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Denise Ferri, from Belleville, New Jersey, has been singing, recording and performing since the age of 14. She is a founding member of the early rock and roll girl group The Delicates, which was formed in 1958. Denise’s group was signed to several major record companies ie: Unart under the direction of Billy Mure, United Artists under the direction of Don Costa, and Roulette under the direction of Henry Glover. Denise also recorded under the name of Silky And Sage with Rick Randell under the direction of Joel Diamond, Silver Blue Productions on Date/Columbia Records. In 1959 Denise and her group had a regional hit record called. "Black and White Thunderbird" (a song they wrote) on the Unart label. The girls were introduced to legendary New York City DJ Murray the K, famous for his Swingin Soiree on 1010-WINS. Murray loved their record and the girls and they quickly became his "Dancing Girls". Murray asked them to write a theme song for his radio show and the girls ended up writing and recording several including the famous "Submarine Race Watcher's Theme" which opened and closed his show for years. Denise appeared in many stage shows including The Brooklyn Fox and Brooklyn Paramount 10 day rock and roll revues for Murray the K, Palisades Amusement Park, Commack Long Island Arena as well as TV shows of the day including Alan Freed's "Big Beat", the Clay Cole Show, Clay Cole's "Rate The Record", Connecticut Bandstand, the Richard Hayes Show, Joe Franklin's " Memory Lane", the Buddy Deane Show and American Bandstand. In 1961 and 1962 Denise also toured with Clay Cole"s Twist-A-Rama" with the Capris, replacing the Ronettes. Throughout the 60’s and 70's Denise worked as a backup singer for major recording artists including Jose Feliciano, Patty Duke, Frankie Lyman, Steve Lawrence, Connie Francis, Frankie Valli and Lou Christie to mention a few. She sang backup On Frankie Valli's "You're Ready Now", which is now considered a Northern Soul Anthem. Denise also backed Frankie on "The Proud One" and "Cry For Me" which is featured in the in both the stage and movie versions "Jersey Boys". Her voice can also be heard on Lou Christie's MGM hits."Painter", "Trapeze" which is featured in the Eathan Hawke film "Before Sunrise," "Rhapsody In The Rain" and most notably "Lightning Strikes". In the mid 70’s she recorded a string of commercials, most notably the "Shop Rite Can Can" which ran for seven years on TV and radio, the "Frizzie Blues" for Mennen Protein 21 Shampoo with the Rascals and Pepsi Cola "Come Alive" with Lou Christie. Throughout the 80"s and 90's Denise continued doing back-up work for life long friend Tommy DeVito, founding member of the Four Seasons and primo Jersey Boy! Some 50 years later Disney/Pixar chose "Black and White Thunderbird'" for inclusion in their "Lightning McQueen's Fast Tracks" CD. That CD made the top ten on Billboard Magazine's Kid's Audio chart. Disney/Pixar also included "Thunderbird" on a subsequent CD entitled "Buddy Songs."  |