The following was Phil's original website that he had up on AOL:
WELCOME TO THE DJ WORLD OF PHILLIP E. DICKERSON OF PHILADELPHIA PENNSYLVANIA
LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING
HELLO MY NAME IS PHILLIP E. DICKERSON AND I AM A DJ HERE IN PHILADELPHIA PENNSYLVANIA. I HAVE BEEN DJ'ING FOR OVER 25 YEARS HERE IN PHILLY AND THE SURROUNDING AREA. THE BEST CLUB I HAVE PLAYED IN HERE IN PHILADELPHIA IS A CLUB WHICH WAS LOCATED 922 ARCH STREET. IT WAS CALLED 'SMART PLACE' DUSTIES FOR SHORT. NOT MUCH TO LOOK AT BUT IF YOU WANTED TO HEAR A GOOD TUNE OR GET YOUR LIFE IT WAS THE SPOT TO BE. I PLAYED AT SMART PLACE ON FRIDAYS AND SATURDAYS FROM THE SUMMER OF 1983 UNTIL THE DAY IT CLOSED JULY 6, 1990. REST IN PEACE DUSTIES.
ABOUT ME AND MY MUSIC
I HAVE BEEN A BILLBOARD AND SIN REPORTER FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS. AND I PLAY WHAT MUSIC LOVERS CALL GARAGE AND UNDERGROUND HOUSE WITH SOULFUL VOCALS.
I HAVE PLAYED IN MANY CITIES. NEW YORK, LOS ANGELES, CHICAGO, MIAMI, ATLANTA, DETROIT, MONTREAL, HOUSTON, SAN FRANCISCO, ATLANTIC CITY, JUST TO NAME A FEW. AND I MUST NOT FORGET MY TOUR OF EUROPE WITH LONDON ENGLAND AND RIMINI ITALY.
TO MY PRODUCTION CREDIT I HAVE WORKED WITH THE JACKSON'S, HELEN BRUNER, SARA DASH OF LABELLE, CANDY J, CLAUDIA BARRY, AND ROBERT BRAWN.
SOME OF THE OTHER DJ'S WHO I LIKE AND ARE FRIENDS OF MINE ARE TONY HUMPHRIES, LOUIE VEGA, TODD TERRY, TEDDY DOUGLAS, DJ SPEN, FRANKIE KNUCKLES, DAVID MORALES, HEX HECTOR, JONATHAN PETERS, STEVE SILK HURLEY, TERRY HUNTER JUST TO NAME A FEW.
DURING MY DAYS OF A DJ I HAVE MET JANET JACKSON, DEBORAH COX, RUPAUL, GLORIA ESTEFAN, KRISTINE W, SANDY B, JOI CARDWELL, MARTHA WASH, JOCELYN BROWN, DAJAE, ADEVA, CANDI STATON, TAYLOR DAYNE, MARIAH CAREY, FIRST CHOICE, KENNY BOBIAN, JUST TO NAME A FEW.
My Interests
TO TRY TO BRING GREATER MUSIC TO THE SCENE IN PHILADELPHIA
That's the end of Phil's original website. The best way to understand a DJ is to examine the music that moved them. The following chart is the playlist of music that Phil played on WNYU Radio's "The Candy Store" which is broadcast every Monday night from 10 to 1AM ET. We were in New York for the 2000 Billboard Dance Music Summit and Phil was asked to play a set on the air that night.
WNYU: The Candy Store Guest DJ: Phillip Dickerson (July 10th, 2000)
| Jaime Lewis | Love Me or Leave Me | Purple Music Inc. |
| JoVonn | Joy | Estereo (Fun Vibe Mix) |
| The Originals | Down To Love Town | Astralwerks (Re-Edit) |
| Karizma | The Power | Black Vinyl |
| Freeman | The Pressure | (white) |
| ATFC | Bad Habit | Defected |
| Black Legend | ReLight My Fire | Rise |
| Alex Gopher | The Child | Solid (Kenny Dope Re-Mix) |
| Barbara Tucker | I Get Lifted | Positiva (Duck Beats) |
| Fast Eddie | Let’s Go | DJ Int’l (Don’t U Want Some More) |
| Masters At Work | Brazilian Beat Classic | Brazilian |
| Joe T. Vannelli | Don’t Bring Me Down | Dream Beat |
| Dub Plate Bros Vibe | Raw Skin | Brothers’ Vibe |
| Diana Ross/J. Brown | Ain’t No Mountain High Enough | (white label, Paul Simpson & |
| Phillip Dickerson Re-Edit) | ||
| Phillip's All Time Top 10, courtesy djcentral.com | ||
| Artist | Title | Label |
| 1. DIANA ROSS | LOVE HANG OVER | MOTOWN |
| 2. M S F B | LOVE IS THE MESSAGE | PHILA INTL |
| 3. DONNA SUMMER | BAD GIRLS | CASSABLANCA |
| 4. FIRST CHOICE | LET NO MAN PUT ASUNDER | SALSOUL |
| 5. BOHANNON | LETS START THE DANCE AGAIN | MERCURY |
| 6. LIZ TORRES | CANT GET ENOUGH | STATE STREET |
| 7. BARRY WHITE | FIRST LAST EVERYTHING | 20TH CENTURY |
| 8. BOHANNON | ME AND THE GANG | MERCURY |
| 9. DHAR BRAXTON | JUMP BACK | SLEEPING BAG |
| 10. HATEFUL HEAD HELEN | SWEET PUSSY PALINE | TVT |
What follows is the story that I told a message group I used run for house music (House2000!) about how Phillip Dickerson shared his love of house music with me.
He was my best friend and we spent close to 10 wonderful years sharing our love of music before he passed on. I first became aware of Phil back when I went to the music conferences in my capacity as a record pool director and DJ. When I went to the showcases each night at the clubs, there was this ENORMOUS black man (sort of looked like Barry White's younger brother) leaning on the rails waiting for the artists to perform. Eventually it got past the head nodding as a polite greeting stage into "Let's share a cab together" into lunch into dinner into, "Hey why don't we split room costs?" But I digress. You see, it was Phillip Dickerson who gave me my formal introduction to house music.
Though I met him a couple of years earlier, thanks to local Seattle Dj/Billboard reporter Randy Schlager, it was Phillip who asked me during one of the last New Music Seminar's in '91 or '92 to come to this certain club and hear this certain DJ. Of course I was aware of house music throughout the 80's, but had never seen house played 'properly.' We went to the Roxy in NYC to hear Frankie Knuckles spin and Ultra Nate sing a live PA. I had heard legends about Frankie but had never heard one of his sets. I also remember Ultra was wearing this HUGE bouncing hat of white feathers...very festive!
As this night was starting to feel totally outrageous, I noticed I was getting more and more into each song and I remember feeling the music was very hypnotic. As a Dj, especially since I had started in the early days of disco, music programming was always about mixing the music together in order to build the energy into a peak and then starting all over again. But hearing Frankie spin, it was more of a subtle feeling where the music energy was like a wave that flowed throughout the night. That was the first night I actually "got it." In fact I remember the exact moment, it was right when Frankie played "Club Lonely" by Lil Louis. You have to imagine, it was 3 or 4 o'clock in the morning, I'm in this club I have never been in before (the Roxy, NYC) which was literally PACKED wall to wall with a sea of 2000+ gay men ALL dancing to the beat of this wonderful music and all of a sudden I was overcome with a feeling that I was home! I literally had a tear come to my eye and I was smiling. Now house music started making sense to me. And from there, my friendship with Phillip grew and grew. He was a generous man who always shared his wealth of knowledge with me and opened the doors to so many others in the industry.
I had spoken to him just before his death as we were making plans about that year's WMC in March and we actually had started our annual countdown until we would see each other again and start trying to figure out what "the" songs of the conference would be. Now I'll have to wait until my call comes and I move on up to that great nightclub in the sky. When I go, I can bet Phillip will be there...sitting...probably taking a small nap as he was prone to do, just waiting. He'll look up and ask "What took you so long?"
John England, January 2001/June 2007