Little Richard was my first Rock idol back when I was ten. Along with Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley I spent a lot of time playing Little Richard. When he ducked out there was a void in that high energy, explosive sound – Don and Dewey went some way to fill the gap.
Don & Dewey
When Little Richard dropped out of the scene to have a sojourn bothering deities Specialty were in a fix. He was their biggest selling artist and they were eager to plug the gap. They tried out Esquerita and Larry Williams and they both came up trumps but there was still a short-fall. Don and Dewey were called in.
Forget Batman and Robin this was the duo with all the energy. They produced a double edged vocal attack that has only been equalled by Sam and Dave. On stage they were acrobatic and produced a dynamite performance as well as belting those songs out. Sadly, despite the quality of their performance and strength of their material, they never had hits. That doesn’t detract from the fact that they produced some of the best Rocking numbers of their day – ‘Justine’, ‘Farmer John’, ‘Koko Joe’, ‘Little Sally Walker’, ‘Jungle Hop’, ‘Bim Bam’ and ‘Leaving it all up to you’ are testament to that.