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 wh ...
from
Jamaica, New York
Jamaica is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Queens. It is mainly composed of a large commercial and retail area, though part of the neighborhood is also residential. Jamaica is bordered by Hollis to the east; St. Albans, Spring ...
, which was formed in 1961 and disbanded in 1968. Their most successful recording was "
A Lover's Concerto
"A Lover's Concerto" is a pop song written by American songwriters Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, based on the 18th century composition by Christian Petzold, " Minuet in G major", and recorded in 1965 by the Toys. "A Lover's Concerto" sold ...
" (1965), which sold more than two million copies and reached the number-two spot on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart.
Members
The trio consisted of:
* Barbara Harris (born Barbara Ann Harris, August 18, 1945,
Elizabeth City, North Carolina
Elizabeth City is a city in Pasquotank County, North Carolina, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 18,629. Elizabeth City is the county seat and largest city of Pasquotank County. It is the cultural, economic and educ ...
), who sang lead most of the time
* Barbara Parritt (born October 1, 1944,
Wilmington, North Carolina
Wilmington is a port city in and the county seat of New Hanover County, North Carolina, New Hanover County in coastal southeastern North Carolina, United States.
With a population of 115,451 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is t ...
)
* June Montiero (born July 1, 1946,
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long Is ...
,
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* ...
)
Career
Barbara Harris started singing in her hometown
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship
* Chris ...
es at an early age and moved to
Queens
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long Is ...
, New York, when she was 11 years old. In high school, she joined a group with four other young singers: Barbara Parritt (later Toomer), June Montiero, Betty Stokes and Betty Blocker.
Stokes and Blocker eventually left the group, and Harris, Parritt and Montiero formed a trio. Bobby Uri, a
manager
Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business.
Management includes the activities ...
and friend, named the group The Charlettes, and got them work doing background vocals for several recording artists. At a talent show in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, beh ...
, they met Eddy Chase, who in turn introduced them to manager Vince Marc and songwriter/recording executive
Bob Crewe
Robert Stanley Crewe (November 12, 1930 – September 11, 2014) was an American songwriter, dancer, singer, manager, and record producer. He was known for producing, and co-writing with Bob Gaudio, a string of Top 10 singles for the Four Seasons ...
. The group became the Toys and landed their first recording contract on Crewe's DynoVoice Records.
Marc introduced them to songwriters
Sandy Linzer
Sandy Linzer (born 1941) is an American songwriter, lyricist, and record producer, who is best known for his songwriting collaborations with Denny Randell and Bob Crewe in the 1960s and 1970s. He co-wrote hits including "A Lover's Concerto", " L ...
and
Denny Randell
Denny Randell (born 1941) is an American songwriter and record producer, who is best known for his songwriting collaborations with Sandy Linzer and Bob Crewe in the 1960s and 1970s. He co-wrote hits including "A Lover's Concerto", " Let's Hang ...
. Linzer and Randell wrote most of the songs they recorded. They took a piano piece from a
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the ''Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''m ...
bassline to it, and "
A Lover's Concerto
"A Lover's Concerto" is a pop song written by American songwriters Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, based on the 18th century composition by Christian Petzold, " Minuet in G major", and recorded in 1965 by the Toys. "A Lover's Concerto" sold ...
" was born; the song soon rose to number two on the U.S.
Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streami ...
. The band followed that up with another hit, "Attack!", also written by Linzer and Randell, which reached the Top 20.
They also produced the group's 1965–66 recordings on the DynoVoice
record label
A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the prod ...
. Global sales of this disc exceeded two million copies, with a
gold record
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
tour
Tour or Tours may refer to:
Travel
* Tourism, travel for pleasure
* Tour of duty, a period of time spent in military service
* Campus tour, a journey through a college or university's campus
* Guided tour, a journey through a location, directed ...
was with
Gene Pitney
Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and musician.
Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 hit singles, inclu ...
. In 1967, the group changed labels and producers, moving to Pitney's label,
Musicor Records
Musicor Records was a New York City-based record label, active during the 1960s and 1970s. The label was founded by songwriter Aaron Schroeder and distributed by United Artists Records. In 1965, UA employee and A&R man Arthur Talmadge (a co- ...
, but charted only one more minor single (a cover of Brian Hyland's " Sealed with a Kiss") before breaking up.
The Toys appeared on most of the major TV rock programs, including '' Hullabaloo'' and ''
Shindig!
''Shindig!'' is an American musical variety series which aired on ABC from September 16, 1964 to January 8, 1966. The show was hosted by Jimmy O'Neill, a disc jockey in Los Angeles, They had a
cameo role
A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly eit ...
performing their song "Attack!" in the 1967 beach movie '' It's a Bikini World''.
Harris continued to perform on public television and at "Oldie Shows" as "The Toys featuring Barbara Harris". She has also sung with Joe Rivers, known for Johnnie & Joe's hit, "Over The Mountain". In 1998, she produced and released her first solo CD entitled ''Barbara Now'', for which she wrote all but two of the songs. In 2016, she released the singles, "Forever Spring" and "(Rock 'n' Roll) Soothes The Soul".
Discography
Singles
:''(U.S.
chart
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 tabu ...
A Lover's Concerto
"A Lover's Concerto" is a pop song written by American songwriters Sandy Linzer and Denny Randell, based on the 18th century composition by Christian Petzold, " Minuet in G major", and recorded in 1965 by the Toys. "A Lover's Concerto" sold ...
" (U.S. No. 2 ('' Cashbox'' charts: No. 1), UK No. 5)
*1966: "Attack!" (U.S. No. 18, UK No. 36)
*1966: "Baby Toys" (U.S. No. 76)
*1966: "Silver Spoon" (U.S. No. 111)
*1966: "May My Heart Be Cast into Stone" (U.S. No. 85)
*1968: " Sealed with a Kiss" (U.S. No. 112, U.S. R&B No. 43)