Rick Dees
From Free net encyclopedia
Rigdon Osmond "Rick" Dees III (born March 14, 1950 in Jacksonville, Florida) is a radio disc jockey who currently lives in the San Fernando Valley area, near Los Angeles, California, USA. Dees is best known for his syndicated radio show Rick Dees Weekly Top 40 and for the novelty song "Disco Duck."
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Early life
Dees was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. Dees began his radio career in 1966 at WGBG, a Greensboro radio station. Dees graduated from Greensboro Grimsley High School in 1968 and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972. He was a member of the Tau chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha while attending college.
Career
Dees worked in various radio stations throughout the southeastern United States, including WSGN in Birmingham, Alabama. Dees recorded "Disco Duck" in 1976 while working at WMPS-AM in Memphis, Tennessee which fired him over his airplay of it. Following a 45 day mandatory hiatus after his time at rival WMPS, he went on to WHBQ-AM in Memphis and took the station to #1. The single Disco Duck sold over six million copies and reached number 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart on October 16, 1976. The song had a cameo appearance in the movie Saturday Night Fever, in a brief scene in which a group of older people were learning to "move their feet to the disco beat", but the song was not included in that movie's popular soundtrack album, thus depriving him of a Grammy award that the artists on the record received. In 1979 Dees moved to Los Angeles and did mornings on KHJ (which was at the time WHBQ's sister station) during its final years as a Top 40 station. When KHJ fliped to a Country format, Dees left the station.
In 1982, Rick Dees moved to crosstown Top 40 outlet KIIS-FM, where he served as host of Rick Dees in the Morning until 2004, he was replaced by Ryan Seacrest. Dees began his weekly Top 40 show, still currently in syndication, in 1983. Rick Dees' Weekly Top 40 is currently heard on over 350 radio stations in the United States, as well as in 125 other countries. Dees was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1999 and has also received the People's Choice Award and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Movies
Dees has appeared in several movies and has made many guest appearances on television shows such as Married... with Children, The Love Boat, and Diagnosis: Murder. Dees served as host of two television shows, including a stint at Solid Gold and Into the Night with Rick Dees, a competitor to The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson on ABC, airing after Nightline. He has also appeared on infomercials promoting 50's hit songs.
Dees is married to the former Julie McWhirter, a voice actress. They have a son, Kevin Dees who is following directly in his father's steps as a DJ.