Rhythm

Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 September 1966

LEE DORSEY is a small, flyweight ex-boxer who always looks as if he doesn't know where his next dime is coming from. ...

Lee Dorsey: Rhythm 'n' Roll

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 29 October 1966

Lee Dorsey and Marshal Sehorn talk about their definition of soul… ...

Lee Dorsey: The New Lee Dorsey (Stateside)

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 7 January 1967

IN CASE you were wondering, the old Lee Dorsey was a boxer. There's nothing new about his music — it's groovy, no messing American pop ...

Beatle Blind Date: Paul McCartney reviews the new pop singles

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 25 February 1967

LEE DORSEY: 'Rain Rain Go Away' (Stateside) Lee Dorsey. It's in the same old vein and it'll be a hit. Sometimes I wonder if he ...

This Week's Singles: The Kinks, Jimi Hendrix, Beach Boys et al

Review by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 6 May 1967

SUBTLE KINKS HEADING FOR CHART SUCCESS ...

Singles from Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, Aretha Franklin, Lee Dorsey and Stevie Wonder

Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 21 October 1967

MARVIN GAYE AND TAMMI TERRELL: 'Your Precious Love'; 'Hold Me Oh My Darling' (Tamla Motown TMG 625). What a beautiful record this is. A medium-pace, ...

Soul Explosion! Lee Dorsey

Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 11 November 1967

LEE DORSEY is a very interesting looking singer. He looks like a brown Bing Crosby and the effect of Lee's new teeth (which he pointed ...

Made in New Orleans: Record Production Techniques and the Land Of Dreams

Overview by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 24 May 1969

THERE WAS a time, not so long ago, when almost all the writing about popular music was descriptive or informative. ...

Lee Dorsey: Yes We Can (Polydor)

Review by Charlie Gillett, Cream, May 1971

LEE DORSEY's one of the easiest singers to underestimate: he seems to be completely unassuming, apparently equally prepared to sing good blues like 'Get Out ...

Behind the Scenes with Harold Battiste

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 9 July 1971

FREQUENTLY, we receive letters from readers' asking us to write about the people behind the scenes in our music. For example, the features we did ...

Marshall Sehorn: The Night They Drove Lee Dorsey Down...

Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 12 April 1975

MARSHALL SEHORN had to get him out of jail. ROGER ST. PIERRE raps to one of the mainmen of New Orleans soul. ...

Mardi Gras in New Orleans (Mardi Gras MG 1001); New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival 1976 (Island 1SLD 9424)

Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 28 July 1977

IN NEW Orleans it is easier to perceive an American musical tradition than anywhere else; the city is the fount not just of jazz, but ...

The Meat And The Motion

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 15 April 1978

Allen Toussaint: Motion (Warner Brothers Import)Lee Dorsey: Night People (ABC) ...

Lee Dorsey: Night People (ABC AA-1048)

Review by Joe McEwen, Rolling Stone, 4 May 1978

DECAY AND decline are never simple in pop music. Take New Orleans R&B as a case in point. A once-flourishing scene had just about sputtered ...

New Orleans R&B Hits The Club Lingerie

Report and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 15 January 1984

Bill Bentley and Harold Battiste hope to trigger renewed local interest in New Orleans music at Club Lingerie. ...

Lee Dorsey: Club Lingerie, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 23 January 1984

DORSEY'S NEW ORLEANS R&B SOUL ...

Lee Dorsey: Holy Cow!

Review by Don Snowden, The Boston Phoenix, 20 August 1985

SOME PEOPLE MAY cherish Holy Cow! (Arista) for making readily available a single-volume collection of Lee Dorsey's irresistible, sublimely lazy '60s hits like ‘Ya Ya’ ...

Lee Dorsey 1924-1986

Obituary by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, January 1987

LEE DORSEY, who died on December 1st, 1986, after a long and brave struggle against cancer and emphysema, will be best remembered in the UK ...

Lee Dorsey: Why Isn't This Man in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?

Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, Oxford American, July 1998

NO SINGER in the Big Easy had a more easygoing manner than Lee Dorsey. The rhythms behind him could be wickedly syncopated (they usually were), ...

Lee Dorsey

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 24 December 1924, Portland, Oregon, USA, d. 2 December 1986, New Orleans, Louisiana ...

Lee Dorsey: The New Lee Dorsey

Sleeve notes by Tim Tooher, Rev-Ola Records, December 2009

"Lee Dorsey's voice has a smile to it. If you listen to Lee Dorsey, you can see a smile and something in you can feel ...

Lee Dorsey: The Star in Greasy Overalls

Retrospective by Gavin Martin, Record Collector, October 2011

IT'S 1980; six years before Lee Dorsey's unexpected death, but his recording career is already over. What will prove to be his last album, Night ...

New Orleans Funk Volume Three (Soul Jazz Records)

Review by John Doran, The Quietus, 13 November 2013

Note: Contains Spoilers for the HBO TV show Treme ...

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