The Tammys 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 ...

made up of sisters Gretchen and Cathy Owens and their friend Linda Jones. They are best known for their song " Egyptian Shumba." ''Billboard'' named the song #35 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time.

Early years

In high school Cathy and Gretchen participated in a group called the Impressions. Billed as The Charnelles, Cathy, Gretchen and Linda first publicly performed on March 31, 1962 at a school talent show. Early on, they were thrown out of a local restaurant for singing along to the

jukebox A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patron's selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons, with letters and numbers on them, which are used to selec ...

. "We'll be on that jukebox someday", they vowed.

Lou Christie

The girls first met

Lou Christie Luigi Alfredo Giovanni Sacco (born February 19, 1943), known professionally as Lou Christie, is an American pop and soft rock singer-songwriter known for several hits in the 1960s, including his 1966 US chart-topper "Lightnin' Strikes" and 1969 ...

in 1961 at a concert where he was performing in the band Lugee and The Lions. He took them for a ride in his

Cadillac The Cadillac Motor Car Division () is a division of the American automobile manufacturer General Motors (GM) that designs and builds luxury vehicles. Its major markets are the United States, Canada, and China. Cadillac models are distributed i ...

. He sang while they did back-up harmony. He told them "If I ever get discovered, I'll call you", and they said the same to him. A year later Christie hit it big with his single " The Gypsy Cried" and he brought the girls in to sing backup for him. He also signed them to a contract with

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...

and they recorded three

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

. Despite local airplay, "Take Back Your Ring", "Gypsy", and "Egyptian Shumba" all failed to chart nationally throughout 1963–1964. By 1965, Christie was using another tough sounding girl group to back him, Jessica James and the Outlaws, which consisted of Bernadette Carroll, Denise Ferri, and

Peggy Santiglia Margaret "Peggy" Santiglia (born May 4, 1944) is an American singer of the "girl group era". She is perhaps best known for her 1963 pop hit " My Boyfriend's Back" with The Angels, which she recorded at the age of 18. Biography Santiglia was ...

. Meanwhile, the Tammys continued to play local shows and sing background tracks until later in the decade; but with three no-hit singles to their credit, their waxings became impossibly rare and the group became a footnote in music history.

Renewed interest

As Northern Soul hit

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

in the early 1970s and spurred a renewed interest in

girl groups A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. When a girl becomes an adult, she is accurately described as a ''woman''. However, the term ''girl'' is also used for other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.c ...

, collectors began searching for all sorts of rare records from the 1960s that should have been hits but weren’t. Looking especially for songs with a dance groove, "Egyptian Shumba" was unearthed and became a cult classic. In 2002 all of the Tammys' singles plus two previously unreleased tracks were released on a CD called ''Egyptian Shumba – The Singles and Rare Recordings: 1962–1964''. The collection also contains several Christie hits with backing vocals by the Tammys. "Egyptian Shumba" was also included in the

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

nominated box set ''One Kiss Can Lead To Another: Girl Group Sounds, Lost and Found''. In 2006,

Pitchfork Media ''Pitchfork'' (formerly ''Pitchfork Media'') is an American online music publication (currently owned by Condé Nast) that was launched in 1995 by writer Ryan Schreiber as an independent music blog. Schreiber started Pitchfork while working ...

included "Egyptian Shumba" in their list of top 200 songs of the 1960s at number 177.

Solo discography

*Take Back Your Ring/Part Of Growing Up—United Artists 632—1963 *Egyptian Shumba/What's So Sweet About Sweet Sixteen—United Artists 678—1963 *Hold Back The Light Of Dawn/Gypsy—Veep 1210–1965 *Blue Sixteen/His Actions Speak Louder Than Words—Veep 1220–1965 (Unreleased until 2002)

References

External links