Customer Reviews

Vinyl Highway

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Vinyl Highway: A Memoir is the true-life story of singer Dee Dee Phelps. Packed with stories that tell both the bright and dark sides of fame, Vinyl Highway relates the experiences of performing with such legends as Dick Clark, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, and other memorable recording artists of the 60s; Dee Dee's role in creating five Billboard gold records; and her routine as a semi-regular on the ABC show "Shindig". An up-close and personal reminiscence of the thick of the 60's music scene, and a treat for anyone who remembers the sounds of the 60's fondly.

I like this book 'cause I could easily relate to it.... kinda'. Dee Dee is just like me... she is one of us -- a every-day kid growing up in the 50s and 60s. That was me... riding in the car, listening to the music. I could imagine the DJ playing my song. Only Dee Dee din't just imagine it. She did it. It was the beginning of a decade-long ride on the roller coaster of rock and roll. Dick Clark, Quincy Jones, the Beach Boys, Glenn Campbell, Dionne Warwick, Bobby Vinton... Dick and Dee Dee rubbed shoulders with all of them. There were good times and there were bad times. This is her "behind the scenes" story. It's pretty cool.

Dee Dee Phelps did a wonderful job on this book and capturing her adventures as a teenager thrusted in the music industry and the ups and downs of touring the world. Great stories thruout the book -- if you love 60's Rock and Roll -- This is a must read! Thank you Dee Dee for telling this wonderful part of Rock and Roll History!

Having spent my teen years in the late 50s/early 60s and being a big fan of the music from that era I definitely could relate to Dee Dee Phelps story. But truthfully, with the exception of the song "Turn Around", I never got particularly excited about Dick & Dee Dee's catalog of music and I picked up this book imagining that it would be a relatively lightweight piece of fluff. Very quickly I found out that Dee Dee was pulling no punches in describing both the light and the dark side of the 60's music industry and her partner Dick St. John (who comes across as somewhat of an obnoxious egotist). Her accounts of recording sessions and adventures while touring the country by bus with other music notables make for great reading. Highly recommended!

I liked the book quite a lot. I think Dee Dee (Mary) was quite merciful in her comments about Dick's domineering treatment of their career; however, we can't see his side of the story. For those of us who grew up at a time when those 45s and the programs that featured them were so important to our lives, this book gives a faithful picture of the way the industry chewed up performers and then left them by the wayside when they could no longer keep up the pace. The promotional tours she describes were quite an eyeopener. Just the list of the entertainers that she and Dick shared the stage with brought back such great memories. When those package tours came to our towns, we never stopped to think what it must have been like for performers to do five two-hour shows a day. I'll be interested to read about the ensuing years of her career w/o Dick and the current revival of "Dick and Dee Dee" with a male stand in.

This is one fantastic book. I could hardly put it down. This is the story of Dee Dee Phelps, who was part of the popular duo "Dick and Dee" in the early 1960s. It tells of the beginning of their act, their first record, and their tours with other artists. An interesting story is that their hit "The Mountain's High" was the B-side of another record. They didn't like the song and never thought it would go anywhere, but it became their first hit. You will especially like this book if you grew up in the 60s because the book reads like "American Bandstand." It recounts performers as Kathy Young ("A Thousand Stars"), Ray Peterson ("Tell Laura I Love Her), Bobbby Vee, Ricky Nelson, Gary U.S. Bonds, Paul and Paula, and The Crystals.