- Born
- Died
- Birth nameIrving Lee Dorsey
- New Orleans-born Lee Dorsey was a former boxer who turned rock singer. He had a minor hit for a local New Orleans record company that resulted in a contract with Fury Records, a nationally distributed label. In 1961 he recorded the catchy "Ya Ya", which went to the #1 spot on the US charts. A follow-up record, "Do-Re-Mi", was a smaller hit. It wasn't until 1965, however, that he had another hit, "Ride Your Pony". The next year he had his biggest-selling record, "Working in a Coal Mine". That was followed by several lesser hits over the years. He still toured regularly, though, and in 1980 was one of the acts on The Clash's US tour. He died in New Orleans of emphysema in 1986.- IMDb Mini Biography By: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- Cousin of Antoinette K-Doe.
- Served in the US Navy during World War II.
- Although Dorsey had several major hits in the 1950s and 1960s, when the label he recorded for, Fire Records, went out of business in 1963, he went back to what he had been doing before he became a singer: working in an auto-body shop. In 1965 record producer Allen Toussaint, who had worked with Dorsey in the early 1960s, returned from a two-year hitch in the army, he looked up Dorsey and signed him to another contract. His biggest hit to date, "Working in a Coal Mine", came out in 1966, but he was unable to capitalize on its success and his follow-up records didn't do much. He eventually returned to the auto-body shop business.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content