DEE DEE SHARP AND A DIFFERENT DAY - by Doug Fuhrmann - from The Daily Journal October 21 1999

Philadelphia is often associated with food--the soft pretzel, the cheesesteak, the water ice. And for a period during 1962, the City of Brotherly Love also became famous for the Mashed Potato.

However, these were not the kind of potatoes that you eat. The Mashed Potato was a dance that, well, made participants look as if they were mashing potatoes with their feet.

To be sure, not the stuff of Fred Astaire, but the Mashed Potato was fun and certainly not out of sync with the time. After all, this was the 1960s--the dance craze era that produced such oddities as the Fly (which gave the appearance that one was shooing away a fly while dancing), the Penguin, (which had dancers waddling around the floor) and the Swim (which, well you get the idea).

Dee Dee Sharp, the '60s Cameo-Parkway recording artist who made Mashed Potato Time into a much-loved million seller, will be Mistress of Ceremonies at the second annual Make A Difference Day in Landis Park on Saturday.

The free rally organized by Broaden Your Horizons, a community outreach group in VIneland, will feature entertainment tied together with a strong anti-drug and alcohol message and a focus on education.

"I believe in the young people," said Sharp. "I believe that it is God's will that we help them.

"There are a lot of children that don't know that if they study and work hard, they too may travel the world. I've done it and I never thought it would happen to me."

Sharp, born Dione LaRue in 1945, was reared in a North Philadelphia neighborhood where, she said, young girls were not encouraged to have aspirations beyond domestic work. However, both she and her parents believed that life held more in store for her.

Utilizing her musical talents and deep religious faith, her musical career began to develop during adolescence when she performed as a background singer in the gospel music field. Sharp probably had no ideal that she would eventually become a rock 'n' roll star but, one day, fate intervened in the form of a help wanted ad in the Philadelphia Inquirer.

"The ad was for a singer who could read music and sing without hearing it first, and one who could play the piano," she said.

A reply to the ad landed the young teenager a job and Cameo-Parkway Records in Philadelphia. Cameo, then one of the hottest independent record concerns in the country, used Sharp as a background vocalist--at first.

Cameo-Parkway was located on the sixth floor of an office building at 1405 Locust Street in Philadelphia. Musical tracks were recorded in a makeshift studio that had been converted from a room in one of the offices. The studio was so small recalled Sharp, that recording could not begin until the other office workers in the building had left for the day.

Sharp (unaccredited) accompanied labelmate Chubby Checker as the female singer on his duet-like 1962 record "Slow Twistin'." After hearing Sharp record "Slow Twistin" with Checker, the powers-that-be at Cameo-Parkway decided her vocals might fit the bill for a new song they had in the works. The song, "Mashed Potato Time," was based loosely on the tune of the Marvelettes "Mr. Postman," which had become a popular Mashed Potato dance hit.

"They said to go home (and have dinner) and come back to see if we can record this one song," recalled Sharp. "I told them that I had to ask my mom if I could do anything other than what I was supposed to be doing.

"I did go home, I couldn't eat anything, I was too nervous. My grandmother came back to the studio with me and that very night I did indeed record "Mashed Potato TIme."

Although "Mashed Potato Time" and its follow up hit "Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)" went on to propel Sharp to stardom, she has remained well grounded.

Although she performs secular music for a living, Sharp maintains that God, her church and her choir are among the more important attributes in her life. And she feels strongly about the benefits that Make A Difference Day offers to the community.

"Last year we had a really great turnout and it was wonderful. This year, Lord willing, it will be even bigger and even better. Next year, Lord willing, it will be even bigger and even better. Come out and be involved."