R.I.P. - Dean Parrish (1942 - 08/06/2021)

The Northern Soul world mourns yet another one of it's heroes. It was announced this evening (10 Jun) that Dean Parrish (Phil Anastasi) has died aged 79 (reportedly on 8 Jun). Tributes are flooding onto his facebook page.

He was immortalised when his 1967 Laurie recording of "I'm On My Way" was played at Wigan Casino as the last record of the "Three Before Eight" at the end of each all-nighter session. It was reissued in 1975 in the UK and reached #38 on the UK Pop chart. It was released again in 1978 on RK along with the other two "Three Before Eight" tracks on RK, which was reissued as the first release on Goldmine Soul Supply in the mid 90s.

He had other tunes played on the scene including "Bricks, Broken Bottles And Sticks", "Tell Her" (his only Billboard chart entry at #97) and "Determination" / "Turn On Your Lovelight". He only released a few more singles such as "Skate" and only this year released a new single "It's Time - Purple Mountain Majesty" (which he wrote in 1966/67) which I posted in Jan.

Some of the B sides were "I'm Over Eighteen" (Bricks, Broken Bottles And Sticks),  "Fall On Me" (Tell Her), "Watch Out" (I'm On My Way).

He released his first record as Dean Parrish in 1964 "Come On Down (To The World's Fair)" / "The Pavillion" co-written and produced by Teddy Van. Four singles were released prior to that in the early 60s, three as Anastasia and one as Phil Stacey which are mainly doo-wop tunes. 

In 1970 he released a single whilst with the group Steeplechase (which he co-wrote with Tony Radicello) "Never Coming Back" / "Lady Bright" on Polydor. They also released an album titled "Lady Bright" on which he co-wrote all of the tracks (mainly with Radicello).

In 1979 (as Phil Anastasi) he was drafted as lead singer into a disco band called The Wonder Band who released a single and an album ("Stairway To Love") of mainly disco versions (and a medley) of Led Zeppelin tracks! (e.g. "Whole Lotta Love" and "Stairway To Heaven")

Parrish was oblivious to the popularity of his records in the UK until the noughties when he was eventually tracked down by Wigan Casino DJ Russ Winstanley and has since been a regular and popular visitor to the UK over the years performing live at many weekender events.

As a fitting tribute here's possibly his last UK appearance in Sep 2018 at Skegness Weekender and as a bonus performing one of the other Three Before Eight tunes, Jimmy Radcliffe's "Long After Tonight Is All Over" with Tommy Hunt in 2010.

Sincere condolences to his family. He will be a true loss to the Northern Soul scene as literally anyone involved in NS will know his name and his immortal track and now sadly he is truly "On His Way".