The Chantels
Regarded as the first true "girl group", this New York vocal quintet - Arlene Smith (Born 5 October 1941, New York, USA), Sonia Goring, Rene Minus, Lois Harris and Jackie Landry - were all members of a high-school choir when they auditioned for producer Richard Barrett in 1957. The group made its recording debut for End Records with "He's Gone' following two months of rehearsal, and this plaintive offering set the tone for the Chantels" subsequent work. Their impassioned style culminated with "Maybe", wherein Smith's heart-wrenching plea carried an inordinate passion. Barely 16 years old on its release, the singer's emotional delivery belied her youth. The single reputedly sold in excess of one million copies and reached R&B number 2 and the pop Top 20, but pirated pressings were prevalent in many American states, undermining the group's potential. Subsequent releases failed to match its quality and the Chantels grew disenchanted with their management and label. Harris had already dropped out of the line-up and Smith embarked on a solo career under the tutelage of Phil Spector, while Barrett continued to produce the remaining trio with different singers in place of the former vocalist. The Chantels enjoyed two further US Top 30 pop hits with "Look In My Eyes" and "Well I Told You", but they lacked the distinctiveness of the earlier releases.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Edie Antoinette on
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..thanks for the info.
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Permalink Reply by Shelley "SoleMann" King on
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This is wonderful and i love the songs....I remember seeing Arlene Smith on one of those PBS specials and they were singing the first song.
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I simply love their harmony! Thanks Sole.
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Angelic voices, indeed. I remember sitting in the back seat of Daddy's Chevy listening to this on the radio. Another one that I distinctly remember is Sally Go Round The Roses by The Jaynettes.
Are you familiar with the group William? -
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Sally Go Round The Roses was like that song about the Tallahassee Bridge..remember where the singer said Billy Joe was throwin somethin off? I never figured that one out either.
I laid my head over in the back seat againt the window to go back to sleep as Sally go Round The Roses played softly on the radio. Daddy woke us up at 3am and we went to get Grandpa Basie (Daddy's father), to go fishing at McHenry, Ill. It was still dark outside and that song still reminds me of that time. Daddy tried to tactfully coax me out of the car to enjoy the....uh...fishing (yeck). I just wanted to stay in the car and sleep. They had.....worms in the bucket *the horror* and everything. LOL -
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The history of the Butlers/Raw Soul is dense, but for all of us music nerds, that's normal. It is not totally clear what year the Butlers actually formed but they released their first single in 1963 on Liberty Records. That single was "She Tried To Kiss Me" and another single followed on Guyden entitled "Lovable Girl." After the Guyden single the Butlers took a break not recording another record until the single "Laugh, Laugh, Laugh" was released on the Phila label in 1966. The group also backed Charles Earland and Jean Wells on one Phila single ("I Know She Loves Me").
As you might be noticing, the Butlers were doing a fair amount of recording but not achieving much success. The group's recordings sold regionally but never had the promotion to make an impact on the national scene. After the single with Phila, the Butlers moved to the Fairmount label (part of the Cameo-Parkway family) and released a handful of singles, some being reissued singles of the past. The Butlers were with Fairmount for 1966-67 and then moved to Sassy Records. Sassy released the group's greatest single (in my opinion) "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" b/w "If That's What You Wanted." A copy of that 45 sold for just under $500 last summer on eBay. Even though that isn't that much in the world of record collecting--it's still a hefty sum. The Butlers released another single on Sassy ("She's Gone" b/w "Love Is Good") that appears to be even
harder to come by then the "Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" single.
The true history become a bit blurred here as the AMG biography states that the Butlers last record was released on C.R.S. in 1974 (". However, between 1971 and that single, Frankie Beverly formed a group called Raw Soul and released a number of singles. Some of the songs recorded by Beverly during this period are "While I'm Alone," "Open Up Your Heart," (both on the Gregor label) and "Color Blind." "Color Blind" was released by the Eldorado label and rerecorded by Maze. Beverly's big break came when Marvin Gaye asked Raw Soul to back him on a tour. Gaye helped Beverly/Raw Soul get a contract at Capitol. Beverly decided to take the group in a different direction, a name change occurred, and Maze was created.
The above isn't the most complete history of Beverly but hopefully someone will know a way to get in touch with the man or his management because a comprehensive pre-Maze history needs to be done on Frankie Beverly (his real name is Howard, by the way). Below you'll find every Frankie Beverly (pre-Maze) song available to me right now ("Color Blind" will be up soon).
If you have a song that is not included below, shoot it over to funkinsoulman (at) yahoo.com and it will go up in the next Frankie Beverly post (later this week--highlighting Maze). Also, if you have any more information please share your knowledge. The Butlers material has been comp-ed sporadically (usually imports) but the entire Maze catalog has been reissued and is available.
Enjoy. "She Kissed Me" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)
"I Want To Feel I'm Wanted" (not sure which label or year)
"Laugh, Laugh, Laugh"
(Phila, 1966)
"Because Of My Heart" (Fairmount, 1966 or 1967)
"Love (Your Pain Goes Deep)" (Sassy, 1967)
"If That's What You Wanted" (Sassy, 1967)
Frankie Beverly is one of those cats that has lasting power. He started in the music business doing a tour with doo wop group the Silhouettes and then formed his own group called the Blenders. The Blenders never recorded a single, Beverly wouldn't appear on wax until forming the Butlers a few years later. Along with Beverly, the Butlers included Jack "Sonny" Nicholson, Joe Collins, John Fitch, and Talmadge Conway.
Beverly would later enjoy great success fronting Maze and Conway would become a
well-known penning Double Exposure's
"Ten Percent" and the Intruders' "Memories Are Here To Stay."
While Maze is a phenomenal group, Beverly's work before that group will always stand out as his best (imo).
The Butlers produced tunes that most Northern Soul fans would kill for and Raw Soul gave the funksters something to pursue. The Butlers recorded their first single in 1960 titled "Loveable Girl". Left to right John Fitch, T Conway, Frankie Beverly, Sonny Nicholson and Joe Collins.
Frankie Beverly12/6/46 - 9/10/24
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