Derrick Trought (born 1956), better known as Dee Sharp, is a British

lovers rock Lovers rock is a style of reggae music noted for its romantic sound and content. While love songs had been an important part of reggae since the late 1960s, the style was given a greater focus and a name in London in the mid-1970s.Larkin, Col ...

singer who began his recording career in 1980, also joining Buzzz as lead singer for a time.

Biography

Sharp was born Derrick Trought in London in 1956. Sharp's debut single, a version of Leo Hall's "Let's Dub It Up", released in 1980, was the first release by Fashion Records, and topped the reggae charts in the UK.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) ''The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn.'', Rough Guides, , p. 396-7Larkin, Colin (1998) "Sharp, Dee" in ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae'', Virgin Books, , p. 265 He followed this with "Swing and Dine"/"Follow Your Heart", which was also successful, and Sharp became established as one of the leading artists of the British lovers rock scene. In 1981 he joined the

Brit funk Brit funk (or Britfunk) is a musical style that has its origins in the British music scene of the late 1970s and which remained popular into the 1980s. It mixes elements from jazz, funk, soul, urban dance rhythms and pop hooks. The scene origina ...

group Buzzz as lead singer, the band signing to

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Group Corporation. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records (its former longtime rival), Arista Records and Epic R ...

and appearing on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

television show ''Ebony''. The group were moderately successful and Sharp was the cover star for the 31 July 1982 issue of ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

''. Sharp left the band in 1982 and resumed his solo career, having further local reggae hits in 1983 with "Rising to the Top" and "Give It All You've Got". In 1984 he contributed a rap to

Nick Heyward Nicholas Heyward (born 20 May 1961) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He came to international attention in the early 1980s as the lead singer and songwriter for Haircut One Hundred. He and the band parted ways after their first al ...

's song "Warning Sign", performing with Heyward on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

''. He continued to record and perform both reggae and

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

into the 1990s.''Blues & Soul'', Issues 538–551, p. 24

Discography

Singles

*"Let's Dub It Up" (1980),

Fashion Fashion is a term used interchangeably to describe the creation of clothing, footwear, Fashion accessory, accessories, cosmetics, and jewellery of different cultural aesthetics and their mix and match into Clothing, outfits that depict distinct ...

*"Swing and Dine"/"Follow Your Heart" (1980), Fashion *"Magician" (1983),

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

*"Take Your Time" *"Straighten Up and Fly Right" (1983), RCA *"Rising to the Top" (1983), Fashion *"Give It All You've Got" (1983) *"Moon Dance" (1987), Syncopate

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sharp, Dee 1956 births Living people British reggae musicians Lovers rock musicians British reggae singers