Richard Dimples Fields

Biography

Richard "Dimples" Fields (March 21, 1941 - January 12, 2000) was an American soul singer popular during the 1980s. Sources differ as to whether he was born in New Orleans, Louisiana or San Francisco, California. However, he began singing professionally in the latter city in the early 1970s, purchasing a San Francisco cabaret, the Cold Duck Music Lounge, where he headlined. He took his nickname "Dimples" from a female admirer who remarked that he was always smiling. He began recording for his ow...

Richard "Dimples" Fields (March 21, 1941 - January 12, 2000) was an American soul singer popular during the 1980s. Sources differ as to whether he was born in New Orleans, Louisiana or San Francisco, California. However, he began singing professionally in the latter city in the early 1970s, purchasing a San Francisco cabaret, the Cold Duck Music Lounge, where he headlined. He took his nickname "Dimples" from a female admirer who remarked that he was always smiling.

He began recording for his own DRK label, before signing to Boardwalk Records in 1981. His first minor hit was a cover of The Penguins' "Earth Angel" that year. His first album for Boardwalk also featured the track "She's Got Papers On Me", the lament of a married man wanting his mistress, which was interrupted by his wife, played by Betty Wright, setting out her view of the situation.

His breakthrough single came in 1982 with "If It Ain't One Thing It's Another", which reached # 1 on the U.S. soul chart and # 47 on the Billboard Hot 100. He had recorded and released an earlier version of the song for DRK in 1975 - in which he muses on the problems in his life, covering everything from an ugly pregnant girlfriend to the need to read the Bible - and was persuaded to re-record and update it by an old friend, including it on his Mr. Look So Good! album before it was issued as a single.

He had several less successful follow-ups before Boardwalk Records folded in 1983. He then signed with RCA Records, but was dropped after several unsuccessful singles and albums. Renamed simply "Dimples", he continued to record for the Columbia and Life labels. He also worked as a record producer with 9.9, Pat Benatar and The Ohio Players among others.

Fields died in Novato, California in 2000 as the result of a stroke. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.