Royden Dickey Lipscomb (born September 21, 1936), known professionally as Dickey Lee (sometimes misspelled Dickie or Dicky), is an American pop/

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

singer and songwriter, best known for the 1960s

teenage tragedy song A teenage tragedy song is a style of ballad in popular music that peaked in popularity in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Examples of the style are also known as "tear jerkers", "death discs" or "splatter platters", among other colorful sobriquet ...

s " Patches" and "Laurie (Strange Things Happen)". He also has a number of hit songs on the country charts in the 1970s, including "

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the ''Rocky'' franchise and stars Talia Shire, Burt Young, Carl Weathers, and Burgess M ...

" and " 9,999,999 Tears", and has written or co-written songs recorded by other singers, such as "

She Thinks I Still Care "She Thinks I Still Care" is a country song written by Dickey Lee and Steve Duffy. The song was recorded by multiple artists, including George Jones, Connie Francis, Anne Murray, Elvis Presley and Patty Loveless. George Jones version Accor ...

", "

The Door Is Always Open "The Door is Always Open" is a country song written by Dickey Lee and Bob McDill. First recorded by Tennessee Pulleybone for JMI Records, it went to number 75 on the Hot Country Songs chart in 1973. A version by Lois Johnson, also in 1975, went ...

" and "

The Keeper of the Stars "The Keeper of the Stars" is a song written by Dickey Lee, Danny Mayo and Karen Staley, and recorded by American country music artist Tracy Byrd. It was released in February 1995 as the fourth and last single from his album ''No Ordinary Man'', it ...

Career

Lee formed a country trio while he was still at school at the age of 16, performing at his school and local functions. In 1957–58, Lee made his first two

recordings A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, r ...

, "Dream Boy" and "Stay True Baby", in his hometown of Memphis for Tampa Records, later released two songs for

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee in February 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Johnny C ...

in, although the song were only regional hits. He moved to Texas, and achieved his first

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

success in 1962, when his composition "

" was a

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

for

George Jones George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013) was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for his long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", ...

(later recorded by

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

Connie Francis Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero (born December 12, 1937), known professionally as Connie Francis, is an American pop singer, actress, and top-charting female vocalist of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Called the “First Lady of Rock & Roll” ...

Leon Russell Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, 1942 – November 13, 2016) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling records during his 60-year career that spanned multiple genres, including rock and ...

, and later

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian singer. Her albums, consisting primarily of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray was the fir ...

as "He Thinks I Still Care").

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodt ...

also recorded the song for his final album, '' Adios''. Later that year, "Patches", written by

Barry Mann Barry Mann (born Barry Imberman; February 9, 1939) is an American songwriter and musician, and part of a successful songwriting partnership with his wife, Cynthia Weil. He has written or co-written 53 hits in the UK and 98 in the US. Early li ...

and Larry Kobler and recorded by Lee for

Smash Records Smash Records was an American record label founded in 1961 as a subsidiary of Mercury Records by Mercury executive Shelby Singleton and run by Singleton with Charlie Fach. Fach took over after Singleton left Mercury in 1966. Its recording artist ...

, rose to No. 6. The song tells in waltz-time the story of teenage lovers of different social classes whose parents forbid their love. The girl drowns herself in the "dirty old river". The singer concludes: "It may not be right, but I'll join you tonight/ Patches I'm coming to you." Because of the teen suicide theme, the song was banned by a number of radio stations. However, it sold over one million copies and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. It is in this period that he changed his name legally from Royden Dickey Lipscomb to Dickey Lee after a man of a similar name attempted to sue him for using his name. Lee had a No. 14 hit in 1963 with a song he co-wrote, a conventional rocker, "I Saw Linda Yesterday". In 1965, he returned to teen tragedy with "Laurie (Strange Things Happen)", a song related to the

urban legend An urban legend (sometimes contemporary legend, modern legend, urban myth, or urban tale) is a genre of folklore comprising stories or fallacious claims circulated as true, especially as having happened to a "friend of a friend" or a family m ...

s known as the

vanishing hitchhiker The vanishing hitchhiker (or variations such as the ghostly hitchhiker, disappearing hitchhiker, phantom hitchhiker) is an urban legend in which people travelling by vehicle, meet with or are accompanied by a hitchhiker who subsequently vanishes ...

and

Resurrection Mary Resurrection Mary is a well-known Chicago area ghost story, or urban legend, of the " vanishing hitchhiker" type, a type of folklore that is known in many cultures. According to the story, the ghost resides in Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, Il ...

. He focused primarily on production and songwriting in the late 60s. Lee returned to Nashville in 1969 and signed with RCA, and started releasing songs to the country chart in 1970. His 1970s country hits as a singer include two remakes of pop songs,

Delaney & Bonnie Delaney & Bonnie were an American duo of singer-songwriters Delaney Bramlett and Bonnie Bramlett. In 1969 and 1970, they fronted a rock/soul ensemble, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, whose members at different times included Duane Allman, Gregg Al ...

's "

Never Ending Song of Love "Never Ending Song of Love" is a song written by Delaney Bramlett, and, according to some sources, by his wife Bonnie Bramlett. It was originally recorded with their band, Delaney & Bonnie & Friends, in 1971 on the album ''Motel Shot''. Released ...

" and Austin Roberts's "

" (another bitter-sweet song, written by Ronald Johnson – aka Woody P. Snow), in addition to original songs such as "Angels, Roses, and Rain", and "9,999,999 Tears". Lee co-wrote several songs with

Bob McDill Robert Lee McDill (born April 4, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, active from the 1960s until 2000. During his career he wrote or co-wrote 31 number one country hits. His songs were also recorded by popular artists of the 1970s, 1980s an ...

, including "Someone Like You" (by

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...

), "I've Been Around Enough To Know" (first recorded by

Jo-El Sonnier Jo-El Sonnier (; born Joel Sonnier; October 2, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter and accordionist who performs country music and Cajun music. Originally signed to Mercury Nashville Records, Sonnier charted several minor singles on the ''Bi ...

in 1973, but would become a No. 1 hit in 1984 for John Schneider), and "

The Door is Always Open "The Door is Always Open" is a country song written by Dickey Lee and Bob McDill. First recorded by Tennessee Pulleybone for JMI Records, it went to number 75 on the Hot Country Songs chart in 1973. A version by Lois Johnson, also in 1975, went ...

" (by several artists, most notably by Dave and Sugar). He also co-wrote the 1994

Tracy Byrd Tracy Lynn Byrd (born December 17, 1966) is an American country music artist. Signed to Universal Music Group Nashville, MCA Nashville Records in 1992, Byrd broke through on the country music scene that year with his 1993 single "Holdin' Heaven" ...

hit, "

", and has written or co-written songs for a number of other prominent country artists, including

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for ...

Charley Pride Charley Frank Pride (March 18, 1934 – December 12, 2020) was an American singer, guitarist, and professional baseball player. His greatest musical success came in the early to mid-1970s, when he was the best-selling performer for RCA Reco ...

, and

Reba McEntire Reba Nell McEntire (born March 28, 1955), or simply Reba, is an American country music singer and actress. Dubbed " the Queen of Country", she has sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Since the 1970s, McEntire has placed over 100 single ...

. He was inducted into the

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame was established in 1970 by the Nashville Songwriters Foundation, Inc. in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. A non-profit organization, its objective is to honor and preserve the songwriting legacy that is u ...

in 1995, and the

Country Music Hall of Fame The Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, is one of the world's largest museums and research centers dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of American vernacular music. Chartered in 1964, the museum has amass ...

in 2015. Lee is included as co-writer and singer on singer-songwriter

Michael Saxell Michael Saxell (born 1 October 1956) is a singer-songwriter, composer, lyricist, multi-instrumentalist and producer. He was born in Helsingborg, Sweden but has spent many years on the Canadian west coast. He composed music for the Colin Nutley m ...

's 2005 album ''Wonky Windmill'' on the song "Two Men." In 1987 Dickey Lee became a lifetime member of the prestigious Nashville, Tn. organization (R.O.P.E.) Reunion of Professional Entertainers.

Discography

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

br>NAMM Oral History Interview
July 10, 2015 {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Dickey 1936 births Living people American country guitarists American male guitarists American country singer-songwriters Mercury Records artists Musicians from Memphis, Tennessee RCA Records artists Sun Records artists Smash Records artists Singer-songwriters from Tennessee Guitarists from Tennessee 20th-century American guitarists Country musicians from Tennessee 20th-century American male musicians