Dinah Lee may not have been as punk as Toni McCann but she did make some great gutsy and soulful beat records. Dinah (Diane Jacobs before the record company decided Dinah Lee was cooler) was part of the exciting early '60s scene in Christchurch, New Zealand that also threw up Max Merritt, Ray Columbus and Dave Miller, and she was also apparently responsible for bringing the 'mod' look to the behind-the-times antipodeans.
This 1964 single was her third release in Australia, though she'd already had an album and a couple more singles in NZ where she was already a sensation. Raucously backed by The Kavaliers (originally Samoan rock'n'roller Freddy Keil's group) Dinah blasts through a fine cover of Fats Domino's "I'm Walking" much in the style of early Lulu (who seems to have been the big influence on all the Antipodean beat girls- more of which in a future blog). The B-side "Who Stole The Sugar" is a slower but still raw bluesy ballad with merseybeat harmonies, I could have sworn this was a cover but can't find any evidence for this, or for that matter any mention of the listed songwriter Wayne Healy. Anyone know who he was?
DINAH LEE- Who Stole The Sugar?
The youtube clip below includes some fab contemporary footage:
