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He was born Richard Addrisi in Winthrop,
Massachusetts. From a young age he and his brother
Don were part of the traveling
trapeze act "The Flying Addrisis" with their parents, and they sang
and performed all over the United States. In 1957 they settled in Los
Angeles where he and his brother, known as
"The Addrisi Brothers" were signed by Bob Keane to Del Phi
Records. Here Don wrote his
first his hit single for them, "Cherrystone" which reached
No.62 on the US
chart. In the early 1960s they
were in-house songwriters for the Valiant label and in 1965 Don wrote
"Where Does Love Go" which was recorded by Charles Boyer and
was nominated for a spoken-word Grammy award, although later withdrawn as
there had been a small singing part on it. They wrote "Don't Blame
It on Me" which was the B Side of The Association's hit
"Cherish". They
wrote "Never My Love" which has had over 300 versions sung of
it, with hits coming from Fifth Dimension, The Association, and Blue Swede
and also "I Believe You" which was recorded by Dorothy
Moore. From 1972 the brothers
recorded several chart singles including "We've Got to Get It on
Again", "Slow Dancin' Don't Turn Me On" and
"Ghost Dancer".
After Don's death in 1984, Dick went on to become a
composers' agent and a talent scout.
The Association
recordings
Never My Love (Don & Dick Addrisi)
Sources:
1.
www.discomuseum.com/DonAddrisi.html
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