The Pixies Three is an American teenage

vocal The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production i ...

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 ...

best known for their

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014 - a British compilation album se ...

“Birthday Party” and “442 Glenwood Avenue”.

History

Having performed in local shows since 1957, the

Hanover, Pennsylvania Hanover is a borough in York County, Pennsylvania, southwest of York and north-northwest of Baltimore, Maryland and is north of the Mason-Dixon line. The town is situated in a productive agricultural region. The population was 16,429 at the ...

trio of Midge Bollinger (lead vocals), Kaye McCool (low vocals), and Debra Swisher (high vocals) were signed to

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is ...

in 1963 by

producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

s John Madara and Dave White, who had discovered the group at a show in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

(among the group’s previous successes were two appearances on the ''Ted Mack Amateur Hour''). Their first

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

, "Birthday Party" was a big success regionally and made the

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " con ...

nationally ( The b-side, "Our Love" was written by Kaye). After their second single, “442 Glenwood Avenue" / "Cold, Cold Winter” (in which both sides charted), Midge Bollinger left the group and was replaced by Bonnie Long, who assumed the high vocals while Debby Swisher became the new lead vocalist. The first single by the revamped line-up was a remake of

The Crows The Crows were an American R&B singing group formed in 1951 who achieved commercial success in the 1950s. The group's first single and only hit, " Gee", released in June 1953, has been credited with being the first rock n’ roll hit by a rock ...

’ 1954 R&B hit " Gee". This was followed by their debut album, ''Party With The Pixies Three'', an early

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

based on a Friday after-school party. The album did not chart, but it has become an often sought-after item amongst record collectors. Throughout 1964, the girls found themselves touring on several packages with

The Dave Clark Five The Dave Clark Five, also known as the DC5, were an English rock and roll band formed in 1958 in Tottenham, London. Drummer Dave Clark served as the group's leader, producer and co-songwriter. In January 1964 they had their first UK top ten sin ...

and

Bobby Vee Robert Thomas Velline (April 30, 1943 – October 24, 2016), known professionally as Bobby Vee, was an American singer who was a teen idol in the early 1960s and also appeared in films. According to '' Billboard'' magazine, he had thirty-e ...

and others. On June 17 that year, they appeared at Pittsburgh's

West View Park West View Park was an American amusement park, located in West View, Pennsylvania, north of Pittsburgh. It was owned by T.M. Harton Company of Pittsburgh through its subsidiary company West View Park Company, which was founded in December 1905. T ...

with

Bobby Goldsboro Robert Charles Goldsboro (born January 18, 1941) is an American pop and country singer and songwriter. He had a string of pop and country hits in the 1960s and 1970s, including his signature No. 1 hit "Honey", which sold over 1 million copies in ...

and other performers in a concert headlined by

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

, who were on their first American tour. The girls' fourth single caused some controversy upon its release. "The Hootch" (with live audience dubbed in) was intended to be a new dance concept. However, it was revealed that "hootch" was a slang term for "booze", so

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

s started playing the B-side, "It’s Summertime U.S.A", which became the A-side. The Pixies Three continued into 1965 with two more singles, "Orphan Boy" and "Your Way". A few unreleased

demos Demos may refer to: Computing * DEMOS, a Soviet Unix-like operating system * DEMOS (ISP), the first internet service provider in the USSR * Demos Commander, an Orthodox File Manager for Unix-like systems * plural for Demo (computer programming) ...

followed, then the girls graduated from

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

and went their separate ways. The following year, lead singer Swisher made a

solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Comics * ''Solo'' (DC Comics), a DC comics series * Solo, a 1996 mini-series from Dark Horse Comics Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canonical ''S ...

single: a remake of

The Beach Boys The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...

’ “You’re So Good To Me”, backed with remake of The Angels’ “Thank You And Goodnight”. Coincidentally, she joined The Angels shortly thereafter, replacing Toni Mason as lead vocalist. In 1991, The Pixies Three performed for the first time in twenty five years at their high school reunion. This led to a "second run" for the group which lasted until 2010, releasing six CD's and performing several times a year in and around their hometown as well as

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

, and along the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

coast. Three years later in June 2013, the original trio of Debby Swisher Horn, Kaye McCool Krebs and Midge Bollinger Neel reunited in their hometown for its 250th Anniversary celebration as well as the 150th Anniversary of the

Battle of Hanover The Battle of Hanover took place on June 30, 1863, in Hanover in southwestern York County, Pennsylvania, as part of the Gettysburg Campaign of the American Civil War. Maj. Gen. J.E.B. Stuart's Confederate cavalry, which was riding north to get ...

and the 50th anniversary of their first single "Birthday Party". In 2015, the original trio reunited again for a new CD, ''Timeless'', released in December.

Members (1957-1965, 1991-2010)

*Midge (Bollinger) Neel (1957-1964, 2000-2010, 2013–2016; born December 29 in Hanover, PA) *Bonnie (Long) Walker (1964-1965, 1991-2010; born September 6 in Hanover, PA) *Kaye (McCool) Krebs (1957-1965, 1991-2010, 2013–2016; born October 1 in Uniontown, PA) *Debra (Swisher) Horn (1957-1965, 1991-2000, 2013–2016; born February 26 in Hanover, PA)

Discography

Singles

Albums

*''Party With The Pixies Three'' (Mercury MG-20912 (Mono)/SR-60912 (Stereo) - Winter 1964) *''Now And Then'' (1995) *''Vintage Pixies'' (Originally released Winter 1999, re-released with different cover in Summer 2000) *''Our History'' (2001) *''Tribute To The Girl Groups'' (2001) *''40 Years...and counting'' (2003) *''Dance The Night Away'' (2005) *''Timeless'' (December 2015)

References

External links

The Pixies Three Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pixies Three, The American women singers American vocal groups American girl groups Mercury Records artists Musical groups from Pennsylvania Musical groups established in 1957 1957 establishments in Pennsylvania