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Richard 'Dimples' Fields

U.S. soul singer, songwriter, producer and record company executive. He took his nickname, "Dimples", from a female admirer who remarked that he was always smiling. Born in New Orleans, he moved to Oakland at age nine. Originally intending to be a pro baseball player, his mind changed after forming a high school band. He sang in local clubs in the Bay Area in the 1960s and started recording in late mid-1960s on small local labels, scoring a regional hit with "Tears Big As Cantaloupes". In the early 1970s he opened The Cold Duck Music Lounge in San Fransisco to further his singing career and established the record company / label [a=Dat Richfield Kat], publishers [l=Dat Richfield Kat Publishing, Inc.] / [l=Dat Richfield Kat Music]. When The Cold Duck burned down near the end of the 1970s he signed with [l=20th Century Records] in 1979 but they never released his material. After two years of no action at 20th he signed to [l=The Boardwalk Entertainment Co] in early 1981 under his production company [l=DRK Productions, Inc.] (aka [l=DRK Productions]). At Boardwalk he released his first charting track, a cover of [a=The Penguins]'s "Earth Angel". His biggest hits on the label were "If It Ain't One Thing, It's Another" and "She's Got Papers On Me". In this period he worked extensively as a writing and production duo with manager [a=Belinda Wilson], with whom he also co-owned publisher [l=Songs Can Sing]. His chart success also brought him producer work, notably for [a=Betty Wright] and [a=Ohio Players] and singing group [a=9.9], whom he discovered and developed. When Boardwalk closed down in 1983 Fields moved to RCA, where he saw moderate success with the single "Your Wife Is Cheating On Us" but not enough to prevent RCA from dropping him after two albums due to lack of sales. He then moved to Columbia but was still unable to replicate his chart success from the start of the decade, with "Tell It Like It Is" only making a minor dent in the 1987 charts. At the start of the 1990s he established [l=Catalyst 321 Entertainment Group] and signed to [l=Life Records] for a short stint. In 1994 he established the label [l=Owch! Records] and made a last attempt at a comeback but was not successful. b. March 21, 1942 in New Orleans, Louisiana. d. January 12, 2000 in Los Angeles, California, of a stroke.