Irving Lee Dorsey (December 24, 1924 – December 1, 1986) was an American pop and R&B singer during the 1960s. His biggest hits were "

Ya Ya "Ya Ya" is a song by Lee Dorsey. The song was written by Dorsey, C. L. Blast, Bobby Robinson, and Morris Levy. Levy's participation in the writing has been called into question; the Flashback release of the single lists only Dorsey and Blast a ...

" (1961) and " Working in the Coal Mine" (1966). Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint, with

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

backing provided by the Meters.

Career

Born in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

, Louisiana, Dorsey was a childhood friend of

Fats Domino Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New O ...

. He moved to

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

, Oregon when he was ten years old. He served in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and began a career in prizefighting.

Boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

as a

featherweight Featherweight is a weight class in the combat sports of boxing, kickboxing, mixed martial arts, and Greco-Roman wrestling. Boxing Professional boxing History A featherweight boxer weighs in at a limit of . In the early days of the division, t ...

in Portland in the early 1950s, he fought under the name Kid Chocolate and was not successful, fighting only one time and being knocked out in the second round. He returned to New Orleans in 1955, where he opened an auto repair business as well as singing in clubs at night. His first

recording 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 ...

was "Rock Pretty Baby/Lonely Evening" on Cosimo Mattasa's Rex label, in 1958. This was followed by "Lottie Mo/Lover of Love", for the small Valiant label in late 1960 (picked up by ABC Paramount in 1961). These efforts were unsuccessful, but around 1960 he was discovered by A&R man

Marshall Sehorn Marshall Estus Sehorn (June 25, 1934 – December 5, 2006) was an American A&R man, songwriter, music publisher and entrepreneur who played an important role in the development of R&B and popular music in New Orleans between the 1950s and 1970 ...

, who secured him a contract with

Fury Records Fury Records was set up by Bobby Robinson in 1957. In 1959 it had a Billboard No.1 hit with ''Kansas City'', sung by Wilbert Harrison. In the early 1970s, it helped launch Grandmaster Flash. See also * List of record labels File:Alvinor ...

, owned by Bobby Robinson. After meeting songwriter and record producer Allen Toussaint at a party, he recorded "

", a song inspired by a group of children chanting nursery rhymes. It went to number seven on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1961, 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 ...

. Although the follow-up "Do-Re-Mi" also made the charts, later releases on Fury were not successful. Dorsey returned to running his repair business, but also released singles on the Smash and Constellation labels in 1963 and 1964. He was approached again by Toussaint, and recorded Toussaint's song "Ride Your Pony" for the Amy label, a subsidiary of Bell Records. The song reached No. 7 on the

R&B chart The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 p ...

in late 1965, and he followed it up with "

Get Out of My Life, Woman "Get Out of My Life, Woman" is a song written by Allen Toussaint and first recorded by Lee Dorsey. It reached number five on the U.S. ''Billboard'' R&B chart and number 44 on the Hot 100 singles chart in 1966. Background In a song review for Al ...

", " Working in the Coal Mine" – his biggest pop hit – and " Holy Cow", all of which made the

pop chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include re ...

s in both the US and the UK. Dorsey toured internationally, and also recorded an album with Toussaint, ''The New Lee Dorsey'' in 1966. In 1970 Dorsey and Toussaint collaborated on the album ''Yes We Can''; the

title song A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

was Dorsey's last entry in the US

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

chart. It was later a hit for the Pointer Sisters under the title, "

Yes We Can Can "Yes We Can Can" is a funk song written by Allen Toussaint, popularized when it was recorded by the American R&B girl group the Pointer Sisters. Background "Yes We Can Can" was originally recorded as "Yes We Can" by Lee Dorsey on his albu ...

". With declining sales, Dorsey returned to his auto repair business. In 1976 Dorsey appeared on the album '' I Don't Want to Go Home'' by

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes are an American musical group from the Jersey Shore led by Southside Johnny. They have been recording albums since 1976 and are closely associated with Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band. They have recor ...

, which led to more recordings on his own with ABC Records, including the album '' Night People''. In 1980, he opened for English

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...

on their US

concert tour A concert tour (or simply tour) is a series of concerts by an artist or group of artists in different cities, countries or locations. Often concert tours are named to differentiate different tours by the same artist and to associate a specific to ...

, and also toured in support of James Brown and

Jerry Lee Lewis Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as " rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis ma ...

. Dorsey developed emphysema and died on December 1, 1986, in New Orleans, at the age of 61.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

* ''All Ways Funky'' (1982) * ''Holy Cow! The Best of Lee Dorsey'' (1985) * ''20 Greatest Hits'' (1991)

Singles

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dorsey, Lee 1924 births 1986 deaths Rhythm and blues musicians from New Orleans American baritones American soul musicians 20th-century African-American male singers Bell Records artists Fury Records artists Smash Records artists Ace Records (United States) artists Sue Records artists Deaths from emphysema Singers from Louisiana United States Navy personnel of World War II African Americans in World War II African-American United States Navy personnel