photo #1567393

Dee and Robert, 'Come On On'. From 1965, it's a pretty cool little record. It was also released on HIT Records, which I've always considered to be a budget 'sound-alike' label. I wasn't too sure about SPAR until I'd found this one with the 'D.J. Not For Sale' imprint... Always thought of it as a 'sound-a-like' label like HIT.I honestly don't know much about Dee and Robert, save to say, from what I've gathered, Bobby Russell born in Nashville, April 19, 1941, and was a writer of both Pop and Country songs, and had produced several hit records in the 1960s and 70s.His first song to make an impact was the 1966 release by Brian Hyland, 'The Joker Went Wild'. Two years later, he had written 'Little Green Apples', a song we're all familiar with, but many of us know it as by L. C. Smith. This, though, was a Country version performed by Rogers Miller!I need to find a copy of that. I'm curious what that would sound like. It had reached the top ten. L. C. Smith had released a version a bit later, and that's the version that I'm familiar with. Robert's next hit was recorded by Bobby Goldsboro, 'Honey'. That particular single had reached the #1 position on BOTH the Pop AND Country charts.'Dee', is apparently D. Bergen White, long-time Nashville arranger, producer, conductor, musician, composer and singer, born July 18, 1939 in Miami, Oklahoma. In fact, I had found this record in Southwest Missouri, which is close to Miami, Oklahoma. I used to have family in Miami years ago.'Dee' is the son of a Baptist music minister, and, in his teenage years, was singing in church choirs led by his father, where White had learned harmony and the rudiments of arranging vocals. 'I don’t even remember learning to read music,' he said. 'It just happened.' The family had moved quite frequently, and when he was fourteen, the family had wound up in Nashville.While there, White had become friends with classmate Bobby Russell, who himself, had musical aspirations. 'Bobby is responsible for getting me into the music business,' White said... Now, here's where we get to the SPAR and HIT Records association.White was teaching high school in nearby Fairview, Tennessee, when Russell had recruited him to sing harmony on a session of 'sound-alike' records, which copied the big hits of the day and issued them at a discount price.Also, in the mid 60s, he had co-written a couple of songs by Jan and Dean, as well as touring and recording with Ronny and The Daytonas. White was also able to release a couple of singles under his own name for the Monument label, and, in 1969, had recorded and released, what has apparently become a cult favorite, 'For Women Only', an album of lush, romantic Pop music. That was for Shelby Singleton's SSS label. It was also reissued in 2004 on CD.Robert had passed away November 19, 1992, after suffering a heart attack. He was posthumously inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1994. To my knowledge, 'Dee' Bergen White, is still around, and active.As for SPAR Records, the label was founded in 1961 by record men Alan Bubis and William Beasley. They had been partners in the Tennessee and Republic labels in the 1950s and had eventually gotten into record distribution as well. The SPAR imprint was soon followed by budget labels.And from what I gather, many of these 'discount' labels had some of Nashville's finest performers on them! The SPAR label had gone out of business in the mid 1970s, but left behind this wonderful legacy of classic Nashville music. They also owned the HIT label.