Dee Fredrix - Grace (1993)

Thanks to a request from Marco, I located the one and only album from Britain's Dee Fredrix.  Though I didn't realize it until now, Dee more commonly went by name Dee Lewis (though her maiden name is actually Fredericks) and she was mentioned on the Isle previously thanks to a post on her sister Shirley Lewis. Like Shirley, Dee did a lot of background work until she joined her older sisters Shirley and soul/disco diva Linda to form Lewis (aka The Lewis Sisters), who released five non-charting pop singles in 1986/87. Linda originally changed her last name from Fredericks to Lewis in tribute to soul singer Barbara Lewis, and her sisters soon followed. Dee was also featured in 1986 on two singles by Stock Aitken Waterman's bizarre bossa nova collective Mondo Kané and the charity single "Give, Give, Give" by Dance Aid.  While continuing to perform backing vocals for a wide variety of artists like Kylie Minogue and Donna Summer (thanks to the SAW connection), she also managed to release several pop singles of her own on Mercury as Dee Lewis, including three top 100 UK Singles: "Stuck On Love" (#90 in 1987 and recharting in 1988 at #95), a remake of the Emotions' "Best Of My Love" (#47 in 1988) and "Double Standard" (#89 in 1989).  Having had minimal success on the charts, she returned to backing vocals and regrouped.  In 1993 she reemerged with a new name, taking her real last name and changing the spelling to something shorter and catchier.  She also had a new, much more soulful sound.  Her first single was the ballad "And So I Will Wait For You", which hit #56 on the UK charts.  The follow-up was a house track, "Dirty Money", which managed to reach #74 on the UK pop charts, but also become a club hit thanks to remixes by Satoshi Tomiie. I have this 12" single and always loved this song, but until now, this was the only song I had ever heard by Dee.  I am glad to be able to hear more, and there are a couple other housey tracks on the album.  A promo of remixes of "Whatever It Takes" was also released, and Dee released one other non-album single in 1994, "Live My Life", but neither were hits. With solo stardom just out of reach, Dee went back to session singing.  Her Twitter account indicates that she is still singing and songwriting, especially for film soundtracks.  Hit her up there or on Facebook should you wish to know more.  Perhaps you could also ask her if a Lewis Sisters reunion is in the cards (fingers crossed). :)

Video for Dirty Money

Download Grace

1 Dirty Money
2 And So I Will Wait For You
3 Whatever It Takes
4 Hold On To What We've Got
5 How Can This Be Wrong
6 There But For The Grace
7 If I Could Relive Your Love
8 Don't Get In My Way
9 Buried Treasure
10 Look My Way