Singer. She joined the Drinkard Singers gospel group (which also included Cissy Houston) in the late 1950s. Like many singers who started with gospel, she moved to soul in the 1960s, releasing a string of non-hit singles for the Ember, Lavette, Scepter and Atlantic labels which are esteemed by British "Northern Soul" fans today; she also sang backup vocals for soul singers like Wilson Pickett and Solomon Burke. In the late 1960s, she briefly teamed with Billy Vera to form what may have been the first interracial recording duo, recording an album and a couple minor hit singles, "Storybook Children" and "Country Girl-City Man (Just Across The Line)." Her recordings with Stax and Atlantic in the late 1960s (which included a 1969 session at Muscle Shoals Sound) produced a hit R&B duet with William Bell, "Private Number," and a minor hit solo single, "Greatest Love." She continued to work as a backup vocalist in the 1970s, with Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles among others.
Singer. She joined the Drinkard Singers gospel group (which also included Cissy Houston) in the late 1950s. Like many singers who started with gospel, she moved to soul in the 1960s, releasing a string of non-hit singles for the Ember, Lavette, Scepter and Atlantic labels which are esteemed by British "Northern Soul" fans today; she also sang backup vocals for soul singers like Wilson Pickett and Solomon Burke. In the late 1960s, she briefly teamed with Billy Vera to form what may have been the first interracial recording duo, recording an album and a couple minor hit singles, "Storybook Children" and "Country Girl-City Man (Just Across The Line)." Her recordings with Stax and Atlantic in the late 1960s (which included a 1969 session at Muscle Shoals Sound) produced a hit R&B duet with William Bell, "Private Number," and a minor hit solo single, "Greatest Love." She continued to work as a backup vocalist in the 1970s, with Aretha Franklin and Ray Charles among others.
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