tight people of the day: the velvelettes

Now y'all know how much I love the ladies of Motown. SO MUCH. These ladies can really kill it, but I feel they are somewhat unknown. The Velvelettes (tight name) were hanging around Motown in the sixties along with my sisters Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and the Supremes. At times, they have been a quartet, a quintet, and a trio. Problem was, they never seemed to match the success of their labelmates.

In 1964, the group recorded "Needle in a Haystack." It became a chart success, and brought attention to the group at last. Sadly, most of the ladies wanted to do their thangs with families and babies and hubbies, so the group broke up. They never even put out an album until 1984! How crazy! Some of the original members are back together and tour to this day. If they come through your town, hit it up because I bet it would be boot scootin'.

The Velvelettes - Needle in a Haystack

the bobbettes - mr. lee

I am playing this song on a loop today and I really want to share it with you. First of all, look at those girls. They look like babies! How young?

Those are the ladies that make up The Bobbettes. In 1957, they were the first all-girl doo-wop group to have a #1 hit song with "Mr. Lee." These ballers were from Harlem and they originally wrote this song about a teacher they definitely did NOT like, named Mr. Lee. Apparently he was a real jerk. GUESS WHAT THEY WERE ALSO IN THE GLEE CLUB. I'm dying.

At the suggestion of their label, they changed the lyrics to their song. Instead of calling him ugly, they called him handsome. Subtle changes can sell records, kids. Suddenly, Mr. Lee became a huge baller on wax. In 1959, the girls got a chance to record what they really thought with the alternate version "I Shot Mr. Lee." HELLO!

The Bobbettes - Mr. Lee

girl groups

I love the old-school names of girl groups. I was reading some article about Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and I realized this. I'm not talking about today's girl groups like Danity Kane and Girlicious. Vomit. I'm talking about groups like The Chantels and The Ronettes who were not only supremely talented, but also had b.a. names. The girls in these groups wore the tightest outfits, had the best hair, and the best moves. One of my secret goals in life is to come back as a back-up singer in a girl group like the Supremes. I don't want to be front and center. I want to be in the back waving goodbye and doing box steps. Mainly I'm focusing on the Motown and Brill Building groups here. I just love them. I found this site that lists over 750 girl group names, and I studied it for close to half an hour. There are some real gems there. Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans? The Del-Rhythmettes? The Yum-Yums? HELLO! How are these real? p.s. You might think because of this post that I would love the movie Dreamgirls. Well, I hated it. Just so you know.