A true Entertainer with a capital E – Gina Dee spent decades bringing joy to untold thousands of people in the central Kentucky area as well as the rest of the United States – and the world! This tribute is long overdue … enjoy! [2026 Shawn Chambers / Lexingtunes]
The damp cobblestones on the Glasgow, Scotland, street corner could only be mistaken for a stage in a child’s fantasy. The darkening sky and single streetlamp re-imagined as a hushed audience and spotlight. Shoes shuffle and a powerful voice bursts out in song gathering the attention of passersby…
Georgina McLeish was born February 4, 1941, and her penchant for spontaneous song and dance routines performed for family and friends started about the same time she could walk and talk. Postwar Europe would be the backdrop of her early childhood, but her teen years would be spent a literal ocean away from her beloved Caledonia.
It is typical that military families relocate often and with a Navy officer for a stepfather – sometimes such moves are truly lifechanging. Young Georgina came to the United States around age 9, first to Massachusetts before the family relocated more permanently to the Norfolk, Virginia, area. It is here that Georgina really blossomed.
As a pre-teen and teenager, Georgina was already assembling a strong resumé. Her singing was featured on a local television program “Teen Doin’s” in early 1953. A few months later she was part of the Kempsville Follies. This was followed by a “Mistress of Ceremonies” hosting slot for her Portlock Junior High talent show.
She entered high school fresh from an appearance on local WGH radio and as a Freshman, she organized a troupe of young entertainers dubbed the Gina-Teens who performed regularly for patients at Portsmouth Naval Hospital. By the summer of 1955 she gained enough attention to warrant a photo spread pulling faces for the local newspaper.
The details are a bit hazy, but Georgina was in Naples, Italy, in 1956 and it is here that she met and fell in love with Sgt. James Faulkner of the USMC. The two were wed in December the following year upon their return to the U.S. Faulkner was a Harlan, Kentucky, native with ambitions of his own. The young couple settled in Lexington where he could pursue Accounting at the University of Kentucky. ‘Georgina’ was left behind. Here she would become the singer, entertainer, and comedienne known simply as Gina Dee.
From the start, Gina’s career had no time for half-measures. Her approach to Robert E. Mooney and his namesake REM Records was instantly different than that of the homegrown talent. There is no evidence that a local recording attempt was made, but a partnership was forged for Gina’s first record nevertheless. In exchange for Mooney setting up auditions via his Nashville contacts, she agreed to record one of his original compositions.
The trip south was rocky. Quickly, Dee soured on Nashville as she witnessed firsthand the lengths artists were willing to go to in order to make it on the scene. Running out of time and money, she found a last-minute play in Memphis and scored a deal with the Home of the Blues label.
Back home, music writer Bob Horine described her voice as “somewhere between Kay Starr and Teresa Brewer” on this record. That is a fair comparison on the lost love cut “Six Feet Below”, but the flip is more suited to Gina’s unique style.
Bob Mooney’s penned “Railroaded” showcases what he likely believed Gina to be – a local Brenda Lee. The comparison was practically inevitable given Gina’s strong, fiery vocal ability and her petite frame routinely documented in the press: 100 pounds, 4’ 11”, 20-inch waist.
The release pulled a favorable “Three Star” rating from Billboard. Certainly, that would have pleased the pair, but businessman Bob was almost certainly “Moody” from his misspelled surname on the label credit as well as his own Fayette Pub. not properly credited there either.
Certainly, this first wax was a calling card and opportunities quickly appeared back in Lexington. In ’62 and ’63 she was at the Terrace Room, Congress Inn, and Comer’s working with legendary local jazz great Duke Madison. Best of all the “cute little singer” landed her own local television show on Sunday nights on Channel 18!
The mid ‘60s was the most evolutionary time in Dee’s career. In 1964, she would start the first of what would be many trips to the Midwest and West for a string of supper club performances. Particularly well received at the T-Bone Entertainment Club in Wichita, Kansas, she would return many times. Springfield, Missouri; Des Moines, Mason City, and Coeur d’Alene in Idaho; Rapid City, South Dakota; and Washington’s Longview were just some stops along the way.
These shows were often in the company of the Barnard Franklin combo and comedian Dave Bond. The mix was ideal for Gina. Between belting out old standards and current hits, she would zing one-liners and tell stories while also perfecting a whole host of invented characters that would become a part of her act for years to come. The local newspaper ads pegged her perfectly – Dynamic! Explosive! Exciting Talent!
She was not through with recording and in 1965 cut what would become her most popular record with collectors. This time her return to Nashville would be more fulfilling. Signed to Bragg Records (a deal that garnered a blurb in Variety Magazine) and recorded at Columbia Studios, Gina would tackle two cuts by the legendary Music City arranger Bergen White.
A true signature song “You Can’t Trust a Friend” is both instantly exotic and yet somehow familiar. Dee’s vocals are part camp with a nearly impossible to pinpoint not-from-around-these-parts inflection. Toss in cool horns on a swinging, danceable arrangement that never overpowers, and it is no real surprise this would be picked up in subsequent years by some deep divers on Europe’s Northern Soul scene.
The flip “Some Kind of Fool” boasts the same quality big studio sound and is well crafted. Gina’s vocals reign in slightly and it is a nice of-the-moment ‘60s female pop. Bragg was a small label in a big music town and competition was fierce. Any promotion effort for the 45 remains a complete mystery.
If there was any disappointment it wasn’t reflected in her personal or professional life as her career back in the Bluegrass continued to grow. Relocated to nearby Paris, Dee would continue to make the Lexington night club scene her playground. Long stints followed in ’66 at the newly revamped club La Flame where she would not only sing but showcase her slew of now fully fleshed characters: Hobsie the Hobo, Mrs Murphy the Irish Scrubwoman, Billie Jo Jones – Lady of the Night, a pantomime named Charlie Smith, and Pagliacci. Of course, she had numerous vocal tributes running from Fanny Brice to Louis Armstrong and everything in between.
The local appearances still allowed enough time to drift to Mississippi, Indiana, and Iowa with Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, and North Carolina coming the following year. This pattern would continue for the next several years. From hit appearances at Lexington local hotspots The Phoenix, Camelot, Comer’s (working alongside Little Enis), and the Continental Inn, she would drift on long trips westward and even internationally to Canada, South America, Guam, and even entertaining troops in Vietnam!
Between travels she still had a desire to record. In 1969 Gina Dee was once more in front of the mic at some unknown studio, but this time keeping it local. The self-released 45 would be produced and directed by Ron Sexton another Lexington area guitarist and vocalist. On the A-side, Dee offers her take on Bobby Goldsboro’s divorce track “With Pen in Hand” – seemingly inspired by the hit Vicki Carr version.
Every record I’ve ever made turned out to be a flop. About the only way to get rid of them is to give them to poor orphans or force them on people. – Gina Dee, 1974
Incredibly saavy in managing her own career, a touring slowdown in the mid-1970s did not mean Gina wasn’t garnering press. Her planned trip to tour Russia in 1974 drew plenty of ink as did her legal play in 1976.
Dee became aware of her old publicity photo appearing in the film “Lenny” during a scene set in Lenny Bruce’s manager’s office. Her lawsuit filing in US District Court in Lexington sought $50,000 for damages. Noting the photo was prior to her cosmetic surgery to her nose and breasts, Dee said in the suit that it was no longer representative of her “as a performing artist in image which she desires to be represented visually to the public.’’
Brought against both United Artists and a local drive in theater owner, the suit was almost certainly doomed to fail. The photo in question is in a wall grouping of other stars and is in soft focus in every brief shot. Certainly, there is no follow up to the lawsuit in subsequent papers. Controversial or not, all press is good press and the initial filing made the papers in Winchester, Louisville, Frankfort and Lexington.
Miss Versatility and the Campbell House Inn went hand-in-hand throughout her career. Still a solid draw as she approached two decades on the local club circuit her constant updating of her characters as well as her extensive gown collection kept the show fresh. The Campbell House would become home again in the early 1980s with a new variety show and some old friends in PJ Shorte, Russ Lay, Rob Wood and Dick Hughbanks.
Scratch that. Make it a solid draw as she approached THREE decades on the local club circuit. In 1990 she teamed with Frank Nichols and the Koins for a 1940s – 1980s act running there often up to four nights a week there.
From the young girl who traveled so far to the seasoned performer who traveled even farther – Gina had one move left. In 2010, she left the Bluegrass for good and moved with her daughter’s family to Greenville, South Carolina. Her days were filled with grandchildren and family, but an entertainer never quits. Gina Dee still brought smiles and laughter to the residents of the Senior Action Center there with regular performances.
Gina Dee passed away in February 2017.
Discography:
Home of the Blues 236 Railroaded / Six Feet Below 1961*
*technically the matrix number implies a reversal of titles, but “Railroaded” IS the cut and even Billboard listed it as the A-side. Big thanks to Gerrit Robs in the Netherlands who was kind enough to provide the song samples for this 45 from the collection of Bert Louwerse – a friend and fellow collector who has sadly passed on.
Bragg 216 You Can’t Trust A Friend / Some Kind Of Fool 1965
Gina Records SR2064 With Pen In Hand / Ever Gentle On My Mind 1969
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