Rick Dees
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Rick Dees 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."
Dees was born Rigdon Osmond Dees on March 14, 1950 in Jacksonville, Florida and was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina. Dees began his radio career in 1966 at the age of 17 at WGBG, a Greensboro radio station. Dees graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1972.
Dees worked in various radio stations through out the southeastern US. Dees recorded "Disco Duck" in 1976 while working at WMPS, a station in Memphis, Tennessee. The single 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 octogenerians were learning to "move their feet to the disco beat", but the song was not included in that movie's popular soundtrack album.
In 1982, Rick Dees moved to KIIS-FM, a radio station in Los Angeles, where he served as host of Rick Dees in the Morning until 2004. 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.
Rick Dees in the Morning was replaced by Clear Channel Communications in 2004 with Ryan Seacrest's On Air with Ryan Seacrest. Seacrest also serves as host of American Idol and replaced Casey Kasem on American Top 40. His contract with Clear Channel expired on January 1, 2005.
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, Solid Gold and Into the Night with Rick Dees.
Dees is married to the former Julie McWhirter, a voice actress. The couple have a son, Kevin.
External links
- Official website (http://www.rick.com/)
- Template:Imdb name
- Rick Dees entry at Radio Hall Of Fame (http://www.radiohof.org/discjockey/rickdees.html)
- Rick Dees Fanlisting (http://www.fan.the-new-age.net/rdees/)