Dee Dee Phelps is Helping Palisadians Write Their Story

By TRILBY BERESFORD | Reporter

“Everyone has an interesting story,” Dee Dee Phelps told the Palisadian-Post on a relaxing Friday afternoon. Hers starts with her name, which was originally Mary Sperling. When she started writing songs and performing with Dick St. John (formerly Richard Gosting) after high school, the powers that be changed her name to make it more memorable in that rockin’ kind of way. Thus the musical duo Dick and Dee Dee was born. “I was jolted at first,” she admitted.

Later on she married the group’s manager, Bill Lee, and became Dee Dee Lee. The final—perhaps to her relief—name modification came when Dee Dee married Kane Phelps. (Given this trajectory, I wasn’t surprised when Dee Dee inquired about my own unusual name. But alas, back to the task at hand.)

The collaboration between Dee Dee Phelps and St. John was ideal since she wrote song lyrics and he wrote melodies. They released five albums, played alongside The Beach Boys, Dick Clark, Tina Turner and The Rolling Stones, were featured as regulars on the musical variety show “Shindig!” and enjoyed several chart singles, including “The Mountain’s High” in 1961. Ironically, it was on the B-side and accidentally became a hit when a DJ in San Francisco played the wrong side of the album. That track was never Dee Dee’s favorite. “The recording experience was a disaster!” she recalled. Yet it continues to gain notoriety to this day.

“The joy came from singing,” Dee Dee said, referencing her musical adventure. She talked about her career as a profoundly good experience, filled with people who were, on the whole, extremely nice. No one plummeted into the perils of fame, though healthy conflict was frequent.

In fact, Dee Dee crafted a perfect metaphor to describe the hectic nature of rock and roll: “I got on a rollercoaster and it was going up … up … up … and then eventually it went down, as I knew it would.” Dee Dee recalled a time when the group recorded the “Goodbye to Love” track and it had no hook, so a duck call was inserted. “It wasn’t a hit,” she admitted, laughing. Then came the bizarre: Dee Dee remembered a time when a mysterious person entered the tour bus and remained there for several days before anyone questioned his presence.

Striking a serious note, she recalled that St. John was unpredictable, though quite brilliant. “He had a four-octave vocal range and an incredible falsetto.” Tragically, he passed away in 2003 after an accident at his home in Pacific Palisades.

In 2007 Dee Dee penned her memoir about their time together, titled “Vinyl Highway.” It’s an ode to the 1960s—to life on the road, and every high and low that came with the territory. Years later Dick and Dee Dee reemerged in another form when, on the suggestion of fans who “would give anything” to hear their songs again, Dee Dee recruited Michael Dunn to relive the magic. “He channeled Dick so well,” she said. They began with a show at Theatre Palisades where the sound system broke down and eventually played bigger shows around town. Of course, all this is great fodder for a memoir.

Dee Dee learned the craft of memoir writing at UCLA, and is now thrilled to share her knowledge with Palisadians. So the big question is, how does one find their story?

“The first thing they need to do is make sure they have will power to commit to do something new every day [writing] and also the discipline to keep doing it each day.” To help someone decide where to start, Dee Dee recommended the following creative process:

1. Block out 20 minutes (same time each day) that you will commit to write (you can go longer, but not less than 20 minutes). It can be any time of day or night, but be consistent.
2. In preparation for the first day, tell yourself before going to sleep that when you start to write the next day, the perfect idea of where to start will come to you.
3. Sit down to write the first day. Look at the blank page, close your eyes and ask yourself, “What is the perfect story to tell?”
4. When an idea flashes into your mind, start to write the story. Remember, first thought, best thought. Don’t stop writing. Keep going, whatever comes to mind. Your mind may try to stop you so you can phrase it another way or correct bad spelling or whatever. Ignore those prompts and keep writing.
5. The next day, go back and read the last two pages you wrote and continue writing. After about four days of this, you will be “in the flow” and it will be much easier.
6. Keep going until you have a fair number of pages (10 to 20). If you want help with the principles of story writing (like scene description, dialogue, etc.) consider going to a writing coach or class for further help with structure and to share what you have written.

Dee Dee described her classes as “more like a circle of friends” rather than a formal lecture. “It’s small and intimate with lots of laughter.”

An important note that Dee Dee emphasized is that memoirs don’t have to encompass every detail and defining moment of one’s life. “Memoirs can be a lot of your life or simply a portion of it,” she shared.

If you’re interested in joining her classes, Dee Dee posted details on Nextdoor. As for the music, “I might get back into it someday … ”

Dee Dee’s presence is so remarkably warm and inviting that, without a doubt, it would be a pleasure to sit with her and talk freely about how best to unleash your inner storyteller.