Joey Dee and the Starliters

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Joey Dee and the Starliters were an American pop group from New Jersey. They are best known for Peppermint Twist from 1961, a record that sold a million copies. The best-known line-up consisted of Joey Dee, David Brigati and Larry Vernieri as singers and Carlton Lattimore on organ. Their first single, in 1958, was Lorraine, with singer Rogers Freeman. That same year Dee brought in David Brigati.

Music and breakthrough

In 1960 the agent Don Davis saw the group perform in Lodi, New Jersey. He booked them at the Peppermint Lounge, a small club in New York, for what was meant to be a one-off weekend. It became the start of their success, and the club became the centre of the twist craze. In 1961 the group appeared in the film Hey, Let's Twist, a fictional story built around Dee and the Peppermint Lounge, and in 1962 in Two Tickets to Paris. A song from it, What Kind of Love Is This, written by Johnny Nash, reached the American top twenty. In 1963 Dee recorded the album Dance, Dance, Dance with the Ronettes as backing singers, and Hot Pastrami with Mashed Potatoes reached the top forty.

Influence

Jimi Hendrix and Joe Pesci also played guitar with the group in the 1960s. Dee went on making records into the 1970s and still performs. In 2010 the group was given a street corner in its home town of Passaic. The group stands for the dance craze in which a new dance could drive an entire pop culture within a few months.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1961Doin’ the Twist at the Peppermint Lounge
• 1961Hey, Let's Twist! (Original Soundtrack Recording) (soundtrack)
• 1962The Peppermint Twisters