The Sweet Inspirations - Soul Royalty - Women's History Month

Today I'm going to celebrate a family of soul royalty.  Some of these women were related to each other by blood, some were family in music.  They were some the biggest heavy-hitters in soul music history.  The cream of the crop in vocalists. Sadly they are probably best remembered as Elvis Presley's backup singers but they were so much more.  I'm talking about the women from "The Group" which evolved into The Sweet Inspirations. 

 
The history of this group began with a gospel group called The Drinkard Singers.  From the Drinkards came  future members of the legendary backup singers "the Group" - sisters  Dionne and Dee Dee Warwick, their cousin Emily Drinkard (Aka Cissy Houston) and Judy Clay.  These ladies joined Doris Troy in backing some of the most famous soul records of all time.  Judy Clay, Doris Troy, Dionne and Dee Dee all left for solo careers and were replaced by Sylvia Shemwell (sister of Judy Clay), Myrna Smith and Estelle Brown.


Eventually Cissy Houston, Sylvia Shemwell, Myrna Smith and Estelle Brown became The Sweet Inspirations.  Their best known record was "Sweet Inspiration".  Cissy left the group for a solo career in the late 60s and the rest of the ladies went on to record some cool sides for Stax in the early 70s.   The Sweet Inspirations performed together on and off up until 2010 when Sylvia passed away.


Confused?  I put together a little chart to simplify the history.

What is truly astounding is the sheer number of incredible records released by this force of women collectively. And though they each have their own distinct voices, they also share a similar warmth  in their delivery.  


Today I want to take some time to celebrate some of my favorite records by these ladies as a group and as solo artists.


I'm going to include just one of the back-up performances by The Group because I really want to focus on the these artists as the leading ladies they really were.  

There is no denying that the contribution of these ladies was essential in making the records they backed true classics.





This is a cool live performance of Dionne Warwick in the early days, blazing the trail of soul-pop.


I hate to go for the obvious and post Doris Troy's most famous song, but I found this cute footage and couldn't resist.



Doris went on to record for the Beatles Apple label in the early 70s. This song is a scorcher and I believe it features George Harrison on guitar.



Judy Clay is one of my favorite soul singers ever! I do love a woman with a low voice. She also had a very fascinating career which included a very controversial late 60s album of interracial love song duets with Billy Vera.

I feel a little guilty because I really could write single blog entries for each of these ladies, but I wanted to emphasize their connection to each other.

Here's an early solo record by Judy which has become a northern soul classic.



She also cut a bundle of killer tracks for Stax in the late 60s after which she returned to back-up work.


This one is a gospel inspired message song from the soundtrack for the film "Uptight"



Dee Dee Warwick has been overshadowed by her sister Dionne's super stardom. It's unfortunate because she really has one of the sweetest, warmest voices in soul. The production on this record is superb.



I just stumbled on this rare clip of Dee Dee in action! What a treat for a nerd like me!

 

This cover of the Everly Brothers classic is my favorite Sweet Inspirations recording. Chokes me up everytime.




They also have some great uptempo numbers but I can't seem to find them on-line, so instead, here's another exquisite ballad.






And now solo Cissy! 
Again, many of my favorites aren't on-line but I found a couple of good ones to share with you.







And I also LOVE this post Cissy Houston Sweet Inspirations cut.



- Post by Portland's DJ Action Slacks of Sugar Town