Second to None

Biography

At the age of 9, already champion of several singing contests, he founded his own vocal group, the "Bossanovians". As a teenager he traveled to perform and, in 1968 he recorded his first single at Nashville, Tennessee's SSS International. He put out his next few singles on Birmingham-based Lolo Records. At the same time he was beginning to earn respect as a writer and producer. Chess Records producer Lenny Sachs gave him an opportunity to self-produce two singles on the Chess label, which Dees r...

At the age of 9, already champion of several singing contests, he founded his own vocal group, the "Bossanovians". As a teenager he traveled to perform and, in 1968 he recorded his first single at Nashville, Tennessee's SSS International. He put out his next few singles on Birmingham-based Lolo Records. At the same time he was beginning to earn respect as a writer and producer. Chess Records producer Lenny Sachs gave him an opportunity to self-produce two singles on the Chess label, which Dees recorded in a former church in Birmingham. From there he began recording for Atlantic, which released his landmark album The Show Must Go On in 1975.
Since then, Dees recording career moved to the back burner while he wrote hits for other singers, such as "Am I Dreaming" (Atlantic Starr), "One in a Million You" (Larry Graham), "Save the Overtime (For Me)" (Gladys Knight), "Love All the Hurt Away" (George Benson and Aretha Franklin), and "Lover for Life" (Whitney Houston).

Artists performing Sam's compositions are Whitney Houston (4 albums), Gladys Knight and the Pips (5 albums), Atlantic Starr (7 albums), Tyrone Davis (7 albums), Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Gerald Alston, Regina Belle, George Benson, Jeffrey Osborne, The Manhattans (5 albums), L.T.D. (4 albums), Teddy Pendergrass, Jackie Wilson, The Brothers Johnson, Loleatta Holloway, Keisa Brown, Ace Cannon, Clarence Carter, Luther Ingram, Millie Jackson, Margie Joseph, Frederick Knight, Denise LaSalle, K.C. & the Sunshine Band, Dorothy Moore, Sandra Hall, Willie Clayton, Enchantment, Bobby Patterson, Billy Scott, Arnold McCuller, Ted Taylor, Benjy Myaz, Ol Skool, William "Doc" Powell, Don Diego and many others.

AT SIX FOOT FOUR and two-hundred-plus pounds, Sam Dees is a soul giant in more ways than one. One of black America’s premier songsmiths, he also cut the classic, maddeningly hard-to-find Atlantic album The Show Must Go On (1975), a sampler of sublime ballads like 'Worn Out Broken Heart' and funky Southern smessage songs like 'Claim Jumpin’'. A rare chance for this stellar Alabaman writer to get his own voice heard.
(Mojo Magazine)
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