Dean Parrish

Soul Singer Known for Northern Soul Classic Im On My Way

Dean Parrish (born c. 1942, Little Italy, New York City, New York, USA - died June 8, 2021) was an American soul singer. He developed his love of soul music listening to black doo-wop singers at art school and to early Motown. He cut his teeth as a performer at the legendary Peppermint Lounge, a basement club in Manhattan and the Lighthouse Club on 76th and Broadway alongside Jimi Hendrix. In 1965 Dean signed to Musicor and recorded the first of his soul sides 'Bricks, Broken Bottles And Sticks' which became a local radio hit and earned him a contract with Boom Records. 'Tell Her' was released in June 1966, his only Billboard pop hit breaking the Hot 100 at No.97. 'Determination' was next followed by the Mod favourite 'Skate' before the year was out. A switch to Laurie saw the release of the Northern Soul anthem 'I'm On My Way' in November of '67, which sank without trace, and Dean bowed out as a solo artist. Reverting to his birth name he took up work as a session musician with his friend Jimi Hendrix and played guitar on Bob Marley's 'Reggae On Broadway'. When the session work started to dry up Dean (Phil) became a wedding singer, a career move that led to a cameo appearance in an episode of The Sopranos. All the while Dean Parrish was blissfully unaware of his cult status across the Atlantic on the UK "Northern Soul" scene, despite selling 250,000 copies of 'I'm On My Way' as part of Russ Winstanley's 'Three Before Eight' EP. He had to wait until the dawn of the new millennium before he was finally tracked down and, to his astonishment, the truth was finally revealed.