1955 - All My Love Belongs To You / Talk About Him Girlie (Baton 211)
1955 - Gone, Gone, Gone / Until The Real Thing Comes Along (Baton 215)
1956 - Disappointed Bride / Going Home To Stay (Baton 222)
1956 - He Drives Me Crazy / I Had A Guy (Baton 228)
1957 - Dancing In A Dream World / You Needn't Tell Me, I Know (J&S 1657)
1957 - You Say You Love Me / So Long Baby (J&S 1660)
1958 - I Want Your Love Tonight / Like Later Baby (J&S 1626/1627)
1958 - If I Had Known / There Are So Many Ways (J&S 10002/10003)
1959 - My Love Has Gone / You Or Me Have Got To Go (J&S 425/426)
1959 - There Is No Love At All / Goodbye, Baby (J&S 4571)
1960 - A Thousand Years From Today / I Feel So Good (J&S 995)
1961 - I Couldn't Let Him See Crying / You Weren't Home (J&S 1180/1181)
1963 - Dear Abby / (Instrumental) (Tuff 370)
1963 - I Understand Him / (Instrumental) (Tuff 373)
Biography :
The
group’s story begins in the mid-fifties, when a woman by the name of
Zell Sanders started her own production company. Zell was looking for an
R&B group and found the original Hearts, Hazel Crutchfield,
Forestine Barnes, Joyce West, and later Louise Harris singing together
at the Apollo Theatre. In 1954 few labels were willing to take a chance on a group of female singers who weren’t clones of the Andrews Sisters or McGuire Sisters, let alone one produced and managed by a woman, but Sanders’ tough attitude brought them to the attention of the small Baton Records label, and a studio recording of the very doo-wopish "Lonely Nights" was the result.
Rex Garvin, Hazel Anderson, Joyce West, Thaddus Mc Lean & Louise Harris
The song became a big hit on the R&B charts and is credited as
being one of the first true girl group tunes. The group had some local
success in New York with some follow-ups , but nothing came close to the
chart power of "Lonely Nights."After a series of mild items on baton, the Hearts were moved to
Zell’s own J&S Records, but the girls in the original group were
dumped when Sanders felt they weren’t being serious enough about being
recording stars.
Theresa Chatman, Anna Barnhill, Justine "Baby" Washington, Joyce Peterson & Rex Garvin
By 1957, the new group, which featured a young Baby Washington, in
addition to Anna Barnhill, Theresa Chatman and Joyce Peterson, began
recording. The first release "Dancing In A Dream World," kept the
Hearts’ schedule busy, but the chart was still barren. Over the next few years a dozen girls or more would filter in and out of the Hearts as Sanders picked who would be on what recording, hired and fired personnel at will, and created new group names to release her product. One such name was the Jaynetts, a combination of the J in J&S records, and Heart singer Lezli Valentine’s middle name, Anetta. In 1958 Sanders’ released "I Wanted To Be Free b/w Where Are You Tonight," to an indifferent audience.
Meanwhile, various configurations of the Hearts kept releasing singles through 1961 without much more than regional interest. Sanders encountered some financial problems in the early 1960s and despite the creation of new labels like Tuff and Zell’s, couldn’t keep her business afloat. Executives at Chess Records still thought Sanders had something going for her, though, and helped to bankroll her next venture, a revamped version of the Jaynetts.
(The Hearts) Marie Hood, Lezli Valentine, Mandy Hooper & friends Lezli Valentine & Marie Hood
In 1963, Sanders, producer Abner Spector and his wife Lona Stevens,
came together to create one of the most talked-about records of the
1960s. "Sally Go ‘Round The Roses," by The Jaynetts, a nursery rhyme
turned pop hit was recorded during several sessions over for more than a
week.
Justine 'Baby' Washington The Hearts, 1962, (top) Theresa Chatman, (Bottom) Marie Hood, Cindy Felder & Louise Muray
Estimates now put the cost of this recording at well over
$60,000, a huge cost for something that only lasted about 3 minutes and
for a producer who hadn’t had a bonafide hit since 1955.
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