Talk:Julius Dixson

Edited text at 9 September 2007
The following text was placed here by User:Dimdimbaby :-

Julius Dixson was born in Barnwell, South Carolina in 1913. He served in the Army during World War II in England and France. After the war Dixson re-enlisted and was assigned to Special Services and hosted a live weekly radio broadcast – Variety Jive – a variety show featuring new songwriters and musicians - for the forces in Germany and the Middle East. In 1949 he returned to the States and moved to New York City to work as a professional songwriter.

He had greatest success co-writing with Beverly Ross, a rare musical pairing of an African-American male and a white female in the 1950s. Their first major hit was "Dim, Dim The Lights", which Bill Haley recorded in 1954 as the follow-up to "Shake, Rattle and Roll". The song reached # 10 in Variety Magazine [’s ] prestigious Retail Discs Chart in January 1955 and # 11 on the Billboard pop charts. However, Dim, Dim The Lights is of historic importance as it is not only Haley's first crossover hit with the Black R&B audience, reaching # 10 on the R&B chart, but the first song recorded by a white artist to crossover to the R&B charts period. Dim Dim The Lights has been hailed to be the grand daddy song of Rock n’ Roll by Alan Freed and many others.

Also with Ross, he co-wrote "Lollipop" for the duo Ronald and Ruby, who were in fact Ronald Gumps (a Black male teenager) and Ross herself. The recording was originally for the purpose of a demo to shop the song. But RCA got a hold of it and Dixson, who owned the master and produced the demo, agreed to let RCA release it. Their version soared up the chart reaching #20, but when it was learned that Ronald and Ruby were an interracial duo, television appearances that had been previously booked got cancelled and the song’s interest waned. Thanks to the cover version by The Chordettes Lollipop reached # 2 and #3 on the pop and R&B charts, respectively. In the UK the song was successfully covered by The Mudlarks and became a world wide hit reaching #1 in many countries in the free world. Dixson also co-wrote Annie Laurie's hit "It Hurts to Be in Love", among others.

He also established the independent company Alton Records. In late 1959, their instrumental single release "The Clouds" by The Spacemen, also written and produced by Dixson, reached # 1 on the R&B chart. Again, Dixson should be credited more than he is because The Clouds is the first number one on any chart released by an African-American owned independent record label, predating Motown's first # 1 by a year.

Dixson died in a hospital in Manhattan in 2004, at age 90. His family has claimed negligence by the hospital in his death and has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. .


 * I have sought clarification of Dimdimbaby's changes from him by email, and in the meantime re-edited the article on 10 September. In particular :-
 * "Dim, Dim The Lights", although historically important, was not the first song by a white artist to make the R&B chart (it was preceded by Bing Crosby, Ella Mae Morse, Johnnie Ray, among others)
 * The reference to Ronald Gumps (rather than Lee Morris) being "Ronald" may well be true but contradicts other sources and needs verification
 * The reference to Dixson writing "The Clouds" needs verification - Joel Whitburn states it was written and performed by Vinnie Bell. Ghmyrtle 12:24, 10 September 2007 (UTC)

I have now referred to, and corroborated, additional information from Dimdimbaby (Julius Dixson's son) to the effect that :
 * Ronald Gumps was a black teenager, who was shown in publicity photos with a black girl as "Ruby", before word leaked out that the female singer was in fact Beverly Ross.
 * BMI confirms that Julius Dixson, not Vinnie Bell, wrote "Clouds", and his estate receives royalties. One site credits "Clouds" to Sammy Benskin and the Spacemen. Ghmyrtle 10:05, 11 September 2007 (UTC)

Life and Work

Lollipop has remained popular in the world over the last 20 years and is enjoyed by a diverse and younger generation thanks to its use in major commercials endorsing staple products, movies and songs, i.e., Dell Computers, Tide, Target, Kohl's and many more; Recent movies - Lolipop has been featured in "Whip it" - the Drew Barrymore directorial debut - and "Planet 51;" Recent songs - "Kandy Life," Lady Gaga and "Lollipop" - Big Bang and 2NE1 (from Korea). Julius Tajiddin (talk) 15:42, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

http://www.mtv.com/news/2294898/song-you-need-to-know-lady-gaga-kandy-life/

Julius Tajiddin (talk) 15:45, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lollipop_(Big_Bang_and_2NE1_song) Julius Tajiddin (talk) 15:48, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

"It Hurts To Be In Love" with Rudy Toombs
I have listened to the 1957 Annie Laurie performance, 99 cents at Amazon. I believe that there was an earlier version, about 1954, sung by a girl trio. If my belief were true, the Dixson-Toombs composition would date from that earlier period. Love the song. Stuart Filler (talk) 07:46, 28 August 2014 (UTC)

Lollipop song's creation
Lollipop came about after my father met with his co-writer at the time, Beverly Ross, to work on some material and he was late due to my sister getting gum stuck in her hair.

He thought it would be a good idea to write a song about it. According to my father she was resistant to the idea. But they were having a hard time fitting the word "bubble gum" into the song.

Dad said he changed the word to Lollipop. And when he created the Oh Lolli Lolli hook the song came together.

He set up the studio session for the demo and used a young neighbor of his by the name Ronald Gumps to sing with Beverly.

Arnie Shaw, a music manager, got the demo to shop around. When he let people at RCA hear it they wanted to release the song as is. He signed off on the deal without my father's permission.

He had a short window to convince my father to go with RCA before my father found out.

However, he writes his version of the history as if Beverly Ross came to him with this song and played it for him. He states that he immediately fell in love with the song and arranged the studio session. He tries to give the impression that he produced the version with Ronald and Ruby.

Beverly has her version. However, analyzing the three stories my father's version seems to be more accurate. Julius Tajiddin (talk) 07:55, 20 February 2019 (UTC)


 * Just to clarify - your father was Julius Dixson, yes? The problem is that what you say has not been confirmed in published, reliable sources, so can't be included in the article.... and you should not try to edit the article yourself as it contravenes our policies on conflict of interest.  Thanks.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 09:43, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Yes he was. However, I thought this area was a discussion area. Julius Tajiddin (talk) 15:13, 20 February 2019 (UTC)
 * Yes, absolutely - but the guidance is that you should not edit the article itself. If there are inaccuracies in it, you're welcome to raise them on this talk page and - so long as they can be supported by independent sources - another editor can then include them in the article.   Thanks.    Ghmyrtle (talk) 15:16, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

The other information I put in the page was removed? That was backed up by other references. But you're saying because I'm the son I can't edit anything on the page? Julius Tajiddin (talk) 15:17, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Ok. So put it here you're saying? And just wait? Lol Julius Tajiddin (talk) 15:19, 20 February 2019 (UTC)


 * The problems with these edits that you made today are: (1) they are about the song rather than your father - so, if they are to be included anywhere, they should be in the article about the song, not this article; (2) however, the sources that you've used (MTV, and Wikipedia itself), are not reliable sources - in particular, one Wikipedia article should not be used as a reference for another); and (3) (a more minor point) they are not formatted correctly. So, they don't meet the criteria of being factual corrections, they are in the wrong place, and they should not be included in this article - by you or by anyone else.  I hope this helps.  Ghmyrtle (talk) 15:36, 20 February 2019 (UTC)

Okay. Thanks for the clarification. Julius Tajiddin (talk) 17:28, 20 February 2019 (UTC)