arDATE = new Array( "Valentine's Day 2005" ) arARTIST = new Array( "Dodie Stevens", "The Ronettes", "Etta Jones", "Ketty Lester", "Gloria Lynne", "Shelley Fabares", "La Vern Baker", "Marcy Joe", "The Angels", "Lillian Leach and the The Mellows", "Little Esther and the The Robins", "Wynona Carr", "Sarah Vaughan", "Patty Duke", "Lesley Gore", "Brenda Lee", "The Shangri Las", "The Chantels", "Miss Toni Fisher", "The Shirelles", "Timi Yuro" ) arTITLE = new Array( "Poor Butterfly", "How Does It Feel?", "Don't Go To Strangers", "Once Upon A Time", "I Wish You Love", "Johnny Angel", "Tomorrow Night", "Since Gary Went In The Navy", "Cry Baby Cry", "Smoke From Your Cigarette", "Double Crossing Blues", "Should I Ever Love Again", "You Go TO My Head", "Don't Just Stand There", "You Don't Own Me", "I'm Sorry", "Remember Walking In The Sand ", "He's Gone", "The Big Hurt", "The Dance Is Over", "Hurt" ) arTRACK = new Array( "t00", "2. Bumble Bee", "5. Radian", "1.1 Buterfly Girl", "1.3 Sit On It Mother", "1.2 Always Dear Iris", "WG73 & Bontempi Rain Effect", "1.1 Big Time", "Dance of the Spiritchaser", "Bruce Pavitt - Walking On Air", "2.4 Untitled", "12. The Girl With The Fairy Tale Dream", "Side A", "Side A", "Side A", "Side A", "Side A", "Side A", "1.3 Sleep On Flowers", "1.2 Come Sunday", "TBD" ) arDESC = new Array( "Oh, the melodrama. There are so many wonderful parts of this record, I don't know where to begin. First, the opening choral treatment. It sounds like the King Family on barbiturates. And the lovely, squeaky clean Dodie trying to pull off grammatically incorrect lyrics is just priceless, especially when in the refrain, the whitebread male chorus attempts the same devil-may-care stunt. I absolutely love this record. And the flip, 'Miss lonely Hearts' is again a forlorn walk down Lover's Lane, this time with just a faded memory. Sorry, Dodie...

Born On Feb. 17, 1946 In Chicago, IL, Dodie Stevens At The Age Of Three Moved With Her Family To Temple, CA. She Loved To Sing And Perform. Which She Did In USO Shows, And Army And Navy Hospitals. She Was Then Discovered At The Age Of 10 Singing On Local TV Shows. She Signed A Record Contract With Crystallette Records. Her First Hit Release, Written By Mickie Grant 'Tan Shoes And Pink Shoelaces', Hit The Billboard Charts At Number Three In 1959. The Song Was One Of The First Produced By H.B. Barum.

Her Subsequent Single Music Releases, 'Yes - Suree' And 'No' Failed To Repeat Her Hit Success, As Did Her Three Albums Released On The Dot Record Label. She Then Appeared In Several Movies, Including 'Hound Dog' (with fabian). Dodie Then Retired From The Music Business At The Age Of Sixteen To Get Married. She Had Her First Child At The Age Of Nineteen. She Then Divorced In 1968.

After Her Divorce Dodie Stevens Came Back To The Music Business And Sang Backgrounds For Serio Mendes And Brazil 66, Toured With Rock 'N Roll Revival Shows And Sang Backup For Mac Davis. She Is Still On The Tour Circuit In The Untied States And Considered A Lounge Singer At The Present Time.", "While I love the Ronettes - and who wouldn't what with those fabulous towering hairdos and sweater-piercing conebras - Ronnie Spector's vibrato just reminds me of Kathryn Hepburn in the latter stages of Parkinson's disease. Finally having said that, this is one of my favorite Ronettes songs and perhaps their most avant garde productions, given that stressed out horn section and nightmarish background vocal arrangement. It's the flipside of another of their big hits, 'Walking in the Rain', and captures Ronnie in ultimate diva mode.

The Ronettes weren't the most commercially successful girl group, but their music was some of the most groundbreaking in the field, thanks to their association with the legendary Wall of Sound producer Phil Spector. Their biggest hit, 'Be My Baby,' is widely regarded as one of the crowning achievements of Spector's oeuvre, and of girl-group pop in general. In fact, many critics have deemed it one of the most supremely romantic records of the rock & roll era; Spector's production frames the song's yearning lyrics and Ronnie Bennett's sweetly sultry vocals in a sweeping, near-symphonic level of emotion.

Even though the Ronettes never managed another hit as big as 'Be My Baby,' many of their subsequent singles boasted the same kind of creative synergy between Spector and Bennett. It apparently carried over into real life as well, since the two were married in 1968, not long after Bennett went solo. Unfortunately, the union was an unhappy one, as Spector soon turned reclusive and controlling, largely preventing her from recording (or even leaving the house). After their divorce, she recorded sporadically without much success, but became something of a female rock icon when she published her survivor's-tale autobiography.

The Ronettes were formed in the Washington Heights/Spanish Harlem area of New York City. Sisters Veronica (aka Ronnie) and Estelle Bennett and their cousin Nedra Talley first started harmonizing together as teenagers in 1959, inspired by doo wop groups like Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers and Little Anthony & the Imperials. First calling themselves the Darling Sisters, the trio also worked on their dance moves, and won the famed amateur talent contest at the Apollo Theater; afterward, they began formal vocal training.

In 1961, they were standing in line to get into the Peppermint Lounge — epicenter of the twist dance craze — when a manager mistook them for an act he'd booked. They performed to great response, and were quickly hired as regulars. Later that year, they appeared in the film Twist Around the Clock, and danced in shows staged by disc jockey Murray the K. They also got a record deal with the Colpix label, issuing their debut single 'I Want a Boy' as Ronnie & the Relatives that year. Follow-up singles credited the group as the Ronettes, including 'I'm on the Wagon,' 'Silhouettes,' and 'Good Girls,' but none were anything more than regionally popular.

The Ronettes caught their big break when they met Phil Spector, who saw in them talent he could mold to his specifications; he was already tiring of his association with the Crystals, substituting outside singer Darlene Love on several records credited to them. Spector signed the Ronettes to his Philles label, where they were given a more defined image than most female artists of the time. They were still sweet and feminine, to be sure, but they had hints of attitude — they were photographed with tall hairdos, heavy eyeliner, and tight skirts. Moreover, their songs dared to address the objects of their affection directly ('I love you' as opposed to 'I love him'), even — on a subliminal level — seductively.

Spector lavished all his attention on his new protιgιes, collaborating on material with some of the top Brill Building songwriting teams. Their first Philles single was 'Be My Baby,' a tune Spector co-wrote with Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich especially as a showcase for Ronnie Bennett. Right from the often-imitated drum kick that opened the song, 'Be My Baby' announced itself as a pop classic; Spector's lush arrangement seemed to echo into infinity, while Bennett's sweet vulnerability captured the hearts of enough teenage male listeners to send the song to number two on the pop charts and number four R&B. It also became the all-time favorite record of Beach Boy Brian Wilson, who was directly inspired to emulate Spector's arsenal of production innovations; he also penned 'Don't Worry Baby' for the Ronettes in tribute, but when Spector refused the song, the Beach Boys recorded it themselves for a hit.

None of the Ronettes' other singles even managed to make the Top 20, but they continued to turn out high-quality work over the next two years. Their next hit, 1964's 'Baby, I Love You,' featured Leon Russell as the session pianist, as well as backup vocal support from Darlene Love and a young Cher. Subsequent singles like '(The Best Part Of) Breakin' Up,' 'Do I Love You?,' 'Walking in the Rain,' and 'Is This What I Get for Loving You?' still rank as all-time girl-group classics; 'Walking in the Rain' went on to win a Grammy for Best Sound Effects, the only one Spector ever received. Meanwhile, Spector was testing the waters for Bennett as a solo artist; she recorded a song under the name Veronica, 'So Young,' which nonetheless included backup harmonies by the other two Ronettes (it was withdrawn not long after release).

With his attention consumed by Tina Turner in early 1966, Spector put the Ronettes on the back burner; one of his final sides with the group, the lovely 'I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine,' was never even released. Jeff Barry produced the final Ronettes single for Philles, 'I Can Hear Music,' in late 1966. Shattered by the cool reception afforded his magnum opus, the Ike & Tina Turner single 'River Deep-Mountain High,' Spector soon shut down the Philles label, and the Ronettes disbanded. Spector left his wife to marry Bennett in 1968, and the two lived together in Spector's L.A. mansion. However, his behavior grew increasingly erratic and controlling. In spite of Ronnie's ambitions for a solo career, Spector took pains to ensure that she remained at home — not just refusing to book recording sessions, but not even allowing her to leave the house without his permission. He became psychologically abusive, allegedly threatening to kill her, monitoring her phone calls, and forbidding her to read books or see friends. When the couple failed to conceive children, Spector adopted three — the last two without even consulting his wife — which ensured that she was kept busy at home. Even amid all of this, two singles made their way to release — 1969's aptly titled 'You Came, You Saw, You Conquered' (which was credited to the Ronettes Featuring the Voice of Veronica), and 1971's 'Try Some, Buy Some,' issued on the Beatles' Apple label.Ronnie left her husband in 1973, and their divorce was finalized the following year; reportedly, Spector made a substantial alimony payment by sending Ronnie a truckload of dimes. Nonetheless, Ronnie kept his last name, and formed a new version of the Ronettes with Denise Edwards and Chip Fields; they recorded a couple of singles for Buddah over 1973-1974, but none charted. Ronnie Spector released several solo records during the late '70s without much success; she did return to the spotlight as a guest vocalist on rocker Eddie Money's Top Five hit 'Take Me Home Tonight' in 1986. Two years later, on the heels of a 'Be My Baby' revival in the film Dirty Dancing, the three original Ronettes sued Spector for nonpayment of royalties; the case dragged on for years and years. In 1990, Ronnie published her autobiography Be My Baby: How I Survived Mascara, Miniskirts, and Madness; the book was a sensation thanks to its detailed account of her bizarre relationship with Spector, though she maintained that she had been genuinely in love with him at the start, and that he was never physically abusive to her. In late 2001, a New York court announced a verdict in favor of the Ronettes, ordering Spector to pay nearly three million dollars in back royalties; the judgment was later overturned on appeal, but part of the case was sent back to a lower court, renewing the group's hopes. ", "An excellent singer who is always worth hearing, Etta Jones grew up in New York and at 16, toured with Buddy Johnson. She debuted on record with Barney Bigard's pickup band (1944) for Black & White, singing four Leonard Feather songs, three of which (including 'Evil Gal Blues') were hits for Dinah Washington. She recorded other songs during 1946-1947 for RCA and worked with Earl Hines (1949-1952). Jones' version of 'Don't Go to Strangers' (1960) was a hit and she made many albums for Prestige during 1960-1965. Jones toured Japan with Art Blakey (1970), but was largely off record during 1966-1975. However, starting in 1976, Etta Jones (an appealing interpreter of standards, ballads, and blues) began recording regularly for Muse, often with the fine tenor saxophonist Houston Person. Some of her finest work has been from the last two decades. She died from complications of cancer on October 16, 2001, the day her last album, Etta Jones Sings Lady Day, was released.", "This is Ketty's most overlooked and yet most emotive song. I mean, we're talking serious anti-depressants here...

Ketty Lester began her singing career on completing a music course at San Francisco State College. A residency at the city's Purple Onion club was followed by a successful tour of Europe before she joined bandleader Cab Calloway's revue. Later domiciled in New York, Lester's popular nightclub act engendered a recording contract, of which 'Love Letters' was the first fruit. The singer's cool-styled interpretation of this highly popular standard, originally recorded by Dick Haymes, reached the Top 5 in both the USA and UK in 1962, eventually selling in excess of one million copies. The song has been covered many times, with notable successes for Elvis Presley and Alison Moyet. Its attractiveness was enhanced by a memorable piano figure but Lester was sadly unable to repeat the single's accomplished balance between song, interpretation and arrangement. She later abandoned singing in favour of a career as a film and television actress, with appearances in the series Days Of Our Lives, Little House On The Prairie, Hill Street Blues, and the movies Blacula and The Prisoner Of Second Avenue, to name but a few. She was later coaxed back into the studio, but only on her stipulation that it would be exclusively to perform sacred music.", "The lyric 'Goodbye; no use leading with our chins...' gets my vote for best diva attitude. And Gloria delivers it stunningly...

Born on 23 November 1931, New York City, New York, Lynne began singing as a very small child in the local Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, but she was also interested in secular music. She entered numerous amateur talent contests, including one at the famed Apollo theatre, which she won, and these helped to attract attention. Although she studied music for five years, much of her learning was gained through gigging with jazz musicians including Quincy Jones, Bobby Timmons, Philly Joe Jones and Harry 'Sweets' Edison. She began making records and in the early 60s had minor hits with 'June Night', 'Love I Found You' and a big one with 'I Wish You Love', a recording that did much to establish her career. She toured as supporting artist to many other singers, such as Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald and Billy Eckstine. Nevertheless, after the hits and some moderately successful albums, limelight work became harder to find.", "Squeaky Clean and Fabulous, Shelley moved from the popular 'The Donna Reed Show' to popular teen flix like Ride the Wild Surf ('64), three mid-decade Elvis flix (Girl Happy in '65, Spinout in '66, and Clambake in '67), then Hold On! ('66) and A Time to Sing ('68). Her recording career continued through much of the decade, too. In Girl Happy she sang 'Spring Fever' with Elvis, and eventually she released five albums: Shelley!, The Things We Did Last Summer (with Shelley on the cover in pink pants holding a beach ball), Teenage Triangle and More Teenage Triangle (with James Darren and Paul Peterson), and Bye Bye Birdie (with James Darren, Paul Peterson, and the Marcels). From these came three modest singles — 'Johnny Loves Me,' 'The Things We Did Last Summer,' and 'Ronnie, Call Me When You Get a Chance.'", "LaVern Baker was one of the sexiest divas gracing the mid-'50s rock & roll circuit, boasting a brashly seductive vocal delivery tailor-made for belting the catchy novelties 'Tweedlee Dee,' 'Bop-Ting-a-Ling,' and 'Tra La La' for Atlantic Records during rock's first wave of prominence. The track selected here shows LaVern lighting the torch and asking the question that set the stage for The Shirelles big hit 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow'.

Born Delores Williams, she was singing at the Club DeLisa on Chicago's south side at age 17, decked out in raggedy attire and billed as 'Little Miss Sharecropper' (the same handle that she made her recording debut under for RCA Victor with Eddie 'Sugarman' Penigar's band in 1949). She changed her name briefly to Bea Baker when recording for OKeh in 1951 with Maurice King's Wolverines, then settled on the first name of LaVern when she joined Todd Rhodes' band as featured vocalist in 1952 (she fronted Rhodes' aggregation on the impassioned ballad 'Trying' for Cincinnati's King Records).

LaVern signed with Atlantic as a solo in 1953, debuting with the incendiary 'Soul on Fire.' The coy, Latin-tempo 'Tweedlee Dee' was a smash in 1955 on both the R&B and pop charts, although her impact on the latter was blunted when squeaky-clean Georgia Gibbs covered it for Mercury. An infuriated Baker filed suit over the whitewashing, but she lost. By that time, though, her star had ascended: Baker's 'Bop-Ting-A-Ling,' 'Play It Fair,' 'Still,' and the rocking 'Jim Dandy' all vaulted into the R&B Top Ten over the next couple of years.

Baker's statuesque figure and charismatic persona made her a natural for TV and movies. She co-starred on the historic R&B revue segment on Ed Sullivan's TV program in November of 1955 and did memorable numbers in Alan Freed's rock movies Rock, Rock, Rock and Mr. Rock & Roll. Her Atlantic records remained popular throughout the decade: she hit big in 1958 with the ballad 'I Cried a Tear,' adopted a pseudo-sanctified bellow for the rousing Leiber & Stoller-penned gospel sendup 'Saved' in 1960, and cut a Bessie Smith tribute album before leaving Atlantic in 1964. A brief stop at Brunswick Records (where she did a sassy duet with Jackie Wilson, 'Think Twice') preceded a late-'60s jaunt to entertain the troops in Vietnam. She became seriously ill after the trip and was hospitalized, eventually settling far out of the limelight in the Philippines. She remained there for 22 years, running an NCO club on Subic Bay for the U.S. government.

Finally, in 1988, Baker returned stateside to star in Atlantic's 40th anniversary bash at New York's Madison Square Garden. That led to a soundtrack appearance in the film Dick Tracy, a starring role in the Broadway musical Black & Blue (replacing her ex-Atlantic labelmate Ruth Brown), a nice comeback disc for DRG (Woke Up This Mornin'), and a memorable appearance at the Chicago Blues Festival. Baker died on March 10, 1997.", "Marcy Joe is probably the most obscure of all the divas here. From Pittsburgh, she is closely related to Sixties' pop star Lou Christie in that they each sang back-up on each other's first 45. Lou Christie can be heard singing backup on this plaintive song about lovers separated by oceans and war. Marcy Joe is reported to be one of 'The Tammys', one of Lou Christie's first backing girl groups, but which one of the three in the photo you clicked on to get here is actually Marcy Joe is anyone's guess...

I really wanted to include the flipside here as well, 'What I Did This Summer' because it is simply hilarious. But this copy has a skip on that side. I know I have another copy laying around somewhere, and when I find it I'll post it here...", "The Angels' 1963 number one hit, 'My Boyfriend's Back,' is one of the half-dozen or so archetypal girl group classics. Hand clap beats, sassy vocals, slightly campy lyrics, and an arrangement paced by wailing horns and streetcorner harmonies; it was a surefire hit and one that the group could never live up to, although they continued to record for some time.

The Angels had actually been around for a while before 'My Boyfriend's Back,' making the Top 20 in 1961 with the ballad ''Till,' and the Top 40 with a follow-up, 'Cry Baby Cry.' Featuring sisters Barbara and Phyllis Allbut, along with lead singer Linda Jansen, the group was at this time much more inclined toward lush doo-wop, somewhat in the mold of Little Anthony & the Imperials. Jansen left near the end of 1962, to be replaced by Peggy Santiglia, who gave the trio a tougher sound. In 1963, they hooked up with the songwriting/production team of Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer (later to oversee the McCoys and the Strangeloves), who penned and produced material more in line with the Spectorian Wall of Sound gracing the airwaves at the peak of the girl group era.

'My Boyfriend's Back' was originally cut as a demo that music publishers hoped to shop to the Shirelles, but it turned out so well that it was released as an Angels single, after they had been freed from their prior contract to sign with Smash. Surprisingly, they would never make the Top 20 again, although they had minor hits with 'Thank You and Goodnight,' 'I Adore Him,' and 'Wow Wow Wee (He's the Boy for Me).' They were decent, ebullient singers, the best of their efforts standing up well to other New York-produced groups like the Shirelles, but could never latch on to a tune as surefire as 'My Boyfriend's Back' again, despite (or maybe because of) a steady supply of material from the Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer consortium. They worked often as session vocalists in the '60s, most notably on Lou Christie's 'Lightnin' Strikes,' and continued to record, unsuccessfully, throughout the '60s.", "Such an unlikely title for a song. But what the hell. It's a classic upper-Manhattan ballad from early 1955 when so much of this was happening. It was all being virtually ignored by white audiences until 1961 when the doo wop revival first hit in New York and sent everyone scurrying around buying up these records like mad. Some things never change!

Lillian Leach and her group, the Mellows, never scored any huge doo wop hits, despite solid efforts, but remain revered among fans of the vocal group genre. In addition to her lilting croon, the studio musicians are on fire, and there are some beautiful sax flourishes here and there. The foursome — in addition to Leach, an excellent female lead singer, their lineup included Harold Johnson, Johnny Wilson, and Norman Brown — began recording in 1954 for Jay Dee, a small New York-based label owned by Joe Davis. Davis was a popular figure in the R&B world; in addition to running his own labels (Beacon was another of his top-notch indie labels), he ran his own management company and even worked for MGM Records for a time.

The Mellows recorded several songs for Jay Dee, including 'How Sentimental Can I Be' in August 1954, 'Smoke From Your Cigarette' in January 1955, and 'I Still Care,' issued in April 1955 and probably the high point of their career. They later moved over to Brooklyn's Celeste Records, covering classics like 'Lucky Guy,' 'My Darling,' 'Sweet Lorraine' -- and a song called 'I'm Gonna Pick Your Teeth With an Icepick' - which I am dying to own, but those Celeste sides basically require organ donation if ever they become available - then moved over to Candlelight for one last single before disbanding a few years later. I have to say, this record sounds wonderful for a 78 RPM that is exactly 50 years old this month.", "Aging disco bunnies out there (Ahem!) will remember Esther Philips classic disco remake of the Dinah Washington classic, 'What A Diff'rence A Day Makes', but Esther's legacy reaches WAY beyond the days of puka shells and platform shoes. Herman Lubinsky, the owner and guiding force behind Savoy Records of Newark, New Jersey, knew in his heart that he had the chance to sign on to his label a unique talent that night in 1949. He had just seen a thirteen year old girl stop the show cold at an amateur night performance at the Largo Theater in Los Angeles, and so he proceeded to add the young Little Esther to his Rhythm & Blues roster. Within weeks of this signing, the (just barely) teenager originally from Galveston, and then Houston Texas, was in the recording studio with veteran arranger, session man, and performer Johnny Otis. Also at that session in late 1949 were Otis' new vocal group discovery from California, The Four Robins. That very first get together before the recording microphone produced the all time classic R & B tune included here, called 'Double Crossin' Blues' released on Savoy #731. The side was an immediate hit and a new star was unleashed on the listening public. The flip side 'Ain't Nothing Shakin' ' sung by Leon Sims was quickly forgotten as the dancers and R & B fans couldn't get enough of the young singer from Watts. By March of 1950 sales are still strong and so Savoy releases the side on 45rpm, the label's first.

A traveling review called the Savoy Records Barrelhouse Caravan of Stars hits the road for a series of one nighters across the South in early 1950. In the show are The Johnny Otis band, The Robins, Little Esther, Mel Walker, and Redd Lyte (Floyd Hollis). At the same time the new release by Little Esther appears - Savoy #735- 'Misery' / 'Mistrusting Blues' with Mel Walker and the Johnny Otis band. The tour is a huge draw throughout the region especially in Atlanta where the show sells out for two nights, with more than ten thousand each night in attendance. In early April the unit does a week at New York's Apollo Theater, and follows that up with a week at Baltimore's Regal. 'Mistrusting Blues' is another big seller for Savoy, and Modern Records tries to get in on the action by releasing an Esther side that they had put on the shelf until now - 'Mean Old Gal' / 'Good Old Blues'on #20-748. Most listeners aren't fooled and stick with the new stuff on Savoy such as the new release on Savoy #750 out during the summer, again pairing with Mel Walker - 'Cupid's Boogie'and 'Just Can't Get Free' on #750.

Lubinsky and Savoy Records now turn to a publicity seeking gimmick for the next release by Little Esther. They will preview the untitled 'mystery record' on radio and ask listeners to give the song a title. Presumably the winner received a prize (certainly not writer's credit though) and the record will be shipped with the title on the label by Labor Day of 1950. The result of this promotion is Savoy #759- 'Lost Dream Blues'. The other side is 'Deceiving Blues' and once again Esther is paired with Mel Walker. In October another bit of gimmickry takes place with Savoy #764 as listed by the Johnny Otis Congregation on 'The Wedding Boogie'. Little Esther and Mel Walker play the bride and groom, Lee Graves is the preacher and the Otis band provide backing on a R & B version of the marriage ceremony.The flip side is a seasonal blues duet by Esther and Walker called 'Far Away Christmas Blues'. More previously unreleased tunes see the light of day on a first LP on the Modern label late in the year.

Proving the sudden star power of Little Esther, she comes in number one in a poll of the national juke box operators for best jazz and blues performer for the year of 1950. Quite a winning accomplishment for a thirteen year old ! Johnny Otis with Esther and Mel Walker appear at the annual Christmas benefit held by the Los Angeles Sentinel at L.A,'s Lincoln Theater. They will also appear at a holiday show in L.A. at the Elks Hall. Right at the end of the year Savoy Records issues 'Love Will Break Your Heart' and 'I Don't Care' on #775. This ended quite a year for the talented young singer. Six record releases, all good sellers, one a true classic, and a host of awards and in person appearances had made Little Esther a national star performer. But as we know in all these cases, trouble was right on the horizon.

Controversy arose almost immediately after the new year began. On January 5, 1951, the Superior Court of California appointed Esther's mother as her legal guardian and upheld the new contract for her to record for King Records of Cincinnati. Syd Nathan of King said he planned to release Esther's records on his Federal label in the 45rpm format. The first release follows shortly. It is Federal #12016 - 'Other Lips Other Arms' and a tune with The Dominos called 'The Deacon Moves In'. Meanwhile a Savoy session is released on its subsidiary label Regent - 'Hangover Blues' and 'I Dream' with Mel Walker and the Johnny Otis band. The Federal release of 'Deacon' is a big seller with its echoes of her first record with The Robins.

That May, the nastiness escalates as Esther Mae Jones (Little Esther) brings suit in court in the state of New Jersey against Herman Lubinsky and Savoy Records for due back earnings, and also asks a restraining order be in force against Savoy records from marketing her past recordings for the label. Lubinsky answers by initiating a counter suit asking for fifty thousand dollars in damages claiming that he and his record label made a national star out of an unknown performer. While all of these legal maneuvers are taking place, Little Esther appears with the Johnny Otis band for a week at Detroit's Paradise Theater. Federal records pairs Esther and The Dominos again, this time on the tune 'Heart To Heart'. The flip side is 'Looking For A Man' with the Earl Warren orchestra. In late October Federal #12042 features Esther with the Warren band on 'Crying And Singing The Blues' and 'Tell Him That I Need Him So'. In November, Bobby Shad, once of the Sittin In With label, and now head of R & B operations for Mercury Records, announces the signing of Little Esther for that label beginning after the new year. Shad also has signed Johnny Otis to Mercury. While all of this is taking place, Savoy records releases a recording of 'Get Together Blues' as by Little Esther and Junior on #824 backed by The Vocaleers 'Chitlin' Switch'. At the end of the year Federal is back with #12055 - 'Ring-A-Ding-Doo' and 'The Crying Blues'. So ended a most tumultuous year for the now fourteen year old singer.

During the early days of the year of 1952, Esther is back in the courts. This time the courts rule that her contract with Mercury Records is invalid and so the singer remains with King-Federal. Soon Federal #12063 is released which pairs the tunes 'Summertime' and 'The Storm'. Esther spends the month of January making personal appearances with Johnny Otis in the Los Angeles area. Soon the unit joins up with Willie Mae Thornton, Gatemouth Brown, and Marie Adams for a number of shows in New Orleans and Texas. Later in the Spring, Federal releases #12065 by Esther - 'You Better Beware' and 'I'll Be There'. In May Little Esther is back in the middle of legal wrangling, but this time she settles her suit (out of court) against Savoy Records and Herman Lubinsky on the issue of back owed royalties. During April Esther with Johnny Otis and Willie Mae Thornton play a week at New York's Apollo Theater. In June of 1952 Federal releases #12078 - 'Bring My Lovin 'Back To Me' and 'Aged And Mellow'. As this record is issued, Esther and Thornton with the Johnny Otis band return to do a series of one nighters in California.

'Rambling Blues' / 'Somebody New' are released by Federal on #12090 in late August just as the one nighters featuring Esther with Otis and Thornton, are drawing record crowds to shows in Texas and Louisiana. Federal follows up with 'Mainliner' and 'Saturday Night Daddy' in early October. Federal's last record for the year featuring Esther with Little Willie Littlefield on #12108 pairs 'Last Laugh Blues' with 'Flesh, Blood, and Bones'. At about this time Esther plays another week at New York's Apollo with Johnny Otis and his band. During the early part of 1953 Little Esther changes up and joins H-Bomb Ferguson and the Tab Smith Combo for a series of one nighters. In February 'Hollerin' And Screamin' ' is released. The flip side is a tune by Little Willie Littlefield called 'Turn The Lamps Down Low' for Federal #12115.

In April Esther does a turn on Willie Mae Thornton's 'Hound Dog' b/w 'Sweet Lips' on #12126. Trade ads for the Federal label tout this release as the greatest record ever made by Little Esther. Later that month an intriguing bill is presented at Chicago's Regal Theater. It features Little Esther along with the Five Royales and Arnett Cobb's orchestra. A few weeks later Esther and The Five Royales are joined by Jimmy (Night Train) Forrest and Sonny Stitt for some dates in the Detroit area. In May the Pittsburgh Courier's annual popularity poll places Little Esther third in the female blues singer category after Ruth Brown and Esther's main influence Dinah Washington. During the summer the Decca label signs Esther away from King-Federal records, and once again Bobby Shad is involved as he was with the abortive signing for Mercury. In September a new series of touring dates is set with Little Esther joining The Clovers, Roscoe Gordon, and Chuck Willis. In October the last Federal release by Esther is 'Cherry Wine' and 'Love Oh Love' on #12142. By the end of the year Esther has her first release for Decca on #48305 - 'Please Don't Send Me Home' and 'Stop Crying'.

By the time 1954 rolls around, Little Esther was a five year veteran of the touring and recording studio of the early fifties R & B world, and she was still a teenager, although by now she was a seasoned performer and had seen and heard just about everything. As the sound of Rhythm & Blues now moved into the mainstream of American consciousness, very little was heard from Esther over the next two years. In the spring of 1954 Decca released #48314 - 'Sit Back Down' and 'He's A No Good Man' which disappeared almost as soon as it was released. A year later Little Esther appears at New York's Apollo Theater on a bill with The Clovers, Little Willie John, and the band of Paul (Hucklebuck) Williams. Esther fades from the scene for almost a year and then makes news as she returns to Savoy Records where she first became a household name in the R & B world. Savoy #1193 is released soon, a pairing of 'You Can Bet Your Life' and 'Taint What 'Cha Do'. The record does well especially in the Midwest where it is a top ten seller in Chicago and Gary, Indiana. In April of 1957 Little Esther appears at Chicago's Regal Theater with Al 'Ol Swingmaster' Benson in an all star R & B show. In July Savoy releases #1516 featuring Esther on the tunes 'Longing In My Heart' and 'If It's News To You'.

In March of 1959 'Do You Ever Think Of Me?' and 'It's So Good' are released by Savoy Records on #1563. Later in the year finds her on Federal Records where a recording of 'I Paid My Dues' and 'Heart To Heart' is released on #12344. Unfortunately, this would be the last most people would see of Little Esther. Now the records weren't selling or being played on the radio, and the personal appearances were few and far between. Added to this was a nasty battle with drug addiction, and soon she was another performer who was headed down the path of personal destruction. From somewhere within, her professional pride won out and she was able to re-invent herself twice in the next two decades. The first time was in the early sixties an the world was about to experience the British invasion that would stand American pop music on its collective head. The newly renamed Esther Phillips (as legend has it, taken from an ad for Phillips Petroleum) hit it big in 1962 with a pop / country ballad called 'Please Release Me' for the small independent label Lenox on #5555. The record was a top ten smash across the country and Esther was back in the limelight if only temporarily. Esther appeared on the BBC television show 'Ready, Steady, Go' along with The Beatles in 1965. She was presented as a featured performer on stage at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island in 1966, but soon once again drifted into relative obscurity. Another decade or so as a mostly forgotten R & B pioneer passed with sporadic appearances such as for the 1970 Monterey Jazz Festival. Albums for Atlantic featuring pop and country songs went largely unnoticed in the late 60s and early 70s. Now it was the mid-seventies and the disco era. Esther remade a tune that was a hit for her idol Dinah Washington, 'What A Difference A Day Makes', and turned it inside out as a sensuous, heavy breathing disco hit. The top twenty record for Kudu #925 put Esther back in the spotlight. She also returned to her roots on a PBS special called 'The Barrelhouse Reunion' where she once again teamed up with Johnny Otis and other R & B veterans such as Charles Brown and Peewee Crayton and relived the days of R & B's infancy on Central Avenue in Watts, California. Recognition also followed, at long last, when Esther won awards from Rolling Stone Magazine (Best R & B singer), Ebony Magazine (Best Female Blues Singer two years in a row), and the NAACP Image Award in 1975.

After more than twenty five years as a star performer, beginning at the age of thirteen, Esther certainly paid her dues in a way very few performers would ever be required to. She passed away barely fifty years old, but seemed to have lived a lot longer. Her legacy in music is preserved most especially on the compilation CDs 'Memory Lane' for King, a 'Best Of' for Rhino, and most importantly 'The Complete Savoy Recordings With Johnny Otis' for Savoy. She was a true original and one of the landmark practitioners of the musical form we call R & B which is the basis for just about all of the music that dominates the scene today as well as for the last half century. Little Esther - we will always remember her and her music.", "In its decade plus of operation, Specialty Records never had a big female star anywhere near as big as their supernova of Little Richard, Larry Williams, Lloyd Price, Percy Mayfield and Roy Milton. Comille Howard came through with a couple of R&B hits and Dorothy Love Coates of the Original Gospel Harmonettes did well in the spiritual field, but owner Art Rupe never clicked with a Ruth Brown a LaVern Baker or a Dinah Washington. The closet he came was in 1949, when he signed, as a gospel artist, the pretty, 25-year-old Wynona Carr. Art had always admired the records of Lucky Millinder. So it was only natural that Wynona's first Specialty release had her listed as Sister Wynona Carr, Rupe's nod to Millinder's one-time female vocalist, Sister Rosetta Thorpe.

Between 1949 and 1954 the label released only ten records by Carr, one of the last being 'The Ball Game,' her only hit in the spiritual market. Art tried every trick in his book, recording duets with Specialty's biggest gospel star, Brother Joe May, and even ... shades of Aretha Franklin's late sixties formula ... having her accompanying herself with her own gospel piano alongside a group of top R&B sidemen. As an example: 'Weather Man,' which, like Kay Starr's 'The Man Upstairs,' crossed categories.

A bit of trivia: Wynona was recorded in 1954 ... by the same Joe Von Battle who cut Aretha's first sides ... with Aretha's father, the Rev. C.L. Franklin with his New Bethel Baptist Church Choir.

That year she was traveling with Thorpe and Marie Knight, both of whom had recorded religious and secular material. Wynona could not help but notice the difference in income between what the trio earned at gospel and secular venues.

On December 19, 1954, from her parents' home in Cleveland, she writes to Rupe, 'After asking you for the $150 last week for Xmas and not hearing from you, I was lucky enough to get it from Sister Thorpe Thorpe as an advance on my salary.' She tells of having her purse snatched at a Richmond, Virginia train station. 'I had exactly $.86 (left).' In her postscript she adds that 'Sister Rosetta Thorpe wants to record 'Operator' and 'Dragnet' (two of Carr's songs).

On January 27, 1955, she thanks Rupe '...for coming to my rescue...' She then pitches Art to let her record pop material now that she had '...finally gotten the consent of my parents to change. Look what Epic did behind Roy Hamilton's 'Walk Alone'...' Her ambition was unquenchable: '...I could play all the clubs and not be limited to my own people ... I have an appearance on Arthur Godfrey and I'll let you know the exact date so you can watch.'

A good songwriter, her ambition was not limited to singing. 'Give those (songs) to the other artists ... Maybe Kay Starr would like that 'Operator.'

On February 4th, she informs Rupe. 'I've got some crazy gowns. Now I have to get some sexy (smile) pictures taken...'

Two days later, the atheist Rupe replies that '...it's just a matter of God's will, hard work and some luck - and you should make it Wynona.' He also suggests she give herself 'a new stage name .. someday you may want to return to the gospel field as Sister Wynona Carr.'

With his encouragement, she can hardly contain her excitement. In subsequent letters, she tells of all of her plans, send demonstration types of songs she'd like to record - with full descriptions, assurances that her family is '...100% behind me now...' And ideas for her new stage name '...do you like Kitty Karr or Denise Carr - Mama likes Kitty.' She keeps pushing Rupe to record her, with flattery and unbridled enthusiasm.

Wynona's moods seem to swing wildly from enthusiastic highs to depressive lows when signing her letters to Rupe, 'Miss Kitty Karr.' Art wasn't the only recipient of her epistles. On April 28, she dashes off a note to Rev. Franklin to get him to give the tape of Wynona singing her song, 'Our Father,' with his choir to Specialty to release.

As he did on her gospel recordings, Art tries a little bit of everything to come up with a hit. As he tells Wynona, '...be awfully patient ... it may take a while to establish you in this new field, or, if we find a hit tune, it could happen overnight.

On at least one session, she was backed by the local Los Angeles vocal group, The Turks. The guys can be heard on the Platters-like 'Hurt Me.' Wynona's uptempo sides range from the Ruth Brown/LaVern Baker-ish Atlantic-styled 'Jump Jack Jump' and ''Till the Well Runs Dry' to the novelty-rocker 'Nursery Rhyme Rock.' Her own material shows a remarkable range - she wrote 'Nursery' - and her ballads reveal a very good structural sense, both lyrically and melody-wise, from the gospel-ish 'mow That I'm Free' to the minor-toned 'Please Mr. Jailer.' Had she even one healthy-sized it, Rupe's publishing arm, Venice Music, would have been raking it in with cover versions.

The closest she came to that was the 1957 'Should I Ever Love Again,' soon after which she contracted tuberculosis. In the two years she spent recovering, her career lost whatever momentum it had. Her last Specialty sides in 1959 were corny Sonny Bono productions like the Bono-penned 'I'm Mad at You.'

By that time Rupe had lost interest in the music business; at his peak, he never would have allowed the release of many of those later Specialty records. In fairness, even a cursory listening to Atlantic records of the late fifties shows that even Wexler/Ertgun et al. were cutting watered-down R&B for the masses. No matter, Wynona left as Specialty was winding down operations, playing club dates and the occasional important gig, such as the Dunes in Las Vegas, until 1961, when she signed with Reprise.

The Sinatra-owned label was hot in the pop field, releasing records by black non-rockers like Sammy Davis Jr., Al Hibbler, and former Platters lead singer Tony Williams. Sinatra always went first class and Wynona's album was no exception, with Neal Hefti arrangements, Nat Hentoff liner notes, etc., but the thing just didn't sell.

Wynona moved back to Cleveland, retreated into her shell and faded from sight as, by all accounts, her depressive periods outnumbered her manic ones more and more. By the time of her death in 1976, she was forgotten.

It's like the man says, 'you gotta have the looks and the talent; you gotta do all the right stuff - then you still have to get lucky.' Wynona had the looks; she was as talented as the Ruth Browns and LaVern Bakers; she was ambitious; she had a record company that gave her good material and good production values; she made records that were in the commercial pocket of the time. She just didn't get lucky.", "Sarah Vaughan sang in the choir of Mount Zion Baptist Church, Newark, as a child, where at the age of 12 she became organist. In October 1942, she won an amateur contest at the Apollo Theatre; shortly afterwards, in April 1943, she joined Earl Hines' big band as second pianist and singer to Hines and Billy Eckstine. Eckstine formed his own bop-oriented big band early in 1944, and Vaughan joined him a few months later, making her first recording with his orchestra on December 31. She left Eckstine after about a year, and thereafter, except for a brief stay in John Kirby's group in winter 1945-6, she worked only as a soloist.

After George Treadwell (her manager and first husband) refashioned her stage appearance and repertory she achieved considerable success on television, in recordings from the late 1940s, and in international performances from the early 1950s. Although she began to perform predominantly slow, popular ballads with heavy vibrato to the accompaniment of 'easy listening' orchestras, her early associations with bop musicians (especially Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker, with whom she recorded Lover Man in 1945) established her lasting reputation as a jazz singer. This reputation endured in part because of her tendency to treat her voice more as a jazz instrument than as a vehicle for lyrics: she negotiated wide leaps within her full-bodied contralto range, improvised subtle melodic and rhythmic embellishments, and made fluid alterations of timbre from a bell-like clarity to a bluesy growl.

During the five-year contract with Columbia that marked her rise to stardom (1949-54), she recorded often with studio orchestras and only once in a jazz context (with Miles Davis in 1950). A new contract with Mercury (1954-9) allowed her to pursue a dual career: for Mercury she made commercial discs, including her hit Broken-Hearted Melody (1958), while for EmArcy, Mercury's jazz subsidiary, she recorded with Clifford Brown, Cannonball Adderley, the sidemen of Count Basie's orchestra, and other jazz musicians. She combined these activities under later contracts with Roulette, Mercury, and Columbia (1960-67). In 1971, after a five-year absence from recording, she began once again to make popular albums, occasionally employing a jazz-flavored accompaniment, as on her album with Oscar Peterson, Joe Pass, Ray Brown, and Louie Bellson in 1978. In public performances Vaughan is accompanied by a trio of piano, double bass, and drums, either alone or as the nucleus of a big band or symphony orchestra. Among the distinguished members of her group have been Jimmy Jones (1947-52; 1954-8), Roy Haynes (1953-4), Richard Davis (late 1950s-early 1960s), Roland Hanna (early 1960s), Bob James (1965-8), Jan Hammer(1970-71), Jimmy Cobb(1970-78), Andy Simpkins (from 1979), and Harold Jones (from 1980). From 1978 to 1980 the trio became a quartet under the leadership of Vaughan's then manager, conductor, and husband, Waymon Reed. In 1987, Vaughan recorded an album of Latin-jazz songs. ", "Patty Duke, of course, made her main mark in the 1960s as the star of television's Patty Duke Show. But we all remember her as Nealy O'Hara, laying in the gutter wailing WHADDAYA LOOKIN AT?!! Anyway, by the time Valley of the Dolls was filmed, Patty Duke was a much better singer than she is on this record. Nevertheless, it's a fun record, fit for a tragic post-Valentine decompression session...

Like Shelley Fabares and Annette Funicello, she briefly cashed in on her television stardom to enter the hit parade, although she wasn't much of a singer. 'Don't Just Stand There,' a Top Ten hit in 1965, was very much in the Lesley Gore mold, if tamer. The other material she recorded for United Artists in the mid-'60s was tamer still, although it had some nominal connection to the White girl group sound of Gore and other singers. Even by the time 'Don't Just Stand There' was a hit, this style was passing out of fashion, and after a few smaller hits — 'Say Something Funny' (number 22), 'Whenever She Holds You' (number 64), 'Funny Little Butterflies' (number 77) — her turn as a recording star was over.", "While most of her songs emphasized a softer, more girly-girl version of Lesley, 'You Don't Own Me' firmly places Lesley in the spot of Bitch Goddess of the early 60's. Such audacity on the part of a girl was unheard of on a pop record in 1964, to which we can only say...Rock _On_, and while you're at it, go bitchkick that SKANK, Judy, who made your life with Johnny miserable. Lesley may appear to be a Breck Girl, but those eyes say 'Don't make me get up!' Judy's Turn To Cry indeed...

Lesley is the most commercially successful solo singer to be identified with the girl group sound, Lesley Gore hit the number one spot with her very first release, 'It's My Party,' in 1963. Produced by Quincy Jones, who fattened the teenager's sound with double-tracked vocals and intricate backup vocals and horns, she reeled off a few more big hits in 1963 and 1964, including 'Judy's Turn to Cry,' 'She's a Fool,' 'You Don't Own Me,' 'That's the Way Boys Are,' and 'Maybe I Know.' She wasn't the most soulful girl group singer by a long shot, but she projected an archetype of female adolescent yearning. Her best songs survive as classics, particularly the irrestistibly melodic 'Maybe I Know' and 'Look of Love' (both written by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry) and 'You Don't Own Me,' an anthem of independence with a feminist theme that was considerably advanced for early 1964.

So what was Quincy Jones doing producing a White suburban teenager who had never recorded before? A couple of demos she recorded with her vocal coach made their way to Mercury's president, who recommended her to Jones, the label's A&R head. For their first session, Gore and Jones picked 'It's My Party' out of a pile of about 200 demos. The 'It's My Party' single was rush-released when Jones found out that Phil Spector had plans to record the same song with the Crystals.

'It's My Party' and the weaker sequel, 'Judy's Turn to Cry,' have given Gore a somewhat unfair bratty image. Those are the hits that are remembered the most, but much of her subsequent material was both more mature (or, perhaps more accurately, less immature) and stronger. The singles were also very well-produced, with orchestral arrangements (by Claus Ogermann) that hewed closer to mainstream pop than Phil Spector's Wall of Sound. Retrospectives of Quincy Jones' career usually downplay or omit his work with Gore, although it was among his most commecially successful; he's known now for recordings that are, well, funkier. But his success with Gore did a lot to build his already impressive rιsumι within the industry.

Gore appeared on the legendary T.A.M.I. Show alongside such heavyweights as the Rolling Stones, James Brown, and Smokey Robinson, but after 1964 her star plummeted rapidly. Mercury was still investing a lot of care in her sessions throughout the rest of the '60s, and her material and arrangements showed her capable of greater stylistic range than many acknowledged. But after the mid-'60s, Jones no longer worked with the singer on a regular basis. 'Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows' (1965) and 'California Nights' (1967), both of which were co-written by Marvin Hamlisch, would be her only Top 20 entries after 1964. She played the cabarets after her days as an active recording artist, and eventually had some success as a songwriter for other performers. ", "Arguably the creepiest picture ever of Brenda Lee. It's taken directly from the LP jacket, which I believe is her debut LP. Taken out of context, it looks vaguely pornographic and oddly sinister. But it's just Little Miss Dynamite belting out one of her strong notes. Her impact is more widespread than the text below might suggest. Her nasal twang can be heard reproduced by the likes of Stanton Miranda of Factory Records' New York based Thick Pigeon, and in Cranes' Alison Shaw - especially in these slower ballads.

One of the biggest pop stars of the early '60s, Brenda Lee hasn't attracted as much critical respect as she deserves. She is sometimes inaccurately characterized as one of the few female teen idols. More crucially, the credit for achieving success with pop-country crossovers usually goes to Patsy Cline, although Lee's efforts in this era were arguably of equal importance. While she made few recordings of note after the mid-'60s, the best of her first decade is fine indeed, encompassing not just the pop ballads that were her biggest hits, but straight country and some surprisingly fierce rockabilly.

Lee was a child prodigy, appearing on national television by the age of ten, and making her first recordings for Decca the following year (1956). Her first few Decca singles, in fact, make a pretty fair bid for the best preteen rock & roll performances this side of Michael Jackson. 'BIGELOW 6-200,' 'Dynamite,' and 'Little Jonah' are all exceptionally powerful rockabilly performances, with robust vocals and white-hot backing from the cream of Nashville's session musicians (including Owen Bradley, Grady Martin, Hank Garland, and Floyd Cramer). Lee would not have her first big hits until 1960, when she tempered the rockabilly with teen idol pop on 'Sweet Nothin's,' which went to the Top Five.

The comparison between Lee and Cline is to be expected, given that both singers were produced by Owen Bradley in the early '60s. Naturally, many of the same session musicians and backup vocalists were employed. Brenda, however, had a bigger in with the pop audience, not just because she was still a teenager, but because her material was more pop than Cline's, and not as country. Between 1960 and 1962, she had a stunning series of huge hits: 'I'm Sorry,' 'I Want to Be Wanted,' 'Emotions,' 'You Can Depend on Me,' 'Dum Dum,' 'Fool #1,' 'Break It to Me Gently,' and 'All Alone Am I' all made the Top Ten. Their crossover appeal is no mystery. While these were ballads, they were delivered with enough lovesick yearning to appeal to adolescents, and enough maturity for the adults. The first-class melodic songwriting and professional orchestral production guaranteed that they would not be ghettoized in the country market.

Lee's last Top Ten pop hit was in 1963, with 'Losing You.' While she still had hits through the mid-'60s, these became smaller and less frequent with the rise of the British Invasion (although she remained very popular overseas). The best of her later hits, 'Is It True?,' was a surprisingly hard-rocking performance, recorded in 1964 in London with Jimmy Page on guitar. 1966's 'Coming on Strong,' however, would prove to be her last Top 20 entry.

In the early '70s, Lee reunited with Owen Bradley and, like so many early white rock & roll stars, returned to country music. For a time she was fairly successful in this field, making the country Top Ten half-a-dozen times in 1973-1974. Although she remained active as a recording and touring artist, for the last couple of decades she's been little more than a living legend, directing her intermittent artistic efforts to the country audience. ", "What a huge song this is. All kinds of rumors about this record abound about the record almost being pulled because of vague suggestions of suicide and the causing of several teen girl suicides around the US. It's pretty dramatic, with the heavy piano, the incredible wailing harmonies and empassioned cries of the lead singer. Get a bunch of your friends together to clap hands and snap fingers along with the band...

Along with the Shirelles and the Ronettes, also featured divas here, the Shangri-Las were one of the the greatest girl groups; if judged solely on the basis of attitude, they were the greatest of them all. They combined an innocent adolescent charm with more than a hint of darkness, singing about dead bikers, teenage runaways, and doomed love affairs as well as ebullient high-school crushes. These could be delivered with either infectious, handclapping harmonies or melodramatic, almost operatic recitatives that were contrived but utterly effective. Tying it all together in the studio was Shadow Morton, a mad genius of a producer who may have been second in eccentric imagination only to Phil Spector in the mid-'60s.

Off stage, they were consummate wild rock and roll chicks, and countless tales of debauchery get told behind evil grins and wriggling eyebrows when their name gets mentioned. Originally the Shangri-Las were comprised of two pairs of sisters from Queens, NY (identical twins Marge and Mary Anne Ganser and siblings Mary and Betty Weiss). They had already recorded a couple of obscure singles when they were hired by George 'Shadow' Morton to demo a song he had recently written, 'Remember (Walkin' in the Sand).' The haunting ballad, with its doomy 'Moonlight Sonata'-like piano riffs, wailing lead vocal, and thunderous background harmonies, seguing into an a cappella chorus backed by nothing except handclaps and seagull cries, made the Top Five in late 1964. It also began their association with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's Red Bird label, which would handle the group for the bulk of their career.

The quality of Morton's work with the Shangri-Las on Red Bird (with assistance from Jeff Barry and Artie Butler) was remarkable considering that he had virtually no prior experience in the music business. The group's material, so over-the-top emotionally that it sometimes bordered on camp, was lightened by the first-class production, which embroidered the tracks with punchy brass, weeping strings, and plenty of imaginative sound effects. Nowhere was this more apparent than on 'Leader of the Pack,' with its periodic motorcycle roars and crescendo of crashing glass. The death-rock classic became the Shangri-Las' signature tune, reaching number one.

Several smaller hits followed in 1965 and 1966, many of them excellent. 'Give Him a Great Big Kiss' proved they could handle more conventionally, bubbly girl-group fare well; 'I Can Never Go Home Anymore,' a runaway tale that took their patented pathos to the extreme, would be their third and final Top Ten hit. These all show up on oldies collections, but lots of listeners remain unaware of the other fine singles in their catalog, like the moody 'Out in the Streets,' the dense orchestral swamp of 'He Cried' (which cuts Jay & the Americans' original, 'She Cried,' to pieces), and another teen death tale, 'Give Us Your Blessings.' Some of their best songs, in fact, were B-sides; 'Dressed in Black,' yet another teen death drama, had a marvelously hushed and damned atmosphere, and 'Paradise' was co-written by a young Harry Nilsson. Their most unusual single of all was 'Past, Present and Future,' which didn't feature a single sang note, presenting a somber spoken monologue and occasional spoken background chants over a classical piano track reminiscent of 'Remember (Walking in the Sand).' It was too unconventional to rise above the middle of the charts, especially given that the narrative could quite possibly be construed as the recollections of an assault/rape victim (in the most stretchiest of imaginations, of course...).

Unlike some girl groups, the Shangri-Las were dynamic on-stage performers, choreographing their dance steps to their lyrics and wearing skin-tight leather pants and boots that were quite daring for the time. Their real lives, however, were not without elements of drama themselves. Their constant personnel changes baffle historians; sometimes they are pictured as a trio, and sometimes one of the members in the photos is clearly not one of the Weiss or Ganser sisters. Worse, the Red Bird label ran into serious organizational difficulties in the mid-'60s, and wound down its operations in 1966. The group moved to Mercury for a couple of dispirited singles, but had split by the end of the 1960s. Shadow Morton went on to an interesting, erratic career that included involvement with Janis Ian, the New York Dolls, and Mott the Hoople. Mary Anne Ganser died of encephalitis in 1971.

Even today, the Shangri-Las' history remains somewhat murky and mysterious; the original members have rarely reunited for oldies shows or talked to the press. The situation was exacerbated by frustratingly substandard reissues of their Red Bird work, which made it impossible to collect all of their fine sides without buying numerous packages, many of which boasted shockingly shoddy sound quality. Happily, the situation was rectified in the mid-'90s with excellent, comprehensive compilations of the Red Bird material in both the U.K. and U.S.", "Arlene Smith could really belt out those high notes. She had one of the most powerful voices ever, and it guided her group to rock and roll history. One of the very first girl groups, the Chantels are best-known for their 1957 hit 'Maybe.' Between 1957 and 1963, the trio racked up a number of hit singles, but none of them was ever as popular as 'Maybe,' which came to be regarded as one of the definitive singles of the genre. A collection of all their hits for the End label is a fabulous listen.

All five members of the Chantels — Arlene Smith, Lois Harris, Sonia Goring, Jackie Landry, and Rene Minus — met as children, when they sang in the choir of Saint Anthony of Padua, a Bronx-area school. Arlene Smith was the leader of the quintet. Smith wrote all of the group's early material and she was the one who convinced the other girls — whose age ranged between 14 and 17 at the time — to audition for Richard Barrett, a record producer and a member of the doo wop group the Valentines. Barrett signed the band to End Records and produced the Chantels' first single, a Smith song called 'He's Gone.' Released in the summer of 1957, the single peaked at number 71. However, the group's second single — another Smith composition called 'Maybe' — was a smash hit, peaking at number two on the R&B charts and number 15 on the pop charts in early 1958. 'Maybe' sold more copies than its chart position suggests; the single was pirated by several other small record labels and none of those sales were tallied for the final chart position.

For the next year, the Chantels tried in vain to deliver a follow-up as successful as 'Maybe.' Two hit singles — 'Every Night (I Pray)' and 'I Love You So' — followed on End Records, but the label dropped them after a handful of other records failed to make an impact. Around that time, Smith left the group to pursue a solo career and Harris had left the group. The Chantels didn't replace either singer and continued as a trio.

In the summer of 1959, the group supported Richard Barrett on his single, 'Summer's Love,' which peaked at number 29 on the R&B charts. In 1961, the Chantels signed with Carlton Records, where they had two minor pop hits: 'Look in My Eyes' and 'Well, I Told You.' Carlton dropped the group the following year and the band moved to Ludix, where they had a minor hit with 'Eternally' in the spring of 1963.

The Chantels continued performing until the end of the decade; they officially disbanded in 1970. A few years later, Arlene Smith re-formed the Chantels, recruiting four new members; the other original members all retired from the entertainment business. Smith continued to lead various incarnations of the Chantels into the '90s. When she wasn't touring the oldies circuit with the Chantels, Smith worked as a schoolteacher. ", "The torchiest of torch songs here delivered by the grandest of divas, given the lyric 'this is my life/ticking away...' and her title as 'Miss' Toni Fisher. Best known for her 1959 Top Ten smash, delivered here, 'The Big Hurt,' teen pop singer Miss Toni Fisher was born in Los Angeles in 1931. She recorded 'The Big Hurt' for the tiny Signet label, and not only did the single become a major hit, but its innovative use of electronic phasing effects (analog flanging! woo-fucking-hoo!) anticipated the increased studio experimentation which increasingly characterized popular music in the decade to follow. Fisher subsequently enjoyed two more hits — a rendition of the Irving Berlin song 'How Deep Is the Ocean' and the 1962 Top 40 entry 'West of the Wall,' a one-of-a-kind ode to love and freedom inspired by the Berlin Wall — before receding from the limelight. She suffered a fatal heart attack in February of 1999. ", "Of all the Shirelles' songs, 'The Dance Is Over' is a drama queen's dream. Jilted love, pleading for just friendship, the realization that you've been played for the fool you are giving up your virtue on the top bleacher in the gym like that, and the overwhelming sense of shame - this is a band of pure heaven on a scratchy old LP. Joan Rivers was right, sweetheart. Get the ring first...

The Shirelles were the first major female vocal group of the rock era, defining the so-called girl group sound with their soft, sweet harmonies and yearning innocence. Their music was a blend of pop/rock and R&B — especially doo wop and smooth uptown soul — that appealed to listeners across the board, before Motown ever became a crossover phenomenon with white audiences. Even if the Shirelles were not technically the first of their kind, their success was unprecedented, paving the way for legions of imitators; their inviting musical blueprint had an enduring influence not just on their immediate followers, but on future generations of female pop singers, who often updated the style with a more modern sensibility. What was more, they provided some of the earliest hits for important Brill Building songwriters like Gerry Goffin & Carole King, Burt Bacharach & Hal David, and Van McCoy.

The Shirelles were originally formed in 1958 in Passaic, NJ, by four high school friends: Doris Coley (later Doris Kenner-Jackson), Addie 'Micki' Harris, Shirley Owens (later Shirley Alston), and Beverly Lee. Christening themselves the Poquellos, the girls wrote a song called 'I Met Him on a Sunday' and entered their school talent show with it. A school friend had them audition for her mother, Florence Greenberg, who ran a small record label; she was impressed enough to become the group's manager, and changed their name to the Shirelles by combining frequent lead singer Owens' first name with doo woppers the Chantels. The Shirelles' recording of 'I Met Him on a Sunday' was licensed by Decca and climbed into the national Top 50 in 1958. Two more singles flopped, however, and Decca passed on further releases. Greenberg instead signed them to her new label, Scepter Records, and brought in producer Luther Dixon, whose imaginative, sometimes string-heavy arrangements would help shape the group's signature sound.

'Dedicated to the One I Love' (1959) and 'Tonight's the Night' (1960) both failed to make much of an impact on the pop charts, although the latter was a Top 20 R&B hit. However, they broke big time with the Goffin-King composition 'Will You Love Me Tomorrow'; released in late 1960, it went all the way to number one pop, making them the first all-female group of the rock era to accomplish that feat; it also peaked at number two R&B. Its success helped send a re-release of 'Dedicated to the One I Love' into the Top Five on both the pop and R&B charts in 1961, and 'Mama Said' did the same; a more R&B-flavored outing, 'Big John,' also went to number two that year. 1962 continued their run of success, most notably with 'Soldier Boy,' a Luther Dixon/Florence Greenberg tune that became their second pop number one; they also had a Top Ten pop and R&B hit with 'Baby It's You.' Unfortunately, Dixon subsequently left the label; the Shirelles managed to score one more pop/R&B Top Ten with 1963's 'Foolish Little Girl,' but found it difficult to maintain their previous level of success.

The group went on to record material for the film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, headlined the first integrated concert show in Alabama, and helped a young Dionne Warwick get some of her first exposure (subbing for Owens and Coley when each took a leave of absence to get married). A money dispute with Scepter tied up their recording schedule for a while in 1964, and although it was eventually settled, the Shirelles were still bound to a label where their run was essentially over. Of course, this was also because of the British Invasion, whose bands were among the first to cover their songs; not only their hits, but lesser-known items like 'Boys' (the Beatles) and 'Sha La La' (a hit for Manfred Mann). The Shirelles scraped the lower reaches of the charts a few more times, making their last appearance, ironically, with 1967's 'Last Minute Miracle.' Doris Kenner left the group the following year to concentrate on raising her family, and the remaining Shirelles continued as a trio, cutting singles for Bell, United Artists, and RCA through 1971. The group continued to tour the oldies circuit, however, and appeared in the 1973 documentary Let the Good Times Roll. Shirley Alston left for a solo career in 1975, upon which point Doris Kenner-Jackson returned. Micki Harris died of a heart attack during a performance in Atlanta on June 10, 1982, upon which point the group went into what turned out to be a temporary retirement; the three remaining charter members recorded together for the last time on a 1983 Dionne Warwick record. Different Shirelles lineups toured the oldies circuit in the '90s, though Beverly Lee eventually secured the official trademark. They were officially inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Doris Kenner-Jackson passed away after a bout with breast cancer in Sacramento on February 4, 2000. ", "This is a good place to start, because her impact is so fuckin YUGE, she just sets the tone for the whole diva experience. And this song is just brilliant. I've heard other versions of 'Hurt', by whitebread artists such as Eddy Howard and others, but this song was just waiting for Timi to shred it the way she does. It's hard to believe she was 18 when she recorded this, because her voice already has the 20-years-of-coffee-and-cigarettes thing going on. Timi Yuro's 'Hurt' is sheer agony.

Timi was born Rosemarie Timotea Aurro (thus, Timi Yuro) in Chicago in 1941. She moved with her family to Los Angeles in 1952, where she sang in her family's Italian restaurant. She had a Mediterranean heritage and was influenced by some of the great Blues singers, to the extent that many people mistakenly thought that she was black.

Timi signed a contract with Liberty Records in 1959. She worked with songwriter/producer Clyde Otis and put 11 songs in the top 100 from 1961 to 1965. The biggest of these was her first, Hurt, which reached the top ten nationally. Brenda Lee was probably the hottest female singer at the time, but Timi's songs had a soul sound to them that were in contrast to Brenda's recordings. Timi put several such records on the charts, including What's A Matter Baby [Is It Hurting You], Gotta Travel On and Make The World Go Away.

Timi went into retirement but decided to come back in 1980. She assembled a 14-piece band and began rehearsals, but then was troubled by health problems. Doctors at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York performed surgery to remove nodules from her larynx and esophagus. This was followed by six months during which she was not allowed to talk, much less sing.

When she regained her voice, Timi went to Nashville and recorded All Alone Am I. It was released in Europe by Dureko Records in Holland in 1981. In 1982 she headlined at the Sands in Las Vegas to a packed showroom every night for two weeks. Timi went to Amsterdam to promote her new album and it proved to be immensely popular in Europe. In Rotterdam she performed before an audience of over 20,000 along with Olivia Newton-John, Janice Ian and Art Garfunkel, and brought down the house. Timi Yuro was back. Timi had three more European tours and three more albums followed, including one that she recorded with her old friend Willie Nelson in 1984 titled Timi Yuro Sings ... Willie Nelson.

In the late 80's Timi had more throat problems and sang less and less. In the late 90's cancer was detected. It began to aggressively attack her throat and larynx, and in early 2002 this fine singer's larynx was removed to save her life. Her illness finally caught up with her and Timi died at her home in Las Vegas on March 30, 2004.

Although she is gone, Timi Yuro still has a worldwide legion of fans. You can order her CD/cassette Timi Yuro Sings ... Willie Nelson through SOUND 2000, PO Box 54802, Tulsa, Oklahoma 74155 or telephone 918-665-0639. All proceeds go directly to a trust for her five grandchildren.

Timi's top ten recording of Hurt -- made when she was eighteen years old -- remains as one of the best vocal performances of 60's pop music." ) arLABEL = new Array( "Dot", "Philles", "Prestige", "Era", "Everest", "Colpix", "Atlantic", "Robbee", "Caprice", "Jay Dee", "Savoy", "Specialty", "Spin-O-Rama", "United Artists", "Mercury", "Decca", "Red Bird", "End", "Signet", "Scepter", "Liberty" ) arFORMAT = new Array( "45", "45", "45", "45", "45", "45", "45", "45", "45", "78", "78", "78", "LP", "45", "LP", "45", "45", "45", "45", "LP", "LP" )