Citrus: Twisting back to a hopping rock era

Twisting back to a hopping rock era

Joey Dee and the Starliters revive the Peppermint Twist and other tunes in two shows today at Rock Crusher Canyon.

By JORGE SANCHEZ

CRYSTAL RIVER -- If you're in the mood to dance, one of the artists responsible for spreading the Twist dance craze of the early 1960s will appear tonight at Rock Crusher Canyon Garden Pavilion.

Joey Dee and the Starliters will revive their big hit, Peppermint Twist, and other great early rock 'n' roll songs in two shows today. Though Peppermint Twist wasn't the first song to start the official dance of rock 'n'roll music, it helped it become popular.

"Hank Ballard wrote and recorded The Twist first, and he got practically no credit for it," Dee said Wednesday. "Chubby Checker covered it and he had the first really big rock and roll dance song."

Checker released the song in 1960, then re-released it several other times in the early 1960s.

But the Peppermint Twist has its own claim to rock 'n' roll fame. While performing at the Peppermint Lounge in New York City, Dee wrote the song and it instantly became a dance hit.

"Our claim to popularity is that we created a fad with the jet set," Dee said. "Peppermint Twist is a little different than Chubby Checker's song. We added a jump and a kick to it."

During Dee's 13-month engagement at the Peppermint Lounge, celebrity visitors such as John Wayne, Ted Kennedy and the Beatles came by the tiny club to twist the night away.

Dee remembers another meeting with the Fab Four.

"They opened a concert for me in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1963. They were doing mostly covers, except for Please Please Me." Dee said. "One of them, I think it was John Lennon, came up and asked me after the show what I thought of them. I told them to do more originals, not really knowing what prolific songwriters they already were."

Another piece of rock history associated with group is that a guitar player known as Jimmy James once was a Starliter. James would later become Jimi Hendrix. Movie star Joe Pesci was also a Starliter.

"That's quite a lineup, isn't it?" Dee said.

Joey Dee and The Starliters also had a big hit with a cover of Shout. Other Starliters songs include What Kind of Love Is This?, Ya Ya and Mashed Potatoes.

Dee, 60, said he performs about 160 shows a year. He lives in Clearwater. He is planning a major tour with Dave Brigati of the Young Rascals and Bobby Valli, younger brother of Frankie Valli.

"It's called Pure Platinum because nearly every song was a platinum hit," he said.

For tonight's show, Dee will be joined by his daughter, Jamie Lee, and another singer, Judy Lee, who is no relation. Dee said he's happy with his role in musical history and glad that people still want to dance the twist.

"It's great as far as reminiscing is concerned," he said.