Dinah Lee emerged out of the creative maelstrom of the Swinging Sixties. Post-war conservatism had exploded into full-scale cultural revolution, and since the mid-1950s popular music punctuated the airwaves in an excitable litany of rhythmic vocables. Little Richard percussed with “wop-bop-a-loo-bop-a-wop-bam-boom!”, the Crystals chorused on “da-doo-ron-ron”, Manfred Mann gave us “do-wah-diddy-diddy”, and The Beatles scored large with “yeah, yeah, yeah”.
Dinah Lee on the cover of Australian magazine Everybody's, c. 1965. When this image was posted online in 2020, she responded, "But unfortunately I am not in Presley's Love Diary ..."
In NZ, Dinah was signed by local label Viking Records and recorded three singles backed by Max Merritt and His Meteors.
In 1965 Dinah Lee won New Zealand's first Entertainer of the Year award.
In Australia, Dinah became the "Face of Yardley" for the Yardley cosmetic company, used in all advertising, television and promotional tours.
In 1984 Dinah was the over 35s Australian Female Bodybuilder of the Year.
Dinah toured down under with Millie Small (My Boy Lollipop) and while in London, recorded with Millie's manager and co-founder of Island Records Chris Blackwell.