Elmer Smith: For Dee Dee Sharp, a good life moves on

WE WERE teenagers the last time we were together, gathered around the piano in my mother's living room.

This was 1962. Dione Larue, as she was known then, was not quite 17 but already a gifted pianist and lead singer for our little group of gospel-singing teenagers.

I think we knew that her talent was too big for the room. But we didn't know that, even then, she was becoming Dee Dee Sharp and taking the first steps on a path to stardom.

Later that year her first hit record, "Mashed Potato Time," was climbing the charts. She went gold again with a duet with Chubby Checker called "Slow Twisting." A string of hit singles and albums followed.

We started seeing her on television, watching her perform on stage with stars that she had idolized as much as we had.

I've often wondered how we could have missed all the signs of that incredible transformation back then.

"We hid it," she told me recently. She went on:

"My mother and grandmother and I lied a lot to keep it from my grandfather, Rev. Eubie Gilbert. He was pastor of our family church, Eternal Baptist.

"It wasn't supposed to be a career. I just thought I could make a little money on the side.

"I was about 13 when I answered an ad for a singer who could play piano and sight-read music.

"Willa Ward [sister of the late gospel star Clara Ward] got me started. She took me to New York to sing backups.

"I was backgrounding Bobby Rydell, Chubby Checker, Frankie Avalon, Jackie Wilson and Lloyd Price.

"We thought we could keep it from my grandfather. But what you do in the dark will someday come to light."

A glaring spotlight, in her case. Over the next 20 years, that spotlight would shine on a career that took her around the world and finally back to Medford, N.J., where she spends most of her time keeping house for her husband, attorney Bill Witherspoon.

But it's not easy to put a gilt-edged past behind you. So, she says, "A few times a year I get myself together to be Miss Sharp.

"I do a few things in Europe and around. It's amazing, in the U.K. they remember my 'B' sides and album cuts. I thank God I have a voice and people enjoy my music.

"But I'm a housewife now. I love being that. My husband expects a hot meal and I try to make sure he gets it."

Yesterday, her past caught up with her again. She was one of the music legends honored with plaques on the R&B Walk of Fame along South Broad Street.

She was inducted along with Billy Paul and Charlie Gracie in a ceremony outside the DoubleTree Hotel, at Broad and Locust streets. Jazz legend Clifford Brown and Philly native Tammi Terrell were honored posthumously.

Paul, best-known for his hit "Me and Mrs. Jones," put the long-overdue honor in perspective.

"Billy put it best," she said. "He said, 'Dee Dee, this was a long time coming. But we're here to receive it.'

"I'm grateful. I thank God for just keeping me."

She has come full circle, devoting her talent mainly to gospel- singing. Her gospel CD will be out early next year.

When we talk, it's mostly about family and food; we both enjoy cooking. But I can still manage to take her back to the creation of Dee Dee Sharp.

"I thought 'Mashed Potato Time' was just a flash in the pan," she said. "I just went along with it. I didn't realize I was going further.

"When I did, my grandfather sat me down. He wanted to hear me say that this was just a job and that I would never leave the church.

"After that, he was all right. He said, 'Baby, one day, people all over the world will know your name.'

"I was star-struck, in awe of these people I was meeting. I could not believe I was working with folks like Tommy Hunt and Chuck Jackson, Giselle McKenzie and Jerry Butler. Jerry and his wife, Annette, are my dear friends to this day."

But her closest friends are family. Her brother Roy; his wife, Loretta, and their children and grandchildren joined her for the induction.

They took pictures and traded memories with old friends, including music mogul Kenny Gamble and his wife, Fatima. Gamble and Dee Dee Sharp were married years ago when their careers were getting off the ground.

But when the festivities ended, she was back to being Dione Larue.

"I choose to live my life in the present," she said. "This is really nice. But you have to move on." *

Send e-mail to smithel@phillynews.com or call 215-854-2512. For recent columns: http://go.philly.com/smith