Carol Kaye

Carol Kaye (March 24, 1935) is an American musician, who is one of the most prolific recorded bass guitarist, playing on an estimated 10,000 recordings in a career spanning over 50 years. She was born in Everett, Washington, to professional musicians Clyde and Dot Smith. Her mother bought her a steel string guitar aged thirteen and she soon began playing sessions in jazz clubs around Los Angeles. During the 1950s, Kaye played bebop jazz guitar with several groups, including Bob Neal's group, Jack Sheldon backing Lenny Bruce, Teddy Edwards and Billy Higgins. She played with the Henry Busse Orchestra in the mid-1950s, and toured the US with them.

n 1957, Kaye was playing a gig at the Beverly Cavern, when producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell invited her to a recording session for Sam Cooke's arrangement of "Summertime". She realised she could make significantly more money with sessios. work than playing in jazz clubs, so took it up as a full-time career. In 1958, she played acoustic rhythm guitar on Ritchie Valen's "La Bamba", recorded at Gold Star Studios, Hollywood. Through Gold Star, she began to work with producer Phil Spector, playing electric guitar on Bob B. Soxx & Blue Jeans' "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" and The Crystals' "Then He Kissed Me", and acoustic guitar on The Righteous Brothers' " You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'".

In 1963, after a bass player failed to show for a session at Capitol Records and she was asked to fill in on the instrument, she quickly discovered she preferred playing bass, and found it was a key component of a backing track and allowed her to play more inventively than the relatively simpler guitar parts she had been playing until then. Kaye became the most in-demand session bassist in Los Angeles. Kaye was the sole regular female member of The Wrecking Crew, a group of studio musicians who played on a large number of hit records from Los Angeles in the 1960s. Kaye appeared on sessions by Frank Sinatra, Simon and Garfunkel, Stevie Wonder, Barbra Streisand, The Supremes, The Temptations, the Four Tops and The Monkees.  She played electric bass on Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" and on several Beach Boys sessions, including the albums Beach Boys Today, Summer Days (and Summer Nights!), Pet Sounds and Smile.

By 1969, Kaye had become exhausted and disillusioned from session work, saying that music had "started to sound like cardboard". Additionally, newer rock bands disapproved of using session players, preferring to play the instruments themselves. She decided to change career from pop to soundtrack work, as well as writing and teaching. Her soundtrack sessions from this time included playing on the themes to M.A.S.H. and Shaft and worked closely with Lalo Schifrin, playing on the theme to Mision: Impossible and the soundtrack for Bullitt. She regularly collaborated with Quincy Jones.

 

In 1976, she was involved in a car accident, and semi-retired from music. She continued to play sporadically, appearing on J. J. Cale's 1981 album Shades.  In 1994, Kaye underwent corrective surgery to fix injuries stemming from the accident, and resumed playing and recording. She collaborated with Fender to produce a lighter version of the Precision Bass that reduced strain on her back and made it more comfortable to play. In 1997, she collaborated with Brian Wilson again, while in 2006, Frank Black asked her to play on his album Fast Man Raider Man. She was featured in the 2008 film The Wrecking Crew along with a cast of other studio musicians.

 

Jackie Shane

Jackie Shane (May 15, 1940 - February 22, 2019) was an American soul and rhythm and blues singer, who was most prominent in the local music scene of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the 1960s. Considered to be a pioneer transgender performer, she was a contributor to the Toronto Sound.

Shane grew up in Nashville and cut her teeth as a musician here, playing in the house bands for Excello Records and North Nashville’s New Era Club. In 1960, Shane moved to Montreal, Quebec, where she was soon the lead vocalist of the popular band Frank Motley and his Motley Crew and relocated to Toronto with them in late 1961. 

She released her first single, a cover of Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)", in 1962. "I've Really Got the Blues" was the single's B-side. Shortly thereafter, the same label released an alternate version of the single on which "Money" was relegated to the B-side, while a different recording of "I've Really Got the Blues", with a few revised lyrics and the alternate title "Have You Ever Had the Blues?", became the A-side. She followed up with "Any Other Way" (b/w "Sticks and Stones") later the same year, in the fall of 1962; the song became her biggest chart hit, reaching #2 on Toronto's CHUM Chart in 1962. A cover of a song previously recorded and released by William Bell earlier that year (in the mid- to late summer of 1962), Shane's version (which also charted in 1963) was noted for adding a different spin to the lyric "Tell her that I'm happy/tell her that I'm gay"; while the original lyric intended the word "gay" in its older meaning as a synonym of "happy", Shane played on the word's double meaning, which was not yet in mainstream usage.

The follow-up single to "Any Other Way" was "In My Tenement" b/w "Comin' Down." It received some airplay in upstate New York, but did not chart elsewhere in the US or Canada, and Shane did not record again for several years. In 1962, Shane was performing at Toronto's Saphire Tavern, specializing in covers of songs by Ray Charles and Bobby Bland. In 1965, she made a television appearance in Nashville on WLAC-TV's Night Train, performing Rufus Thomas' "Walking the Dog".

In 1967, "Any Other Way" was reissued and became a modest hit across Canada, peaking at #68 on the national RPM chart in March. Shane subsequently returned to recording later that year, issuing the single "Stand Up Straight and Tall" b/w "You Are My Sunshine", and the live album Jackie Shane Live. A final single, "Cruel Cruel World" b/w "New Way of Lovin'", was released in 1969. In addition to her own recordings, Shane also appeared on Motley's album Honkin' at Midnight, performing live versions of some of the singles she had released under her own name.

Shane faded in prominence after 1970-71, with even her own former bandmates losing touch with her; soon after returning to Los Angeles, she turned down an offer to be a part of George Clinton's band Funkadelic. She began caring for her mother, who lived in Los Angeles, before relocating to Nashville around 1996 after the death of her mother. Shane died in her sleep, at her home in Nashville, in February 2019, her body was discovered on 21 February.

The Ladybirds (US & DK)

There were several all-girl bands in the 1960s named The Ladybirds, some of them who performed fully-clothed and some who did not. In the 60s there were two bands of topless Ladybirds.

The American "topless" Ladybirds were a five-piece garage rock band, that were no novelty act. These girls learnt to really play, according to Dick Boyd's book, Broadway North Beach, The Golden Years - A Saloon Keeper's Tales. In 1968 after being forced out of New Jersey for their apparently lewd costume choice, they headed west. They made it to Las Vegas, where they appeared with comedian Godfrey Cambridge at the Aladdin Hotel, and at some point they made it to California. In California the played at the infamous Blue Bunny Club in Hollywood and found a home at the Tipsy club in San Francisco. 

The band even went on tour, there are records of them appearing at the Crystal Room in New York City, Isy's Supper Club in Vancouver, the Town 'n' Country in Winnipeg and Chez Paree, Quebec in 1968. They were featured on The Wild, Wild World of Jayne Mansfield.

There actually was another all-girl topless band called The Ladybirds in the 1960s, that hailed all the way from Denmark. They formed in early 1968 in Copenhagen. The band toured extensively throughout Scandinavian. It's even reported that they made in to the UK, and played in Bristol in 1973. The same year that the band formed they opened for the Yardbirds at the Fjordvilla Club in Roskilde, Denmark, on September 8th 1968. 

The original lineup consisted of Michelle Beauvais, real name Naomi Frandsen (vocals); Janette, real name Stine Æbeltoft a former clerk and Denmark's first topless go-go dancer (bass); Sussi, real name Margil Nellemann Andersen formerly of Danish band "Les Filles (guitar) and Hanne Mattson formerly of Danish band "Girls Group"  (drums). A few months later Hanne Mattson left the band and was replaced by Bonni, real name Lonni Andersen a former bookbinder.  


Over the next few years the band’s topless show billed as the “Ladybirds Music Show” became notorious and caused quite a stir. With this image as a gimmick the group gained international attention and toured quite extensively throughout Scandinavia and Europe appearing at live venues such as KB-Hallen in Copenhagen, Olympia Halle in Munich, Berlin, Dortmund, Stadthalle in Bremen, Maastricht in the Netherlands each year for approximately 8-10 years, but mostly on football and sports stadiums.

The 1973 band lineup consisted of Marianne Ludvigsen affectionately known as "Lodvig" (vocals, guitar), who formerly worked as a bookbinder and had been a go-go dancer under Pierre Beauvais since the age of 16. Susanne Petersen (bass), also a former bookbinder. Sussie Johannsen (organ), a former sandwich maid and Lonni "Bonni" Andersen (drums) from the previous lineup.

Their last show was in 1984 at the Olympia Halle in Munich.

Dusty Springfield

Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien (16 April 1939 - 2 March 1999), professionally known as Dusty Springfield, was an English pop and soul singer and record producer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. 

Born in Weat Hampstead to a family that enjoyed music, Springfield learned to sing at home. In 1958 she joined her first professional group, The Lana Sisters, and two years later formed a pop-folk vocal trio, The Springfields, with her brother Tom Springfield and Tim Field. The trio chose their name while rehearsing in a field in Somerset in the springtime and took the stage names of Dusty, Tom, and Tim Springfield. Intending to make an authentic US album, the group traveled to Nashville, Tennessee, to record Folk Songs from the Hills. The local music that Springfield heard during this visit, in particular "Tell Him," helped turn her style from folk and country towards pop music rooted in Rhythm and Blues. The band was voted the "Top British Vocal Group" by the New Musical Express poll in 1961 and 1962. During early 1963, The Springfields recorded their last UK Top 5 hit, "Say I Won't Be There". The group appeared on ITV Associated Rediffusion's popular music TV series Ready Steady Go!. Springfield left the band after their final concert in October 1963.

In November 1963 Springfield released her first solo single, "I Only Want To Be with You," which was produced in a manner similar to Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound", and included rhythm and blues features such as horn sections, backing singers, and double-tracked vocals, along with pop music strings, all in the style of girl groups that Springfield admired, such as The Exciters and The Shirelles. It rose to No. 4 on the UK charts, it remained on the Billboard Hot 100 for 10 weeks, peaking at No. 12. The B-side , "Once Upon a Time", was written by Springfield. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc in the UK.

On 17 April 1964 Springfield issued her debut album A Girl Called Dusty which included mostly remakes of her favorite songs. The album reached No. 6 in the UK in May 1964. The chart hits "Stay Awhile," "All Cried Out," and "Losing You" followed the same year. In December 1964, Springfield's tour of South Africa with her group The Echoes was controversially terminated, and she was deported, after they performed for an integrated audience at a theatre near Cape Town, which was against the then government's segregation policy. Her contract specifically excluded segregated performances, making her one of the first British artists to do so.

Springfield introduced the Motown sound to a wider UK audience, both with her covers of Motown songs, and by facilitating the first UK TV appearance for The Temptations, The Supremes, The Miracles and Stevie Wonder on a special edition of the Ready Steady Go! show.


By 1968 her performing career was limited to the UK touring circuit of working men's clubs, hotels and cabarets. Hoping to reinvigorate her career and boost her credibility, Springfield signed with Atlantic Records, the label of her idol, Aretha Franklin. The producers recognized that Springfield's natural soul voice should be placed at the forefront, rather than competing with full string arrangements. The album Dusty in Memphis received excellent reviews on its initial releases both in the UK and US. In November 1968 the lead single from the album, "Son of a Preacher Man" reached No. 10 on the UK, US and international singles charts.

In January 1970 her second and final album on Atlantic Records, A Brand New Me (re-titled as From Dusty... With Love in the UK), was released, it only sold moderately, and Springfield was unhappy with both her management and record company. In the late 1970s Springfield released two albums on United Artists Records. She experienced a career slump for several years. However, in collaboration with Pet Shop Boys, she returned to the Top 10 of the UK and US charts in 1987 with "What Have I Done To Deserve This?"

She dies of cancer in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire on 2 March 1999.

Carla Thomas

Carla Venita Thomas (born December 21, 1942) is an American singer, who is often referred to as the Queen of Memphis Soul. She was born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee along with her siblings, Marvel and Vaneese and their parents Rufus and Lorene Thomas. Rufus was the Palace Theater's Master of Ceremonies (MC) for their amateur shows and this access not only gave Thomas her first taste of the music world but it also provided a springboard for her transformation into the Queen of the Memphis Sound.

In Memphis, the African American centered WDIA radio station sponsored a rotating musical group of high school students called the Teen Town Singers; notable alumni include Anita Louis and Isaac Hayes. Although the requirements to join the Teen Town Singers stated that the person should be of high school age, Thomas became a member in 1952 at the age of 10. She was able to sneak into their ranks thanks to the fact that her father Rufus was an on-air personality for the radio station.She remained with the Teen Town Singers up until the end of her senior year.

Her first record, "'Cause I Love You", was a duet with her father, with brother Marvell on keyboards, that was released by Satellite Records, which eventually became Stax Records. Recorded when Thomas was still attending high school, the record drew enough local attention to catch the interest of Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records. He signed a deal with the owners of Satellite Records, Jim Stewart and Estelle Axton, to distribute "Cause I Love You" and thus paved the way for Thomas’ most famous single, "Gee Whiz (Look at His Eyes)", reaching number 10 on the pop chart and number 5 on the R&B chart. While she continued to have success on the R&B charts throughout the 1960s, her only other solo top 40 hit on the pop chart was "B-A-B-Y," reaching number 14 in 1966. Her duet, "Tramp," with Otis Redding reached number 26 on the pop chart the following year and her album of duets with Redding, King & Queen, was a number 18 hit in the UK Albums Chart.

After her last Stax recording in 1971, Love Means..., and an appearance in Wattstax in 1972, Thomas slipped into relative obscurity when compared to her 1960s musical heyday. However, she was featured in a number of modern-day projects, notably including a 1994 compilation of her greatest hits, a 2002 live recording of a Memphis performance and the 2007 release Live at the Bohemian Caverns in Washington, D.C., a long lost live recording of Thomas in 1967. She would also occasionally tour during the 1980s and became heavily involved in the “Artists in the Schools” program that provided Memphis schoolchildren with access to successful artists. These workshops were organized to talk to teenagers about music, performing arts and drug abuse. In 1993, Thomas was awarded the prestigious Pioneer Award, along with such musical heavyweights as James Brown and Salomon Burke,  from the Rhythm & Blues Foundation in honor of her career achievements

Gloria Jones

Gloria Richetta Jones (born October 19, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, California. She recorded the 1965 hit song "Tainted Love". She was a member of the T.Rex, as a keyboardist and backing vocalist, from 1973 to 1976. Jones was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and moved to Los Angeles at the age of seven, where she first started singing. Jones' first taste of fame came at the age of 14, when, while still at school, she formed with Frankie Kahrl and Billy Preston the successful gospel group the COGIC Singers, with whom she recorded the album It's a Blessing. Although she remained with the group for some four years, she soon found herself drawn into the Los Angeles pop scene. 

In 1964, Jones, in her late teens, was discovered by the songwriter Ed Cobb. Signing with Cobb's Greengrass Productions, she recorded her first hit record, "Heartbeat Pts 1 & 2," which Cobb wrote and produced. She toured the United States, performing on several American television programs. "Heartbeat" became a rhythm and blues tune which was recorded later by Dusty Springfield, Spencer Davis and many other artists. By then, Jones had recorded other songs for Uptown Records, a subsidiary of Capitol/EMI. Included among these was another Cobb-written song, "Tainted Love". So strong was Jones's following in Northern England that she was proclaimed the "Northern Queen of Soul."

Jones also recorded an album for the Uptown label entitled Come Go with Me which was released in 1966. Jones studied piano, and acquired an advanced classical degree. In 1968, she joined the cast of Catch My Soul, a rock and soul version of the play Othello, which included cast members Jerry Lee Lewis, The Blossoms, and Dr. John. During the summer of 1968, she performed in a play called Revolution in Los Angeles. That winter, she joined the Los Angeles cast of Hair, the musical. Eventually, she was to meet Pam Sawyer, who asked her to write for Motown Records. Jones and Sawyer were among the second string of writers at Motown, but still wrote for such artists as Gladys Knight & the Pips, Commodores, The Four Tops and The Jackson 5. As Jones was also initially a singer for the label, protocol demanded a pseudonym, so for some of her earlier co-writes she used the name LaVerne Ware. Songs that Jones worked on during this period include The Supremes' "Have I Lost You" (writer), Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross' "My Mistake" (writer), Junior Walker's "I Ain't Goin' Nowhere" (writer/producer) and the Four Tops' "Just Seven Numbers" (writer). The most remembered song that Jones penned was Gladys Knight and the Pips' "If I Were Your Woman", which was nominated for a Grammy in 1971. Jones left Motown at the end of 1973, following the release of her album Share My Love.

In 1972, she was recommended by Warner Brothers' Bob Regere to sing backing vocals behind T. Rex at Winterland in San Francisco. She sang backing vocals and played clavinet with T. Rex from 1973 to 1977. Her rendition of "Dock of the Bay" appears as a bonus track on T.Rex's album Bolan's Zip Gun. Jones released an album in 1976, called Vixen, featuring several songs written by Bolan, and he also was the producer. 

She was the driver of the car that crashed and killed Bolan on September 16, 1977. In 1978, she released the album Windstorm, which was a dedication to the memory of Bolan. On the back cover, it is written "Special Dedication in memory of my son's father, Marc Bolan, whom we miss very much." Her single "Bring on the Love" was a success on the American R&B chart. Jones stayed in the music industry for several years after, releasing an album produced by Ed Cobb, titled Reunited in 1981. She also collaborated again with Billy Preston and other Cogic Singers for a 1984 reunion album The Cogic's. She has since worked as a musical supervisor for films.

The Pleasure Seekers

The Pleasure Seekers was a 1960s garage rock band from Detroit, Michigan. Patti Quatro (born Patricia Helen Quatro, March 10, 1948, Detroit, Michigan, USA) formed the band in May 1964. After a few weeks practice, Patti dared Dave Leone to give them a slot at his popular teen night club, The Hideout in Detroit. He put them on stage two weeks later, and they soon became well known and gaining momentum in the burgeoning and exploding Detroit music community, playing concerts and teen clubs with Ted Nugent, Bob Seger, and others. The original band included Suzi Quatro and Patti Quatro, Nancy Ball (drums) (born 1947, Detroit, Michigan, USA), Mary Lou Ball (guitar) (born 1950, Detroit, Michigan, USA), and Diane Baker (born 1947, Detroit, Michigan, USA), whose father was in Art Quatro's band, on piano. Later on in April or May 1966 Arlene Quatro (born Arlene Sue Quatro, November 26, 1941, Detroit, Michigan, USA) replaced Diane Baker on the piano. Sheryl 'Sherry' Hammerlee (born 1949) joined the band on rhythm guitar in January 1966. Nan Ball played drums until ca. October 1966 when Darline Arnone (born Darline Sue Arnone, 1950, Detroit, Michigan, USA) (ex-The Loreleis) joined the band and stayed until late (December?) 1969. Arlene Quatro's husband, Leo Fenn, managed the band. Pami Bedford (born Pamela Kaye Bedford, 27 July 1947, Detroit, Michigan, USA) (ex-The Loreleis), joined the band on rhythm guitar in August 1967, replacing Hammerlee.

The band had their first record out in 1965, when Suzi Quatro and her sister Patti Quatro were 15 and 17 years old, respectively, on the Hideout label. Both sides of their first single – "Never Thought You'd Leave Me" b/w "What a Way to Die" – have some prominence; the former is included on Highs in the Mid-Sixties Vol. 6, while the latter was featured in the cult film Blood Orgy of the Leather Girls (1988). Both songs (lyrics by Dave Leone) are included on the compilation album Friday at the Hideout, which offers a retrospective of Hideout Records, and charted regionally for the band.

In 1968, they were signed to a major label, Mercury Records. They released a second single, "Light of Love" b/w "Good Kind of Hurt", with both songs charting. The group matured into a dynamic show band and, using Detroit as home base, toured the U.S. Their show featured an entire Sgt. Pepper / Magical Mystery Tour revue, as well as a Motown sound revue, and everything in between.

In 1969, The Pleasure Seekers morphed into Cradle, changing direction musically in writing heavier original material and touring throughout the U.S. Arlene was now manager and sister Nancy Quatro had joined as vocalist and percussionist. The group toured vigorously, playing concerts and pop festivals throughout the U.S. with popular bands of the day, ending with a tour of Vietnam. In 1971, Suzi was signed by producer Mickie Most to his RAK Records label, leaving for the UK and solo fame as Suzi Quatro (more about her in another entry). Patti continued with sister Nancy in Cradle, then joined brother Mike's MQ Jam Band, co-producing and recording an album, Look Deeply Into the Mirror.  

The Quatro sisters have reunited for special TV and concert projects through the years, reminiscent of the early Pleasure Seekers days.

The Shangri-Las

The Shangri-Las were an American pop group of the 1960s. It was formed in Queens, New York City in 1963. They were two sets of sisters: Mary Weiss (born December 28, 1948) and Elizabeth "Betty" Weiss (born November 27, 1946), and identical twins Marguerite "Marge"/"Margie" Ganser (February 4, 1948 - July 28, 1996) and Mary Ann Ganser (February 4, 1948 - March 14, 1970). 

They began playing school shows, talent shows, and teen hops, coming to the attention of Artie Ripp, who arranged the group's first record deal with Kama Sutra. Their first recording in December 1963 was "Simon Says", later issued on the Smash label, on which Betty Weiss sang lead. They also recorded "Wishing Well" / "Hate To Say I Told You So", which became their first release in early 1964 when leased to the small Spokane label. Initially, the girls performed without a name. But when they signed their first deal, they began calling themselves the Shangri-Las, after a Queens, New York restaurant. 

In April 1964, when the girls were still minors, their parents signed with Red Bird Records; Mary was 15, Betty was 17, and the Ganser twins 16. Having been hired by record producer George "Shadow" Morton, they had their first success with the summer hit, "Remember (Walking in the Sand). The recordings for Morton featured lavish production with heavy orchestration and sound effects, and their next and biggest hit, "Leader of the Pack" (U.S. #1, UK #11), climaxes with roaring motorcycles and breaking glass.

By the end of 1964 the group was an established act. They performed with the Beatles, a Fall 1964 tour with the Rolling Stones, The Drifters and James Brown. The group was also a fixture on the Murray The K shows at the Brooklyn Fox from 1964-66. Shortly before the Shangri-Las went to the UK for the aforementioned promotional tour in Oct. 1964, Betty Weiss dropped out temporarily, leaving the group as a trio. She still is featured on the recording for "Leader Of The Pack" which was recorded prior to the release of "Remember". The remaining trio went on to tour the US and also appeared on many TV shows including Hullaballoo, Shindig!, Hollywood A-Go-Go, and Lloyd Thaxton. Many TV clips and photos of the group taken at this time (just Mary Weiss and the twins) circulated at the group's peak in popularity and beyond, which led many to recall the group being only a trio. Betty then rejoined the group in mid-1965 and the group appeared as a quartet once again until the start of 1966 when they permanently became a trio again (Mary Ann and Marge left at different times replacing each other until the demise of the group).

The Shangri-Las' "tough girls" persona set them apart from other groups. Having grown up in a rough neighborhood of  Queens, they were less demure than their contemporaries. Rumors about supposed escapades have since become legend, for example the story that Mary Weiss attracted the attention of the FBI for transporting a firearm across state lines. In her defense, she said someone tried to break into her hotel room one night and for protection she bought a pistol. Whatever truth these stories may have, they were believed by fans in the 1960s, and they helped cement the group's bad-girl reputation.

The group appeared on several TV shows and continued to tour the US, but in 1966 two of three releases on Red Bird failed to crack the U.S. top 50, although the group remained popular in England and Japan. Mary Ann Ganser left, but returned early in 1967 when Marge left. Red Bird Records had folded. The group recorded more tracks with Shadow Morton producing (some of which remain unreleased) and signed with Mercury Records but the band had no further hits, and in 1968 they disbanded, amid litigation. 

The Ronettes

The Ronettes  were an American group from New York City that consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett  (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett and their cousin Nedra Talley. The girls had sung together since they were teenagers, then known as "The Darling Sisters". Signed first by Colpix Records in 1961, they moved to Phil Spector's Pilles Records in March 1963 and changed their name to "The Ronettes".

The first song the Ronettes rehearsed and recorded with Phil Spector was "Why Don't They Let Us Fall in Love". They went to California to make the record, but, once it was completed, Spector declined to release it. They recorded more songs for Spector, including covers of "The Twist", "The Wah Watusi" and "Hot Pastrami". These four songs were released, but were credited to The Crystals. 

The Ronettes recorded "Be My Baby" in July 1963, and it was released by August. It was a smash record. Radio stations played the song throughout fall of 1963, and the Ronettes were invited to tour the country. "Be My Baby" inspired a legion of Ronettes fans, including The Ramones and Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys. By autumn that year, it was a Top 10 hit and peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Top 100. Is also notable for being the first recording by Cher , who performed back-up vocals with Estelle, Nedra, and Sonny Bono.

After the overnight success of their first Phil Spector single, Spector was eager to do a follow-up with the Ronettes. He wrote "Baby, I Love You" and urged the Ronettes to leave New York for California to record the song. A problem arose when the Ronettes were scheduled to leave for Dick Clark's "Caravan of Stars" tour across the United States. In lieu of having the Ronettes skip the Dick Clark tour, Spector decided Estelle and Nedra would do the tour with cousin Elaine, a former member of the group. Ronnie left for California to record "Baby, I Love You" with Darlene Love, Cher, and Sonny Bono subbing for Estelle and Nedra on back-up vocals. The song was recorded in the early fall of 1963 and released in November that year.

All three Ronettes, along with every other artist who was signed with Phil Spector in 1963, were featured on the Christmas LP A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector. For this album, the Ronettes recorded three songs: "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", "Frosty the Snowman", and "Sleigh Ride". All artists sang on the album's finale, "Silent Night", which opened with a spoken message from Phil Spector, wishing a Merry Christmas and thanking everyone for supporting the cooperative artists.  The album was released on the day JFK was assassinated. 

In January 1964, the Ronettes left for their first tour of the United Kingdom, where they made a strong impact from the very beginning. They met The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. When the women returned home from their British tour, they went right back into the studio to record "Keep on Dancing" and "Girls Can Tell". "(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up" was released in April 1964, the song did not do as well as the group's previous two singles, though it did manage to briefly break into the Billboard Top 40. In June 1964, the group's following single, "Do I Love You?", was released, also breaking into the Top 40, beating their previous single by five positions. The song is most notable for its powerful instrumental opening, accompanied by finger snapping and hand clapping.

In the summer of 1964, Ronnie went into the studio to record her lead on the group's next single, "Walking in the Rain", which she did in a single take. It became the group's most successful single since "Be My Baby" and peaked at number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. Following the successful release of "Walking in the Rain", Philles Records released the group's first studio album, Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes featuring Veronica, in late 1964. The album proved to be slightly successful, peaking at number 96 on the Billboard charts, but it is notable for being the first evidence of Phil Spector publicly promoting lead singer Veronica "Ronnie" Bennett over Estelle Bennett and Nedra Talley. Every Ronettes single after this referred to the group as "The Ronettes featuring Veronica" on the record labels. 

In February 1965, Philles Records released the group's next single, "Born to Be Together" and over the course of the next year, the Ronettes recorded a song catalog which, once completed, Phil Spector refused to release. He was afraid of the band to become too popular, in fear they would one day outshine him. In June 1965, the Ronettes' next single, "Is This What I Get For Loving You?", was released, becoming a minor hit and appeared TV on Hullabaloo, Hollywood A Go-Go, and Shivaree. The band was headliners at several Murray the K Holiday Shows in NYC and did package tours in the US and England. By late 1965, even without a recent hit, the group continued to make appearances at popular night clubs and on television shows, grace the covers of music magazines, and be featured on The Big TNT Show, produced by Phil Spector as a concert, and filmed and released as a TV movie. In August 1966, the Ronettes teamed up with the Beatles for a 14-city tour across America. In early 1967, after a touring Germany, they agreed to break up and go their separate ways.

In 1988, the original Ronettes filed a lawsuit in New York against Phil Spector over unpaid royalties and for unpaid income he made from licensing of Ronettes’ music. It took the case a decade to make its way to trial. In 2000, Spector was ordered to pay them more than $2.6 million. The final outcome had Spector paying a judgment in excess of 1.5 million dollars to the Ronettes.  

In 2009, Estelle died of cancer at the age of 67 in New Jersey. Ronnie Spector is still musically active.

Tiny Topsy

Otha Lee Moore (May 22, 1930 - August 16, 1964), better known as Tiny Topsy, was an American Rhythm & Blues singer. She was born in Chicago and began her singing career in the mid-1940s, fronting Al Smith's eight-piece jazz and rhythm and blues band in her home town. Her first recording session was on July 9, 1957 in Cincinnati, and resulted in "Aw! Shucks Baby" on Federal Records. Another track recorded was "Miss You So", with the resultant single release billed as by Tiny Topsy and the Five Chances. The third cut at the session, "A Woman's Intuition", was not issued until 1988.

Her next single was "Come On, Come On, Come On" b/w "Ring Around My Finger", when she was again backed by the vocal group the Charms. Another rock-laden track, "You Shocked Me", was her third release on Federal. Tiny Topsy's fourth Federal single was "Western Rock 'n' Roll" and incorporated small sequences of the then-current hits "Lollipop", "At the Hop", "Get a Job", and "Short Shorts". In 1959, she recorded "After Marriage Blues" (also known as "How You Changed") and "Working On Me, Baby" which were released on Argo Records. Her next single in 1959, which proved to be her last with Federal, was "Just a Little Bit" .

An alternate recording of "Aw! Shucks Baby" with "Everybody Needs Some Loving" on the B-side was released by King Records in 1963, months prior to her death.

She  died on August 16, 1964, in Chicago, at the age of 34 of a cerebral hemorrhage following an evening of performing at a club.

Aretha Franklin

Aretha Louise Franklin (March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter, civil rights activist, actress, and pianist. She began her career as a child singing gospel at New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, where her father C.L. Franklin was minister. During this time, Franklin would occasionally travel with The Soul Stirrers. In 1958, Franklin and her father traveled to California, where she met singer Sam Cooke. At the age of 16, Franklin went on tour with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and she would ultimately sing at his funeral in 1968. After turning 18, Franklin confided to her father that she aspired to follow Sam Cooke in recording pop music, and moved to New York. Serving as her manager, C. L. Franklin agreed to the move and helped to produce a two-song demo that soon was brought to the attention of Columbia Records, who agreed to sign her in 1960. 

Franklin's first Columbia single, "Today I Sing the Blues", was issued in September 1960 and later reached the top 10 of the Hot Rhythm & Blues Sellers chart. In January 1961, Columbia issued Franklin's first secular album, Aretha: Wtih The Ray Bryant Combo. The album featured her first single to chart the Billboard Hot 100, "Won't Be Long", which also peaked at number 7 on the R&B chart. Before the year was out, Franklin scored her first top 40 single with her rendition of the standard "Rock-a-Bye Your Baby with a Dixie Melody", the b-side of which was the R&B hit "Operation Heartbreak". In 1962, Columbia issued two more albums, The Electrifying Aretha Franklin and The Tender, the Moving, the Swinging Aretha Franklin, the latter of which reached No. 69 on the Billboard chart.

In November 1966, Franklin's Columbia recording contract expired and she chose to move to Atlantic Records. In January 1967, she traveled to Muscle Shoals, Alabama, to record at FAME Studios and recorded "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)". The song was released the following month and reached number one on the R&B chart, while also peaking at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100, giving Franklin her first top-ten pop single. The song's b-side, "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man", reached the R&B top 40, peaking at number 37. In April, Atlantic issued her frenetic version of Otis Redding's "Respect", which reached number one on both the R&B and pop charts and became her signature song and was later hailed as a civil rights and feminist anthem.

Franklin's debut Atlantic album, I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You, also became commercially successful, later going gold. Franklin scored two more top-ten singles in 1967, including "Baby I Love You" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman". In 1968, she issued the top-selling albums Lady Soul and Aretha Now, which included some of her most popular hit singles, including "Chain of Fools", "Think" and "I Say a Little Prayer".

Franklin's success expanded during the early 1970s, during which she recorded the multi-week R&B number one "Don't Play That Song (You Lied)", as well as the top-ten singles "Spanish Harlem", "Rock Steady", and "Day Dreaming". Some of these releases were from the acclaimed albums Spirit in the Dark and Young, Gifted and Black. She returned to Gospel music with the album, Amazing Grace which sold more than two million copies.

In 1980, after leaving Atlantic Records, Franklin signed with Arista Records. All in all Franklin recorded 112 charted singles on Billboard, including 77 Hot 100entries, 17 top-ten pop singles, 100 R&B entries, and 20 number-one R&B singles, becoming the most charted female artist in history.

She died at her home on August 16, 2018, aged 76. 

Honey Lantree

Anne Margot Lantree ( August 28, 1943 - December 23, 2018) better known as Honey Lantree, was one of the few female drummers to come out of the British Invasion. As a member of The Honeycombs, she was probably the best-known woman drummer in rock & roll in the 1960s, at least in England. 

She was working in a London hair salon managed by Martin Murray when the latter decided to form a rock & roll group in 1963. Having played drums previously, Lantree took to that spot in the band naturally. The Honeycombs hit the number one spot in early 1964 with "Have I the Right," produced by the renowned Joe Meek. 

With an international hit to the group's credit, Lantree became the most well-known female drummer in the world thanks to the touring and film and television appearances that followed. She also proved her worth as a singer by sharing the lead vocal spot on one of their follow-up hits, "That's the Way"; their second album, All Systems Go, offered her singing a soulful pop ballad, "Something I Got to Tell You," that only confirmed her talents in this area. A little later in the group's history, the band's managers decided to move Lantree to center stage, with Viv Prince from the Pretty Things taking over the drumming on tour. Her fortunes declined with those of the group, which lost most of its audience after 1965 as music moved on and popular styles changed, and they ended up playing in cabaret during their final phase. The band split up in 1967 following Joe Meek's suicide early that year. 

She died on December 23, 2018, at the age of 75.

Tina Turner

Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock, November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss singer-songwriter, dancer and actress. She was born in Nutbush, Tennessee and she began her career in 1958 as a featured singer with Ike Turner's Kings of Rhythm, first recording in 1958 under the name "Little Ann". 

Her introduction to the public as Tina Turner began in 1960 as a member of the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. "A Fool in Love" was released in July 1960 and became an immediate hit, peaking at number 2 on the Hot R&B Sides chart and number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 that October. A second pop hit by Ike & Tina Turner, "It's Gonna Work Out Fine" (1961), reached the top 20 and earned the duo a Grammy Award nomination for Best Rock and Roll Performances. 

Notable singles released during the duo's Sue Records period included the R&B hits "I Idolize You", "Poor Fool", and "Tra-La-La-La". In 1964, Ike & Tina Turner left Sue and signed with Kent Records, releasing the single, "I Can't Believe What You Say". The following year, they signed with Loma Records. Between 1964 and 1969, Ike & Tina Turner signed with more than ten labels and toured constantly with their own musical revue, the Ike and Tina Turner Revue, which included the Kings of Rhythm and a girl group that Ike named The Ikettes backing Tina.

In 1965, Phil Spector caught an Ike & Tina performance in Los Angeles and sought to work with Tina. With Spector, Tina produced the song "River Deep, Mountain High", which was released in 1966 on Spector's Philles label. Spector considered that record, with Tina's maximum energy over a symphonic sound, to be his best work. It was successful overseas, particularly in the United Kingdom, where it eventually reached number 3 on the singles chart and gave Ike and Tina an opening spot for The Rolling Stones' UK tour later that fall, which the Revue later extended by performing all over Europe and Australia.

n 1969, the Revue's opened for the Rolling Stones on their US tour.  In 1970, they performed on The Ed Sullivan Show and signed with Liberty Records, where they released two albums, Come Together and Workin' Together, released in 1970 and 1971 respectively. Come Together marked a turning point in their careers in which they switched from their usual R&B repertoire to incorporate more rock tunes. In early 1971, their cover of CCR's "Proud Mary" became their biggest hit, reaching number 4 on the Hot 100 and selling over a million copies, winning them a Grammy. In 1972 after Liberty was bought by United Artists Records, the duo was assigned to that label, releasing ten albums in a three-year period. The duo's final major hit single, "Nutbush City Limits", was released in 1973, reaching number 22 on the Hot 100, and peaking at number 4 in the UK. It is a semi-autobiographical song written  by Tina in which she commemorates her rural hometown.

The couple separated in 1976 and divorced in 1978. In the 1980s, Turner launched a major comeback as a solo artist. The 1983 single "Let's Stay Together" was followed by the 1984 release of her fifth solo album, Private Dancer, which became a worldwide success. The album contained the song "What's Love Got to Do with It"; the song became Turner's biggest hit and won four Grammy Awards. Turner's solo success continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s with multi-platinum albums and hit singles. In 2008, Turner returned from semi-retirement to embark on her 50th Anniversary Tour.


Turner has also garnered success acting in films -she played the role of the Acid Queen in the 1975 rock musical Tommy, had a starring role alongside Mel Gibson in the 1985 action film Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, and appeared in a cameo role in the 1993 film Last Action Hero.

Lesley Gore

Lesley Sue Goldstein (May 2, 1946 - February 16, 2015), known professionally as Lesley Gore, was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. In 1963, when she was 16 she recorded her version of "It's My Party" with Quincy Jones. It became a number-one, nationwide hit, selling over one million copies and was certified as a gold record.

"It's My Party" was followed by many other hits for Gore, including the sequel, "Judy's Turn To Cry" (US No. 5); "She's a Food" (US No. 5) and the feminist-themed million-selling "You Don't Own Me", which held at No. 2 for three weeks. The song's lyrics became an inspiration for women and were often cited in the second wave feminist movement. The New York Times stated that with her songs, Lesley Gore made herself "the voice of teenage girls aggrieved by fickle boyfriends, moving quickly from tearful self-pity to fierce self-assertion."

 
After this she had more hits like "That's the Way Boys Are" (US No. 12); "Maybe I Know" (US No. 14/UK No. 20); "Look of Love" (US No. 27); and "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" (US No. 13), from the 1965 movie, Ski Party. In 1964 she featured in the T.A.M.I. Show performing six songs including "It's My Party", "You Don't Own Me", and "Judy's Turn to Cry". In 1965 she appeared in the beach party film The Girls on the Beach in which she performed three songs: "Leave Me Alone", "It's Gotta Be You", and "I Don't Want to Be a Loser". She also performed on two consecutive episodes of the Batman television series in which she guest-starred as Pussycat, one of Catwoman's minions. In the January 19 episode "That Darn Catwoman", she lip-synched to "California Nights", and in the January 25 episode "Scat! Darn Catwoman" she lip-synched to "Maybe Now".

In 1968 she signed a a contract with Mercury Records for five years, releasing a few singles but failed to make headway on the charts. In 1970, she signed with Crewe Records and in 1980, together with her brother, she composed songs for the soundtrack of the film Fame. She played concerts and appeared on television throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

In 2004, Gore hosted the television series In the Life, which focused on LGBT issues. In a 2005 interview she stated she had known she was a lesbian since she was 20 and that although the music business was "totally homophobic," she never felt she had to pretend she was straight.

She died of lung cancer on February 16, 2015 in New York City.