The Choice Four were the most consistent of the male

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

/vocal groups produced by

Van McCoy Van Allen Clinton McCoy (January 6, 1940 – July 6, 1979) was an American musician, record producer, arranger, songwriter, singer and orchestra conductor. He is known for his 1975 internationally successful song " The Hustle". He has approximat ...

. They were from

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, recorded for

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

and had three albums. Several of the group's members had previously sung in The Love Tones and The Stridels. They had several minor hits on the '' Billboard''

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tab ...

in the mid-1970s. Their attempt to hit big with their version of "When You're Young And In Love" was thwarted by the simultaneous release of a disco version of the song by actor

Ralph Carter Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

(of the "Good Times" TV show). Their biggest hit, '"Come Down To Earth" became a favorite in the discos after the group had broken up. They recorded the original version of the

David Ruffin David Eli Ruffin (born Davis Eli Ruffin;Ribowsky, p. 88 January 18, 1941 – June 1, 1991) was an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations (1964–68) during the group's "Clas ...

hit "Walk Away From Love" (also produced by McCoy), hitting the high note that Ruffin famously missed. Both Pede "Pete" Marshall and Charles Blagmon went on to tour with groups led by former members of

The Temptations The Temptations are an American vocal group from Detroit, Michigan, who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top ...

after the group's demise, prior to its revival by Teddy Maduro. Maduro announced his bandmate Pede Marshall had died on July 13, 2017.

Members

*Bobby Hamilton *Ted Maduro *Pede "Pete" Marshall *Charles Blagmon (a/k/a "Blackmon")

Albums

*''The Finger Pointers'' (

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, 1974) *''The Choice Four'' (

, 1975) *''On Top of Clear'' (RCA, 1976) US R&B #43 Billboard Allmusic

Singles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Choice Four, The Musical groups from Washington, D.C. American disco groups