Dee D. Jackson (born Deirdre Elaine Cozier, 15 July 1954,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

, England) is an English singer and musician who was primarily associated with the

space disco Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, pop, ...

genre. In the 1970s, she worked as a film producer in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

before moving into music, working with

Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder (, ; born 26 April 1940) is an Italian composer and music producer. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Disco", Moroder is credited with pioneering Euro disco and electronic dance music. His work ...

, Jimmy McShane and

Keith Forsey Keith Forsey (born 2 January 1948) is an English pop musician and record producer. Early life Forsey began his career as a percussionist in the mid-late 1960s as the drummer for The Spectrum and as the drummer in Udo Lindenberg's Panik Orche ...

. She is perhaps best known for " Automatic Lover" (1978), the

lead single A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. A similar term, "debut ...

from her

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

''Cosmic Curves'' (1978).

Career

Deirdre Elaine Cozier was born on 15 July 1954 in

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, and lived there with her father Roy (a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

), her mother Gloria (a former

chorus girl A chorus line is a large group of dancers who together perform synchronized routines, usually in musical theatre. Sometimes, singing is also performed. While synchronized dancing indicative of a chorus line was vogue during the first half of th ...

, dancer and singer) and five younger siblings until her early 20s. Her passion for music was kindled in her youth thanks to "a fabulous music teacher who thought hewas worth investing his time on". Cozier took classical dance lessons and learned from an early age to play the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

and

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

; she noted that "music lived in erhouse" as a child. When she was nineteen, she was married for a period of three weeks "to a minstrel" who "absconded with all of their belongings after only three weeks". After she "began ersearch for him", Cozier left the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

for

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

with only the clothes on her back and the little money in her pocket; she never saw the man again. With little to fall back on, Cozier earned her scarce income by performing gigs all over Germany, noting that her "very first gig was in a strip club singing three songs a night with a Turkish jazz quartet". After she found a manager and producer, she spent several months performing whenever and wherever she could in

; she was soon introduced to the likes of

, Zeke Lund and

Harold Faltermeyer Hans Hugo Harold Faltermeyer (born 5 October 1952) is a German musician, composer and record producer. Faltermeyer is best known for composing the " Axel F" theme for the feature film '' Beverly Hills Cop'', an influential synth-pop hit in the ...

; Cozier soon began performing under the stage name Dee D. Jackson upon the suggestion of her producer Gary Unwin and his wife Patty. The alias was coined "because no one ever got er realname right". Simultaneously performing live and working for other artists as a backing vocalist, Jackson's first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "Man of a Man" (1977), was released to sales of only a few thousand copies and did not garner the public's attention. It was at this time that she began work on the

''Cosmic Curves'' (1978) in the recording studio; the launch of the album was preceded by the release of its

, " Automatic Lover" (1977), which became her greatest critical and commercial success and sold an estimated six to eight million copies across

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, including peaking at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart and No. 5 in Germany. In

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

, the success was such that the Brazilian media produced its own version of Dee D. Jackson, an impostor performer introduced as "D. Dee Jackson" (played by Regina Shakti) performed to the real Jackson's song during the height of her commercial success. Jackson was upset to discover, upon the song's release, that she was not credited for writing the chorus (Gary and Patty Unwin took full credit for her contributions, and as such she did not receive songwriting royalties for the single for years. Jackson's subsequent singles - "Meteor Man", "Which Way Is Up", "Fireball", "S.O.S. (Love to the Rescue)" and "Thunder and Lightning" - received modest airplay but failed to attract the commercial attention of her biggest hit, just as did the sales of her second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''Thunder & Lightning'' (1980), were less remarkable in comparison to ''Cosmic Curves''. After months of exhaustively traveling in promotion of her work, including television appearances across much of Europe, Jackson briefly moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

for several months before relocating to

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, where an additional string of Italo disco and space disco singles were released to limited success. She established a recording studio in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and spent much of the remainder of her career as a production and writing assistant for other artists. A third album, ''Blame It on the Rain'' (1992), was completed but withdrawn from the market due to disagreements with the distributor. She continues to write and produce songs for other musicians (ex. Nylon Moon), and resides in

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

with her son Norman. Of her entire discography, Jackson's favorite release is the space disco single "Moonlight Starlight".

Discography

Albums

*''Cosmic Curves'' (1978) - AUS #79 *''Thunder & Lightning'' (1980) eleased in Italy as ''The Fantastic''*''Blame It on the Rain'' (1992)

Compilation albums and boxed sets

*''Profile'' (1981) *''Il Meglio'' (1998) *''Discomania'' (2002) * ''Space and Time 2010'' (2010) *''Starlight – The Ultimate Collection'' (2012) * ''Her Story'' (2015)

Singles

References

External links

Dee D. Jackson website

Dee D. Jackson fansite
*
Dee D. Jackson Photo Gallery
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jackson, Dee D. 1954 births Living people English women singers Musicians from Oxford British Italo disco musicians United Artists Records artists Deram Records artists London Records artists Carrere Records artists Canadian-American Records artists