Crayons To Perfume's Girl of the Week is Koko Taylor along with the girls of 60's Rhythm & Blues!

Crayons to Perfume presents the ladies of 60's rhythm & blues with our girl of the week, KoKo Taylor. Koko rose from being a Tennessee share croppers daughter to being Chicago's Queen of the Blues when she met Willie Dixon who helped her get signed to Chess Records in 1962. Koko released many records in her day, but it was the live performances that were her passion. Right up until her death in 2009 she was still touring and doing about 200 dates a year!

We also hear from the great Barbara Lynn, Little Ester, Sinner Strong, Queen Ester, and Mitty Collier, all on our show #19 which you can hear, here. You can stream via the pop up player and download using the mp3-128k link.

Mitty Collier was a frequent guest on the short lived TV show The Beat!!!. Here she is doing I Had A Talk With My Man.




-I'm really excited about our next show - featuring Girls in the Garage! Tune in Wednesday at 7pm!

Crayons To Perfume Girls of the Week are the cross boarder cuties, the Charmaines!

The Charmaines, or Gigi & The Charmaines as they appeared on some of their records were one of the more unique girl-groups. They were from Cincinnati, Ohio - a day's drive from Toronto, Ontario in Canada and their adopted 2nd home of many years. Toronto had a thriving soul and r&b scene in the 60's and was hungry for more of the music that was heavily influencing "the Toronto Sound" - the Charmaines even have three very obscure singles on Red Leaf Records (from Toronto) - which we'll feature at a later date (because I don't have my hands on all of them! If anyone can send me files of the records, please let me know!!!!)
The Charmaines made quite a few records, but the girls seemed to measure their success not on the hit songs that eluded them, but on the busy schedule they kept for live performances - they were working constantly!

The Charmaines were also on local TV frequently, but none of the footage is on Youtube, so instead we've featured some fantastic recent re-union footage from Cleethorpe's Soul Weekender! The girls sound hasn't changed a bit, and here they do 'Eternally'.



Crayons to Perfume 9 features not only the Charmaines, but a set of powerhouse soul sisters, solo pop girls and some swingin' 60's ye ye covers that transform those seemingly sweet and innocent French Femmes into torrid temptresses that tantalize! We end our show with a taste of next weeks Lovely Latin Ladies one hour special - a show filled with super music from the girls of South America, Mexico, Spain and Cuba!!

Crayons to Perfume airs each Monday morning with your host, Glynis Ward aka DJ girlgroupgirl - just search on WFMU Rock 'n Soul Ichiban to find a list of all our other shows - they remain here for your listening pleasure 24/7

The Charmaines: Guilty
The Charmaines: I Idolize You
The Charmaines: Poor Unfortunate Me
The Charmaines: I Don’t Want To Loose Him
Sandy Shaw: Girl Don’t Come
Petula Clark: Reach Out
Chris Connor: Downtown
Billie Davis: Ev’ry Day
Cher: I’m Gonna Love You
Patti Drew: Hard To Handle
Thelma Jones: The House That Jack Built
Gloria Jones: Tainted Love
Erma Franklin: Gotta Find Me a Lover (24 Hours a Day)
Shirley: Big Boss Man
Les Scarabees: Puisque tu m'as quittée (Nothing But A Heartache)
Sylvie Vartan: Quand Tu Es La (The Game of Love)
Evy: Une question qui se pose 1965 (Questions I Can’t Answer )
Stone: Garde Ton Sang Froid (I Can’t Control Myself)
Jocylene: Nitty Gritty
Les Fizz Si tu fais ça (You Can’t Do That)
Jenny Rock Mal (Hush)
Cristina & Los Stops Corazon Contendo 1969

Crayons To Perfume Girl of the Week is that mini Mandarin Missy, Rita Chao!

Today I have a secret, and I'm going to spill the beans. It's really not my style to announce my #1 most wanted record, but today is the day. I REALLY want the album pictured in our video below, because it contains Rita Chao's version of 'Venus'.
Rita Chao is one of the wonders of Singapore's 60's pop "scene". Her voice is unique, and often when singing English, it's awkward sounding to Western ears and the notes often sharp - perfect for her beautiful renditions of traditional Mandarin songs!
I discovered China's hidden 60's pop music while living in Toronto. A record store had purchased a good pile of assorted ethnic 45's and I bought them. There were a few good Portuguese EP's (all of them covers) and a handful of Chinese records. A few of the 45's were "a go go" records but I couldn't read the labels - I suspect now that one or two were either the Trailers or the Quests backing male and male/female duos. At the time I was working with a woman who spoke only Mandarin, and she adored the records, so when I moved the records stayed with her, but those records sparked an interest to find out more about Asian music in the 60's.

Here's Rita with her version of 'Venus'.



Click here for our latest Crayons To Perfume, featuring Rita Chao, a handful of Beatles girls, along with some pop and soul! Check us out here at WFMU's Rock 'n Soul Ichiban each Monday morning - and just search on Crayons To Perfume for all of our past shows. In the coming weeks we have some great stuff planned for your listening pleasure - all kinds of surprises!

Rita Chao: Hanky Panky
Rita Chao: Love Is Me, Love Is You
Rita Chao: How To Catch A Girl
Rita Chao: Shake Shake
Rita Chao: It’s Gonna Be Alright
Bonnie JO Mason: Ringo, I Love You
Linda Gayle: Twist & Shout
The Bootles: I’ll Let You Hold My Hand
The Carefrees: We Love You
Claudette & Sylvie: Oui C’est Vrai (Hold Me Tight)
Shangri-Las: Train From Kansas City
Chymes: He’s Not There Anymore
(Raparata &) The Del Rons: Your Big Mistake
Julie Driscoll: Don’t Do It No More
Tootie & The Bouquets: The Conqueror
Erma Franklin: Hold On I’m Comin’
Nanette: He Knows How
Irma Thomas: Teasin’ But Your Pleasin’
The Velvelettes: He Was Really Sayin’ Somethin’
Martha & The Vandellas: Dancin’ In The Street
Gigi & The Charmaines: Rockin’ Pneumonia & The Boogie Woogie Blues

Crayons To Perfume's Girl Of The Week is Coventry Fairchild, folk-rock femme extraordinaire!

Coventry Fairchild was the lead singer of Miami 60's folk-rock outfit The Clefs of Lavender Hill. Still in her teens, Coventry had the voice of a far more mature woman. She sang with her brother Travis, usually in duets that he wrote; the most well known of which is 'Stop, Get A Ticket'.

Here's a fab, catchy song Coventry, and her band did for Date Records, Travis wrote it!



Now check out more of the Clefs of Lavender Hill, along with a handful of other female folk-rockers, garage girls and pop princesses, on this week's Crayons To Perfume!

Crayons to Perfume's Girls of the Week, the San Fransisco Songstresses of Soul, the Apollas!

The Apollas should have been huge! They should have been girl group stars, but for some unknown reason, it just didn't happen for these San Fransisco Songstresses of Soul! The beautiful Leola Jiles, who has an incredible voice led the trio through some great records, but they often seemed too rock, or too soul - more sass than sweet, and and sadly it didn't sell. But oh, those records! Check out their first record and crazy TV appearance of the girls on Hollywood a Go-Go with You're Absolutely Right!!




And now hear the Apollas on this week's Crayons To Perfume! with your host Glynis Ward, dj girlgroupgirl - wishing you all a labor free Labor Day!

Crayons to Perfume Girl of The Week: TAMMY! The Puerto Rician Dynamo

Tammy (no last name known) was a child recording star in her homeland of Puerto Rico. She has two LP's and a half of her own (one half shared with Julio Angel, the Puerto Rican equivellent of Paul Anka in the 60's). The records are a mixture of popular songs, some traditional music and amazingly rockin' tunes.


 I think her best is 'Perro Que Ladra (no muerde)' - a dog that barks does not bite - (pretty much a cover of  'Shaggy Dog').

'Una Chica Ye Ye' is another goodie!

I found the 2 a Go Go LP in a thrift store for .25 cents on my honeymoon, I'd say it was a pretty good deal.

Crayons to Perfume is coming soon to WFMU's Ichiban Soul, hosted by Glynis Ward, DJ girlgroupgirl

 

 

Star Time

B.B. Kings Blues Club is celebrating the Girl Group Sound this coming Sunday, September 8th!!  Be there for an amazing line up of the original ladies behind all the hits.  Ichiban favorites Baby Washington, Maxine Brown, Louise Murray, Lillian Walker, Margaret Ross, Barbara Harris, Toni Wine, Nanette Licari and Beverly Warren.  The ladies will be backed up by the Boyfriends, featuring members of Yo La Tengo, Loser's Lounge and the Uptown Horns.  Directed by Jeremy Chatzky and produced by Jill Sternheimer.  WFMU's Gaylord Fields and Dave the Spazz will MC.  Don't miss this historic event!!

Cookies - Up On The Roof

The Beas - Dr. Goldfoot and the Bikini Machine

Radio On

In case you missed it last night, listen now to Music To Spazz By with Dave the Spazz, Billy Miller and Gaylord Fields.  Special guest star:  La La Brooks! 

Girl Group Sound

Debra Swisher-- "You're So Good To Me"

After the Pixies Three broke up in '65 (I believe that's her on the far right), Ms. Swisher hooked up with the mighty Strangeloves to produce this explosive Beach Boys cover on Boom records, but then gave up her solo act to join a later formation of the Angels.

UPDATE 5/10/2010: My old embedded player has apparently crapped out, so let's try it this way: