She was born in 1944 in Atlanta and joined Motown records in 1966 and there the hits started. She had some minor hits in the early 1970s in the U.S. including If I Were Your Woman, Make Me The Woman You Go Home With, and I Don’t Want To Do Wrong.
But 1972 gave the group a big hit in the UK and the States with Help Me Make It Though The Night which was composed by Kris Kristofferson and came from his 1970 album. The song was all about a man and his sexual needs. The song would be a big hit again in 1974 for reggae singer John Holt.
1973 saw a smaller hit called Neither One Of Us (Wants To Be The First To Say Goodbye). This was also the time that the group left Motown and swapped to the Buddha label. Their first hit in the UK was Midnight Train To Georgia which got to No. 10 (No. 1 U.S.). The song was written by Jim Weatherly and won a Grammy in 1974. It was originally called Midnight Plane To Houston, but the title just didn’t fit properly. The song is about people from different backgrounds still able to be in love.
The U.S. follow up was I’ve Got To Use My Imagination but the next success was in 1975 and a hit both sides of the pond with The Way We Were/ Try To Remember which was a cover or more like rework of the Barbra Streisand hit and film the Way We Were.
The follow up Part Time Love was a minor hit and that was followed in 1976 by So Sad The Song. The 1977 hit in the UK was the more disco orientated Baby Don’t Change Your Mind getting to No. 4 (No. 52 U.S.).
The last top twenty hit for the group was Come Back And Finish What You Started in 1978 but her success wasn’t just with singles as she did have three top twenty albums in the UK charts in the 1970s too.
Let the 70s music ease the stress from your bones.Take off your disco shoes and sit yourself down on my giant bean bag, that's it just sit back and relax. Let me pry those memories from the deepest corners of your mind by taking you for a stroll through the archives.
