[CD: M&S/Edel, Germany, 1994; #0006342PMM]
"Born Irving Lee Dorsey in New Orleans, Louisiana, Dorsey moved to Portland, Oregon when he was ten years old. He served in the United States Navy and began a career in prizefighting. Boxing as a light heavyweight in Portland in the early 1950s, he fought under the name "Kid Chocolate" and was quite successful.
Dorsey met songwriter/producer Allen Toussaint at a party in the early 1960s, and was signed to the Fury record label. The song that launched his career was inspired by a group of children chanting nursery rhymes - "Ya Ya" went to number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961. He recorded other songs for Fury before the label folded, and Dorsey went back to his car repair business.
Toussaint later came back on the Amy label and began to work with Dorsey once again. From 1965 to 1969 Dorsey put seven songs in the Hot 100, the most successful of which was "Working In The Coal Mine" in 1966. It was to be his second and last Top Ten song. In 1970 Dorsey and Toussaint collaborated on an album entitled Yes We Can; the title song was Dorsey's last entry in the singles chart. It was later a hit for the Pointer Sisters under the title, "Yes We Can Can"."
"Of all the great New Orleans R&B artists produced by arranger/composer/piano master Allen Touissant during the 1960s - Irma Thomas, Aaron Neville, Ernie K-Doe, Chris Kenner - he developed a special musical relationship with the perpetually ebullient Lee Dorsey. Toussaint was behind nearly every hit the diminutive Dorsey ever had, usually serving in multiple roles.
'We spent a lot of time together, and he had such a unique voice that you could go to subjects and humor that you never would dare try with another type of vocalist or debonair personality', says Touissant. 'He was just such a high-spirited guy, and such a unique voice that always sounded like it had a smile in it. It was just a pleasure to hear his voice, for one thing. And we spent lots of time together, and he loved singing so very much.'"
(from the liner notes to the CD "Funky As I Can Be!")
Lee Dorsey & Allen Toussaint
- Working in the Coalmine (Allen Toussaint) 1966
- Ya Ya (Dorsey, Levy, Lewis, Robinson) 1961
- Yes We Can (Toussaint) 1970
- Get Out Of My Life, Woman (Toussaint) 1966
- Ride Your Pony (Naomi Neville) 1965
- Go-Go Girl (Toussaint) 1967
- My Old Car (Toussaint) 1967
- Do-Re-Mi (Earl King) 1962
- Candy Yam (Toussaint) 1969
- Holy Cow (Toussaint) 1966
- Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky (From Now On) (Toussaint) 1969
- Can You Hear Me? (Toussaint) 1965
- A Lover Was Born (Toussaint) 1969
- Sneakin' Sally Thru The Alley (Toussaint) 1970
