Dick Dodd

Born and raised in the sleepy Oceanside Southern California town of Hermosa Beach, Dodd grew up wanting to be a musician. He started singing and playing the accordion, which was a gift from his father, and eventually drew the attention of a Disney talent scout. The man was looking for talented and personable children to star in a new variety TV show called "The Mickey Mouse Club." After several grueling auditions, many of which were attended by the company's patriarch, Walt Disney, Dodd beat out 300 of his peers to earn a spot on the show. Although Dodd's tenure on "The Mickey Mouse Club" lasted only a season, by the early 1960s he was making a name for himself as a member of such pioneering Southern California surf rock bands as Eddie and the Showmen and the Bel-Airs, the latter of whom scored a hit with 1961's "Mr. Moto." By the mid-1960s, however, Dodd saw that surf-rock was on the way out, and quickly joined the up-and-coming garage rock group, The Standells, as a drummer and vocalist. The Standells recorded their biggest hit in late 1965 with "Dirty Water." The song, which featured numerous references to the city of Boston, became a breakout hit in 1966, reaching as high as No. 11 on the Billboard 100. Although the ensuing years were not as kind to Dodd and his bandmates, they did manage to appear in a few B-movies, including 1967's "Riot on the Sunset Strip," as well as on an episode of the cult 60s sitcom, "The Munsters" (CBS, 1964-66). Dodd left The Standells in 1968, performing sporadically with his own band, The Dodd Squad, over the next several decades, while taking whatever odd job he could to pay the bills. "Dirty Water," however, only grew in popularity, especially among Boston's devoted sports fanbase, and by 2004 Dodd was invited by the Red Sox organization to sing the song at the team's first World Series appearance in nearly 20 years. Despite announcing that he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer in early 2013, Dodd continued performing live up until the spring of that year. He died several months later at a Fountain Valley, CA hospital. Dodd was 68.