The chiffons
The Chiffons was an American girl group from the 1960s.
history
The group was founded in 1960 by three classmates who attended James Monroe High School in the Bronx in New York City . The then fourteen-year-old Judy Craig sang the lead vocal, with her then thirteen-year-old Patricia Bennett and Barbara Lee formed the group. By chance they met Ronnie Mack, who got them a record deal with Big Deal Records. They first recorded a cover version of the song Tonight's the Night by the Shirelles . On September 12, 1960, both singles hit the pop charts , but the version of the chiffons only reached number 76. No further records were released on the Big Deal label. The group had to wait two years for their next record release. During this time they worked as a background vocal group on recordings. In 1962 the group released a single on Wildcat Records and another single on Rprs Records. Both records were unsuccessful.
In the fall of 1962, Ronnie Mack tried to get his song He's so Fine at the newly founded production company Bright Tunes, which had been founded by members of the group The Tokens . The title pleased and Mack had to find a suitable vocal group for the record. He added a fourth singer, Sylvia Peterson, to the chiffons. In December 1962, the single was released as the B-side, entitled Oh My Lover . In February 1963 they reached number 1 on the American pop charts with the song He's so Fine . The single stayed at number 1 for four weeks and was also number one on the R&B charts for four weeks. George Harrison was later accused of having copied this song in his single My Sweet Lord , whereupon he had to pay two-thirds of his royalties to the original songwriter Ronnie Mack after a lawsuit. Harrison's work is now considered the most famous unwanted plagiarism in music history.
While the follow-up single Lucky Me was a complete flop, they came back into the top 10 with One Fine Day , which reached number 5. The track, a composition by Carole King and Gerry Goffin , was also produced by the tokens. The single came to number 6 on the RB charts and number 29 in the UK.
At the same time, the Chiffons released on Rust Records, a sub-label of Laurie Records records under the group name The Four Pennies . Her singles My Block and When the Boy's Happy (The Girl's Happy Too) only reached number 67 and 95 on the pop charts, respectively.
During 1963, the chiffons appeared on the most famous TV shows of the time: American Bandstand , Shindig and Hullabaloo. In the fall and winter of 1963, the chiffons had two short-lived top 40 hits again with A Love so Fine and I Have a Boyfriend . The track I Have a Boyfriend was composed by Jeff Barry , Ellie Greenwich and the Tokens and produced by the Tokens.
During the “British Invasion” phase in 1964 and 1965, the chiffons only got a few smaller hits such as Sailor Boy and Nobody Knows What's Goin 'On (In My Mind but Me) . In the summer of 1966 they had their last top 10 hit with Sweet Talkin 'Guy . Although two more singles, Out of This World and Stop, Look and Listen , made it to lower chart positions in the course of 1966, the group's success times were over. Four more singles appeared on Laurie Records by 1969, but they remained unsuccessful, as did the single Secret Love in 1969 on BTP Records and in 1970 So Much in Love on the Buddah Records label . A comeback attempt in the mid-1970s was discontinued after two unsuccessful single releases on the Laurie label.
Members
- Pat Bennett
- Judy Craig (until 1968)
- Barbara Lee Jones
- Sylvia Peterson (from 1963)
Discography
Albums
| year | title |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK
|
 US
|
|||
| 1963 | Hey's so fine | - |
US97 (11 weeks) US |
|
| 1966 | Sweet Talkin 'Guy | - |
US149 (3 weeks) US |
|
more publishments
- 1963: The Chiffons
- 1970: My Secret Love
- 19 ??: Starring the Isley Brothers and the Chiffons (with The Isley Brothers and Charlie Francis; LP undated)
Compilations
- 1966: Lou Christie and the Classics (with Lou Christie and The Isley Brothers )
- 1975: Everything You Always Wanted to Hear by the Chiffons but Couldn't Get
- 1976: Greatest Hits
- 1979: Sing the hits of the 50's & 60's
- 1980: Classic Cuts (EP)
- 1981: Everything You Always Wanted to Hear by the Chiffons… But Couldn't Get
- 1981: 16 big hits
- 1985: Flips, Flops & Rarities
- 1985: Doo-Lang, Doo-Lang, Doo-Lang
- 1988: The Best of the Chiffons
- 1990: Greatest Recordings
- 1991: Greatest Hits
- 1991: The Fabulous Chiffons
- 1994: Boys! Boys! Boys!
- 1996: The Best of the Chiffons
- 1996: Greatest Hits
- 2004: Absolutely the Best!
- 2006: Sweet Talkin 'Girls - The Best of the Chiffons (2 CDs)
Singles
| year | Title album |
Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) |
Remarks | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
UK
|
US
|
|||
| 1960 | Tonight's the Night Starring the Isley Brothers and the Chiffons |
- |
US76 (4 weeks) US |
|
| 1963 | He's so fine the chiffons |
UK16 (12 weeks) UK |
US1 (15 weeks) US |
|
| One Fine Day One Fine Day |
UK29 (6 weeks) UK |
US5 (10 weeks) US |
||
| My Block The Chiffons |
- |
US67 (5 weeks) US |
||
| A Love so Fine Greatest Hits |
- |
US40 (9 weeks) US |
||
| When the Boy's Happy (The Girl's Happy Too) Everything You Always Wanted to Hear ... |
- |
US95 (5 weeks) US |
||
| I Have a Boyfriend Greatest Hits |
- |
US36 (10 weeks) US |
||
| 1964 | Sailor Boy Greatest Hits |
- |
US81 (3 weeks) US |
|
| 1965 | Nobody Knows What's Goin 'On (In My Mind but Me) Sweet Talkin' Guy |
- |
US49 (9 weeks) US |
|
| 1966 | Sweet Talkin 'Guy Sweet Talkin' Guy |
UK4 (22 weeks) UK |
US10 (10 weeks) US |
|
| Out of This World Sweet Talkin 'Guy |
- |
US67 (4 weeks) US |
||
| Stop, Look and Listen Everything You Always Wanted to Hear ... |
- |
US85 (2 weeks) US |
||
more publishments
- 1964: Easy to Love (So Hard to Get)
- 1965: Tonight I'm Gonna Dream
- 1966: My Boyfriend's Back
- 1967: If I Knew Then (What I Know Now)
- 1968: Just for Tonight
- 1968: Keep the Boy Happy
- 1968: Up on the Bridge
- 1968: March (Promo)
- 1969: Love Me Like You're Gonna Lose Me
- 1970: Secret Love
- 1970: So Much in Love
- 1975: My Sweet Lord
- 1976: Dream, Dream, Dream
literature
- Warner, Jay: The Billboard Book Of American Singing Groups. A History 1940-1990 . New York City / New York: Billboard Books, 1992, pp. 343-345.
swell
- ^ US catalog number: Big Deal 6003. Whitburn, Joel: Top Pop Singles 1955-1993 . Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Ltd., 1994, p. 110; the version of the Shirelles reached number 39, p. ibid., p. 539
- ↑ A-side: Never Never , B-side: No More Tomorrows ; US catalog number: Wildcat 601
- ^ A-side: After Last Night , B-side: Doctor Of Hearts ; US catalog number: Rprs 20103
- ^ Warner, Jay: The Billboard Book of American Singing Groups. A History 1940-1990 . New York City / New York: Billboard Books, 1992, p. 343
- ↑ US catalog number Laurie 3152
- ^ Bronson, Fred: The Billboard Book of Number One Hits . 3rd revised and expanded edition. New York City, New York: Billboard Publications, 1992, p. 127
- ^ Warner, Jay: The Billboard Book of American Singing Groups. A History 1940-1990 . New York City / New York: Billboard Books, 1992, p. 344
- ^ Whitburn, Joel: The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits . 7th revised and expanded edition, New York City, New York: Billboard Books, 2005, p. 128
- ^ Warner, Jay: The Billboard Book of American Singing Groups. A History 1940-1990 . New York City / New York: Billboard Books, 1992, p. 345
- ↑ a b Chart sources: Singles UK US
- ^ The Billboard Albums by Joel Whitburn , 6th Edition, Record Research 2006, ISBN 0-89820-166-7
Web links
- The Chiffons at Allmusic (English)
- The Chiffons at Discogs (English)