Rick Dees And His Cast Of Idiots

Born in 1950 in Memphis, Tennessee, Rigdon Osmond Dees III was employed as a local radio disc jockey when he chose in 1976 to cut a satirical disco track. Drawing from Jackie Lee’s 1965 chart success ‘The Duck’, he crafted lyrics and layered them over a pulsating dance arrangement whose quacking refrain echoed the cartoon duck Donald. With disco dominating the airwaves, the resulting novelty ‘Disco Duck (Part One)’ quickly lodged itself in the public ear and climbed to number one on the American pop charts. He next tried to repeat the formula with ‘Dis-Gorilla’, a King Kong-inspired single that managed only modest chart placement. Not until 1984 did Dees score one last minor hit via the humorous pairing ‘Eat My Shorts’/‘Get Nekked’; afterward he devoted himself fully to broadcasting, ultimately ranking among the most listened-to voices in U.S. radio.