History
The group, which originally formed in East Harlem, New York (state), New York, in 1955, was first known as "The Harlem Queens". The girls first met while singing at the Glee Club at P.S. 109 in Spanish Harlem. They were soon discovered by James Dailey, a record producer, who also became their management, manager, while playing a concert at the Apollo Theater's amateur night, and were signed to a recording contract on the Atlantic Records, Atlantic label. The girls lived in the housing projects of 1905 Second Ave and 99th Street and sang in the hallways of the building and downstairs in the playground. In 1957, the girls released their first hit single (music), single, "Mr. Lee", an uptempo song in which the narrator proclaims her devotion to her crush—her school teacher. The girls actually disliked the real-life Mr. Lee and the original lyrics to the song were something of a put-down, but Atlantic insisted the group revise the lyrics before recording the song. The single, backed by "Look at the Stars", became their biggest hit sound recording and reproduction, recording, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Pop singles chart and spending four weeks at #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, R&B chart. This made the Bobbettes the first girl group to release a #1 R&B hit that also made the pop top 10. The song would later be covered by Diana Ross on the European version of her 1987 album ''Red Hot Rhythm & Blues''. The personnel on "Mr. Lee" included Jesse Powell on tenor sax, Allan Hanlon and Al Caiola on guitar, Ray Ellis on piano, Milt Hinton on bass, and Joe Marshall (musician), Joe Marshall on drums. ''Billboard'' named the song #79 on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time. After a series of novelty songs for Atlantic that were unsuccessful, they recorded the original recording of "I Shot Mr. Lee". Atlantic refused the song and the group left the label and signed with Teddy Vann and a new version was issued on the small Triple-X (record label), Triple-X label. It started to climb the record chart, charts rapidly, eventually reaching #52 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, whereupon Atlantic released their own version of the song. Over the next few years they followed up that single with such other recordings as "Have Mercy Baby", "You Are My Sweetheart", "You Belong to Me", and "Dance with Me Georgie". They then signed with End Records and released the songs "Teach Me Tonight" and "I Don't Like It Like That" (answer songs, answer to Chris Kenner's "I Like It Like That (Chris Kenner song), I Like It Like That"). Although the recording of "I Don't Like It Like That" was the girls' last chart record, they continued to record for a series of record labels, including Diamond Records, Diamond, RCA Victor Records, RCA Victor and Mayhew Records, Mayhew, before disbanding in 1974. They also toured the oldies circuits for many years having reformed after their initial breakup. Other recordings by the Bobbettes include, "Oh Mein Papa, Oh My Pa-Pa", "Speedy", "Zoomy", and "Rock and Ree-ah-Zole (The Teenage Talk)". Their single of "I've Gotta Face The World" on RCA Victor is a Northern soul single. In 1980, Jannie Pought was stabbed to death at age 34 by a stranger in New Jersey. Reather Dixon (born on May 1, 1944 in Bamberg, South Carolina) died on January 8, 2014, at age 69. The Bobbettes were nominated for induction in the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.Discography
Singles
References
External links