Richard Gosting and Mary Sperling met while students at Paul Revere Junior High in Los Angeles. They attended different high schools but met again after graduation. At the time Mary was attending college, and Dick was looking for a job. Both realized that they were singer-songwriters, and together they began writing songs and singing the vocal parts. The two were never an item. Strictly business!
The first Dick and Dee Dee single was “I Want Someone,” backed with “The Mountain's High.” It was pressed on Lama Records, a small company started by their record producers. Their recordings were created with four vocal tracks with each of them singing two separate harmony lines. Dick sang the highest and lowest parts, including the falsetto, and Mary sang the middle notes. Without telling the duo, the record producers changed Mary’s name to Dee Dee, something they did not discover until after the record was released.
Someone in San Francisco radio turned “I Want Someone” over, and “The Mountain's High” took off like a shot. Lama leased the song to Liberty Records, and a career was born. Dick and Dee Dee would later back the Rolling Stones in the studio.