lakeside
06-03-2022, 10:20 AM
A group not talked about much here.
From Cincinnati, Ohio, lead Marian "Gigi" Jackson, Irene Vinegar and Dee Watkins initially recorded for the Cincinnati-based Fraternity Records, a small independent label first launched in 1954 by Harry Carlson, and which enjoyed its first hit in the spring of 1956 with Cathy Carr’s # 2 Billboard Pop Top 100 Ivory Tower. With stablemate and Country star Bobby Bare producing, as a group they would not only ever approach those heights, but could never crack what had become the Hot 100 by their time. Even stranger, considering they are now among the “Northern Soul” collectables, not one of their efforts could get into the R&B Top 100. The closest they came to a hit was their rendition of What Kind Of Girl Do You Think I Am? which ended up at # 117 Hot 100 Bubble Under in early 1961 on Fraternity 880 b/w All You Gotta Do. That was their second release following the late 1960 Rockin’ Old Man/If You Were Mine on Fraternity 873.
Later in 1961 Bare managed to get On The Wagon/Where Is The Boy Tonight? released on the larger Dot 16351 - to no avail - and after a stretch lasting through 1962 during which they had no records released, they began to be utilized at Fraternity in a backing role [[mostly uncredited on the labels). The first two were releases by Kenny Smith [[Lucy Miloo on Fraternity 907) and Max Falcon [[I’m So Satisfied on Fraternity 908) in early 1963, with their own single G.I. Joe/Don’t Take Away Your Love on Fraternity 909 all hitting the market at the same time.
The label then did the same just a bit later in 1963 with All The Time by the duo of Kenny Smith & Jerri Jackson, with her sisters backing, on Fraternity 916, followed by The Charmaines’ Goodbye, Baby, Goodbye on Fraternity 917 [[the flip was Midnight by The Dave Rockingham Trio) and their backing on Lonnie Mack’s Baby, What’s Wrong on Fraternity 918. In 1964, and faced by the full impact of the British Invasion, they again backed Mack on his Say Something Nice To Me on Fraternity 920, while their own covers of the Ike & Tina Turner 1960 hit I Idolize You b/w the 1957 hit by Huey Smith & The Clowns - Rockin’ Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu - was assigned Fraternity 921 but never released. Later that year, Rockin’ Pneumonia was paired with a re-release of Goodbye, Baby, Goodbye on Fraternity 931.
Away from recording for the better part of 3 years, they resurfaced in 1966 with the resurrected Date Records, now a Columbia subsidiary, but by this time both the Girl-Group Sound and the British Invasion were making room for a whole new sound. Consequently, none among Eternally/If You Ever [[Date 1518) and Girl Crazy/Guilty [[Columbia 4-43978) in 1966, and Poor Unfortunate Me/Brazil [[Columbia 4-44246) in 1967 succeeded. It was also in 1966 that Fraternity re-released G. I. Joe/If You Were Mine [[Fraternity 961) and Goodbye, Baby, Goodbye b/w a previously-unreleased side, I Can't Go On This Way [[Fraternity 970).
All the above sides are in this great Ace release, along with several never issued cuts, and which has their usual excellence in sound reproduction and copious liner notes written by Mick Patrick. A Girl-Group Sound collector’s delight. The ony lamentable omissions are the two sides released in 1969 by Minit Records billed as Gigi & The Charmaines - Keep On Searchin'/Smile [[Minit 32074). Those remain impossible to find in mp.3 format.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61qy653ahmL._SY355_.jpg
From Cincinnati, Ohio, lead Marian "Gigi" Jackson, Irene Vinegar and Dee Watkins initially recorded for the Cincinnati-based Fraternity Records, a small independent label first launched in 1954 by Harry Carlson, and which enjoyed its first hit in the spring of 1956 with Cathy Carr’s # 2 Billboard Pop Top 100 Ivory Tower. With stablemate and Country star Bobby Bare producing, as a group they would not only ever approach those heights, but could never crack what had become the Hot 100 by their time. Even stranger, considering they are now among the “Northern Soul” collectables, not one of their efforts could get into the R&B Top 100. The closest they came to a hit was their rendition of What Kind Of Girl Do You Think I Am? which ended up at # 117 Hot 100 Bubble Under in early 1961 on Fraternity 880 b/w All You Gotta Do. That was their second release following the late 1960 Rockin’ Old Man/If You Were Mine on Fraternity 873.
Later in 1961 Bare managed to get On The Wagon/Where Is The Boy Tonight? released on the larger Dot 16351 - to no avail - and after a stretch lasting through 1962 during which they had no records released, they began to be utilized at Fraternity in a backing role [[mostly uncredited on the labels). The first two were releases by Kenny Smith [[Lucy Miloo on Fraternity 907) and Max Falcon [[I’m So Satisfied on Fraternity 908) in early 1963, with their own single G.I. Joe/Don’t Take Away Your Love on Fraternity 909 all hitting the market at the same time.
The label then did the same just a bit later in 1963 with All The Time by the duo of Kenny Smith & Jerri Jackson, with her sisters backing, on Fraternity 916, followed by The Charmaines’ Goodbye, Baby, Goodbye on Fraternity 917 [[the flip was Midnight by The Dave Rockingham Trio) and their backing on Lonnie Mack’s Baby, What’s Wrong on Fraternity 918. In 1964, and faced by the full impact of the British Invasion, they again backed Mack on his Say Something Nice To Me on Fraternity 920, while their own covers of the Ike & Tina Turner 1960 hit I Idolize You b/w the 1957 hit by Huey Smith & The Clowns - Rockin’ Pneumonia And The Boogie Woogie Flu - was assigned Fraternity 921 but never released. Later that year, Rockin’ Pneumonia was paired with a re-release of Goodbye, Baby, Goodbye on Fraternity 931.
Away from recording for the better part of 3 years, they resurfaced in 1966 with the resurrected Date Records, now a Columbia subsidiary, but by this time both the Girl-Group Sound and the British Invasion were making room for a whole new sound. Consequently, none among Eternally/If You Ever [[Date 1518) and Girl Crazy/Guilty [[Columbia 4-43978) in 1966, and Poor Unfortunate Me/Brazil [[Columbia 4-44246) in 1967 succeeded. It was also in 1966 that Fraternity re-released G. I. Joe/If You Were Mine [[Fraternity 961) and Goodbye, Baby, Goodbye b/w a previously-unreleased side, I Can't Go On This Way [[Fraternity 970).
All the above sides are in this great Ace release, along with several never issued cuts, and which has their usual excellence in sound reproduction and copious liner notes written by Mick Patrick. A Girl-Group Sound collector’s delight. The ony lamentable omissions are the two sides released in 1969 by Minit Records billed as Gigi & The Charmaines - Keep On Searchin'/Smile [[Minit 32074). Those remain impossible to find in mp.3 format.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61qy653ahmL._SY355_.jpg