Dee Lawson born 1929/30

Dee Lawson (born circa 1929 - March 25, 2013) had a brief career as a New York club performer.

Todays post is about one of the many not very well known female singers whose only musical legacy is that they recorded one or two albums, before disappearing into the mists of time. After a good hours searching the internet I could not find much information about todays profiled singer, not even her birthdate, but here goes.

Dee Lawson was born during late 1928 or early 1929. There is nothing regarding her early years, except her album liner notes that she hailed from the very fashionable Oyster Bay area of Long Island, New York. In an interview in 1987 she said that it was in Oyster Bay that she began singing in a church choir as a soprano. She had married young and had a son John Robert Lawson, but was divorced six months after he was born. While working in a local bakery, she sang in a little place in Oyster Bay on weekends for nothing, just to gain experience and was prompted by her musician friends to do club dates. She started to sing to a select group of intimate smart clubs in New Orleans, Florida and Long island.

                                  

While on Long Island she appeared at the Dog & Duck Club located in Sayville. The proprietor Ed Stokes was also a popular New York disc jockey. It was Stokes who was instrumental in giving Dee her first "break" and brought her to the attention of Roulette Records, resulting in the making of her only album "Round Midnight." This has become a well respected jazz album with backing musicians such as Doc Severinsen, Al Klink, Jimmy Cleveland, and Steve Uliano.  Lawson's career soared from playing for free in Oyster Bay on Long Island, N.Y., to singing for $1,500 a week in places like Birdland in New York, The Blue Note in Chicago, the Bert Parks Radio Show, the Club International, Air Force bases and Preservation Hall in New Orleans. She made commercials for Lucky Strike and L&M cigarettes and deodorant.

It was at Birdland in New York that she performed with Miles Davis and Maynard Ferguson. At the Club International it was Bobby Darin. Judy Holliday was with her on the Bert Parks Radio Show, and she and Gary Morton performed at the Dayton (Ohio) Racquet and Tennis Club. Dee was enjoy the opportunities a show business career afforded her, and she made sure that her son John was with her almost everywhere she went. Her mother cared for him while she was on stage. After shows in Las Vegas, Lawson and Don Cornell would go bowling at 4 a.m. in their show costumes. "There we were, me in my frilly gown, bowling at 3 and 4 a.m. It was a kick," she said. She and Jerry Vale shared billing in one show, but Vale didn`t want to share the dressing room. "Oh, we used to fight," she recalled. "He wanted the dressing room all to himself. The strangest person I ever worked with was Miles Davis. He was a super, super guy. When he played, oh God, it was out of this world." Their jam sessions at Preservation Hall, where the more "provocative" jazz came out, frequently lasted through the night, she said. "I wish I had taped those things, but you always think it`s never going to end."

The end for Dee Lawson was a new beginning for Dee Zibelli. Dee Lawson was on her way to bigger things when she met her second husband, Cye Zibelli. He didn`t want to be married to a professional singer. "I met Cye and he said he was not going to walk around and follow me, lighting my cigarettes," she said. "It was all set for me to do hotel work, which is the best work. It`s six months a year and the money is fantastic, but he said no. Also, my son was between 12 and 13 years old and those are very important years for a child. I decided, that`s it." 

Boynton Beach

In 1962 the Zibellis moved to Boynton Beach to get away from the temptations of show business in New York. After her singing career had abruptly ended she served as a City Commissioner of Boynton Beach for several years until the late 1990's, as well as being a payroll administrator for the West Palm Beach Police Department, which she described as her day job.

Dee L. Zibelli passed away peacefully on March 25, 2013 at the age of 84 years.

(Edited from an interview with Laura Hubbard, the Palm Beach Post obit, Amazon and album liner notes)  N.B. All information gleaned from the web may need confirmation, also if anyone has any corrections or can add to this bio please let me know.