The Dixiebelles were an American

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring several female singers who generally harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female pop music singing groups, many of who ...

briefly popular in the early 1960s. Their best-known single, "(Down at) Papa Joe's", hit #9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 late in 1963, and the follow-up, " Southtown U.S.A.", hit #15 early in 1964. Both these songs were produced by Bill Justis and released on

Sound Stage 7 Sound Stage 7 was an American, Nashville, Tennessee based record label of the 1960s and 1970s, noted mainly for its soul music releases. The label's biggest star was Joe Simon, who placed numerous singles on the US R&B and pop charts during his ...

Records, a division of Monument Records. The name of the group is one word - The Dixiebelles - as listed on their records. On record (at least for their first single, "(Down at) Papa Joe's"), The Dixiebelles were in fact all members of the

Anita Kerr Singers Anita Jean Kerr (née Grilli, October 13, 1927 – October 10, 2022) was an American singer, arranger, composer, conductor, pianist, and music producer. She recorded and performed with her vocal harmony groups in Nashville, Los Angeles, and Eur ...

.Liner notes for ''The Sound Stage 7 Story'', Charly Records (UK), 1996. Based in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, the Dixiebelles touring group had all previously sung backup in various capacities. Several members had been in The Tonettes, who recorded one single for the Stax Records subsidiary Volt in 1962. A full-length Dixiebelles album was released, but a third single ("New York Town") failed to hit the Hot 100, peaking at just #119 on Billboard's "Bubbling Under" chart. Shortly thereafter, their contract with Sound Stage 7 ended and they never released another single. Several members of the touring group later turned up in The Charmels, a group that recorded four non-hit singles for Stax between 1966 and 1968. Thomas died on May 9, 2018, at age 74.

Members

*Mary Hunt *Mildred Pratcher *Shirley Thomas (July 23, 1943 – May 9, 2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixiebelles American girl groups African-American girl groups Monument Records artists Musical groups from Memphis, Tennessee