Dodie Stevens (born Geraldine Ann Pasquale, February 17, 1946) is an American rock and

traditional pop Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western culture, Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known ...

singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

. She is best known for her 1959

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

" Pink Shoe Laces." It debuted at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 when Stevens was one day short of 13 years old, and eventually peaked at number 3.

Early life

Stevens was born in

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

, United States. She and her family moved to the

San Gabriel Valley The San Gabriel Valley (), sometimes referred to by its initials as SGV, is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, with the city of Los Angeles directly bordering it to the west and occupying the vast majority of the southeastern ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

when she was three. She soon started taking singing and dancing lessons. In 1954, at the age of eight, she recorded her first song, "Merry-Go Merry-Go Round." The song was performed on the '' Art Linkletter's House Party'' TV show and was issued on Gold Star Records under the name Geri Pace.

"Pink Shoe Laces" and early career

The president of Crystalette Records, Carl Burns, happened to see her in a local show called ''Strictly Informal''. He gave her the name Dodie Stevens and the song "Pink Shoe Laces". Although Stevens did not initially like her new name or the song, she recorded "Pink Shoe Laces" in 1959 for the Crystalette

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product. Labels are most often affixed to packaging and containers using an adhesive, or sewing when affix ...

, and the song was picked up by Dot for National distribution. It reached number 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

, selling more than one million copies, and was awarded a

gold disc Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

. Following the song’s success, Dot Records signed her to a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

. Her first Dot recording was " Mairzy Doats" (Dot 16002) in 1959. In the early 1960s, she had several minor

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

s on Dot, including "No" (Dot 16103) and "Yes I'm Lonesome Tonight" (Dot 16167), as well as "Merry, Merry Christmas Baby" (M. Sylvia / G. Lopez) (Dot 16166), which continues to enjoy

airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

during the Christmas season. Dot also released Dodie's cover of the Patsy Cline hit "

I Fall to Pieces "I Fall to Pieces" is a song written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard that was originally recorded by Patsy Cline. Released as a single in 1961 via Decca Records, it topped the country charts, crossed over onto the pop charts and became among ...

" (Dot 16200) in 1961, and a remake of "Pink Shoe Laces" (Dot 16389) in 1962. She also recorded three non-charting

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 ...

s for the label: * ''Dodie Stevens'' (1959) * ''Over the Rainbow'' (1960) * ''Pink Shoe Laces'' (1963) Stevens appeared in the following

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

s: * '' Hound-Dog Man'' (1959) as Nita Stringer * '' Alakazam the Great'' aka ''Saiyu-Ki'' (1961) as DeeDee the Monkey * '' Convicts 4'' (1962) as Resko’s sister

Later career and legacy

Stevens married at the age of sixteen and moved to

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

to live on a farm. A few years later, she had a daughter, Stephanie. Soon thereafter, in 1966, she ended her marriage and resumed her singing career. In 1969, she once again appeared in the ''Billboard'' charts, peaking at number 117 pop, number 57 country, with "Billy, I've Got to Go to Town" (an

answer record An answer song, response song or answer record is a song (usually a recorded track) made in answer to a previous song, normally by another artist. The concept became widespread in blues and R&B recorded music in the 1930s to the 1950s. Answer son ...

to " Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town"), recorded under the name Geraldine Stevens. She took additional vocal lessons and, in 1972, began appearing and recording with

Sérgio Mendes Sérgio Santos Mendes (; 11 February 1941 – 5 September 2024) was a Brazilian musician. His career took off with worldwide hits by his band Brasil '66. He released 35 albums and was known for playing bossa nova, often mixed with funk. He ...

and Brasil '77. In the ensuing years she toured as a

backup singer A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

with such recording artists as

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "Hey Loretta", "The Pill (song), The P ...

Frankie Avalon Francis Thomas Avallone (born September 18, 1940), better known as Frankie Avalon, is an American singer, actor and former teen idol. He had 31 charting U.S. ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' singles from 1958 to late 1962, including Record ...

, and

Boz Scaggs William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was a bandmate of Steve Miller (musician), Steve Miller in the Ardells in the early 1960s and a member of the Steve Miller Band from 1967 to 196 ...

, and for twelve years with Mac Davis. In the 1990s, as Geri Stevens, she toured with Fabian and her own company "Dodie Stevens and The Pink Shoe Laces Review." Recently, she has performed with her daughter Stephanie and appeared at oldies concerts across the country. She also teaches singing and stage performance out of her studio in

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its border with Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634; it is the second-most populous ...

. "Pink Shoe Laces" has appeared in the game '' LittleBigPlanet 3'' and the television show '' The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel''.

Discography

;1959 * " Pink Shoe Laces" (US number 3; US R&B number 5) * "Yes-Sir-Ee" (US number 79) * "Five Pennies" (US number 89) * "Miss Lonely Hearts" (US number 111) ;1960 * "No" (US number 73) * "Yes, I’m Lonesome Tonight" (US number 60)

References

External links

Official websiteWebsitetoolbox.com
Both Sides Now Stereo Chat Board.
Dodie Stevens Interview
at NAMM Oral History Library (2011) {{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Dodie 1946 births Living people Singers from Chicago American child singers American women singers Dot Records artists Dolton Records artists Imperial Records artists Musicians from Illinois American people of Italian descent 21st-century American women