Big Dee Irwin - Life and Career

Life and Career

Dee Ervin was born in Harlem, New York. Some sources give his first name as Defosca and his family name as Erwin.

He joined the United States Air Force, and in 1954 was based at Narsarssuak Air Base in Greenland. While there, he formed a singing group, The Pastels, with himself as lead singer, Richard Travis (first tenor), Tony Thomas (second tenor) and Jimmy Willingham (baritone). They performed in Air Force talent shows and, after being transferred to Washington D.C., took part in a national show, Tops In Blue, in 1957. They then auditioned and won a contract with Hull Records in New York, and recorded a song written by Ervin, "Been So Long". The record was released locally on the subsidiary Mascot label before being leased to Chess Records who issued it on their Argo label. At the same time, the members of The Pastels were leaving the Air Force, Ervin being discharged in February 1958. "Been So Long" reached # 4 on the Billboard R&B chart and # 24 on the pop chart, and The Pastels toured widely and appeared on concert bills. In March 1958 they featured as part of Alan Freed's touring Big Beat Show, which also included Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Frankie Lymon, Larry Williams, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins. The group's second record, "You Don't Love Me Anymore", was released in April 1958, but was not a hit. They performed at the Apollo Theater later in 1958, but split up early the following year.

Ervin then started a solo career on Hull Records as Dee Erwin, and also recorded on the Bliss label, before signing for Dimension Records as Big Dee Irwin, and releasing a version of the 1944 Bing Crosby song "Swinging On A Star" which also featured Little Eva (uncredited on the UK issue). In 1963 the song reached # 38 on the US pop chart. It became a bigger hit in the UK where it rose to # 7, and Irwin then took part in a nine month tour of Britain. Neither Irwin's follow-up, "Happy Being Fat", again with Little Eva, nor later releases on Dimension, were successful. However, Irwin continued to release singles for a variety of labels through the 1960s, and also worked as a songwriter for Ray Charles, Bobby Womack, and others - the Hollies included his "What Kind of Boy" on their 1964 album In The Hollies Style. In 1976, initially under the name DiFosco, he released the disco single "Face To Face". His last record release was in 1978.

Irwin died of heart failure in 1995. His son, David Ervin, has played piano professionally as a studio musician.