05 January 2012
VVN Music
The duo James and Bobby Purify was a bit of an enigma. There was a James Purify but there never was a Bobby. That part of the group was actually two different singers, the first of which was Robert Dickey. Dickey passed away on December 29 in Tallahassee, FL at the age of 72. No cause has been given.
Dickey joined up with his cousin Bobby in the mid-60's to form a soul duo that went on to be produced by Papa Don Schroeder. He brought the pair to Memphis' Fame Studios where they laid down a number of tracks including their big hit I'm Your Puppet (1966/#6 Pop/#5 R&B) which was produced by Dan Penn who wrote the song with Spooner Oldham. In total, the duo put ten records on the R&B charts, nine of which also made the Pop Hot 100, but they never duplicated the success of Puppet.
Dickey said he actually hated Puppet, telling the Tallahassee Democrat "It was originally intended to be the B-side. But things got changed ... I sang it for 23 hours straight (in the studio), that's why I hate it."
Robert left the duo in the early 70's (Ben Moore became the second Bobby Purify) and soon dropped out of the music industry, working as a city maintenance supervisor in Tallahassee.
