The Paris Sisters - Anthology
The
Paris Sisters bridged the gap separating the traditional vocal pop of
the post-World War II era from the equally generation-defining girl
group sound that emerged in the wake of rock & roll. By the 1961
release of their Phil Spector-produced breakthrough "I Love How You Love
Me," the siblings were already longtime veterans of the music business.
Albeth (the oldest), Sherrell (the middle child), and Priscilla Paris
(the baby) were born and raised in San Francisco. Their mother, Faye,
was the quintessential stage parent, a former opera singer who continued
her career vicariously through her children. The Paris Sisters got
their start singing and dancing at local Air Force showcases, and circa
1953 they made their recorded debut with a pair of singles for the tiny
Cavalier label: "The Bully, Bully Man" (a tie-in with local radio
personality Red Blanchard) and the seasonal effort "Christmas in My Home
Town." In 1954, their mother engineered a backstage visit during an
Andrews Sisters performance at the Warfield Theater, and the trio was so
impressed by the Paris siblings' uncanny imitations of their hits that
they were invited on-stage for encore performances of the canteen
classics "Rum and Coca Cola" and "Beer Barrel Polka." An MCA Records
executive in the audience signed the Paris Sisters to the label's Decca
imprint immediately thereafter, and the single "Ooh La La" appeared by
year's end.
Despite
the snowballing popularity of rock & roll, the Paris Sisters' early
Decca efforts adhered to the increasingly old-fashioned vocal harmony
approach popularized by the Andrews Sisters and the McGuire Sisters. As a
result, singles like 1955's "Huckleberry Pie," "Give Me a Band and My
Baby" (a collaboration with crooner Bing Crosby's son Gary), and "Truly"
earned little notice from radio programmers. Although their records
fared poorly, the Paris Sisters toured relentlessly, appearing at county
fairs, USO showcases, and even in Las Vegas, casino performances made
possible with the aid of falsified birth certificates, makeup, and
padded bras. After their seventh Decca single, 1956's "Daughter,
Daughter," the label terminated the Paris Sisters' contract, and the
siblings signed with Imperial to release 1957's "Old Enough to Cry,"
quickly followed by "My Original Love." Imperial opted to cut its losses
then and there, and the Paris girls did not make another record for
four years. When they finally resurfaced on Lester Sill's fledgling
Gregmark label in 1961, the impresario insisted on a top-to-bottom
overhaul of their approach, tapping up-and-coming producer Phil Spector
to shepherd the transformation. Spector relegated Albeth and Sherrell to
the background, and while he turned the spotlight on Priscilla, he
insisted she dial back her powerful voice to a dusky whisper.
While the Paris Sisters' Gregmark debut, "Be My Boy," earned little notice, the follow-up, "I Love How You Love Me," cracked the U.S. Top Five, galvanized by Priscilla's intimate lead turn and Spector's atypically restrained production. After the 1962 singles "He Knows I Love Him Too Much" and "What Am I to Do" also generated positive response at radio and retail, Spector began work on a Paris Sisters LP, but as production costs began to skyrocket, Sill attempted to exert control of the project. Their skirmish ended disastrously when, according to Sill, one of his assistants accidentally discarded the master tapes, although rumors persist of a far more nefarious outcome. Either way the Paris Sisters suffered the most damage, and while their relationship with Sill disintegrated under the threat of litigation, the siblings did not make another record until 1964, signing with MGM to cut a cover of the Bobby Darin smash "Dream Lover" overseen by Spector's erstwhile arranger Jack Nitzsche. After a pair of singles for Mercury, "When I Fall in Love" and "Always Waitin'," the Paris Sisters recorded the 1966 Unifilms LP Sing from "The Glass House", a soundtrack LP to a failed television series. That same year they signed to Reprise, which paired them with Nitzsche and production partner Jimmy Bowen -- though a commercial failure, the Paris Sisters' 1967 Reprise LP Everything Under the Sun!!! remains an unsung classic of the waning girl group era, featuring several original songs written by Priscilla herself.
Not surprisingly, Priscilla released her debut solo single, "He Noticed Me," on the York label shortly after Everything Under the Sun!!! belly-flopped. The solo LP Priscilla Sings Herself soon followed, and she closed out 1967 with Priscilla Sings Billy, a tribute to jazz immortal Billie Holiday. The Paris Sisters reunited the following year to release "Stark Naked Clown" on the GNP Crescendo imprint. "Golden Days," a 1968 one-off for Capitol, proved to be the siblings' swan song. While Albeth gradually moved behind the scenes into television production and public relations work, Sherrell formed her own group, Sherrell Paris & the Now People, touring nightclubs for several years before joining the staff of Mark Goodman-Bill Todman Productions and spending more than two decades as the personal assistant of The Price Is Right host Bob Barker. Priscilla eventually relocated to London before settling in Paris, France, where she lived for a quarter century. After a 1978 solo LP, Love Is..., she suffered an accident resulting in partial facial paralysis, effectively ending her music career for a number of years. By the 1990s Priscilla was again playing the occasional Parisian club date, and in the spring of 2002 she returned to the U.S. for a proposed Paris Sisters reunion concert. Sadly, the show was aborted after the 18-hour flight left her too exhausted to perform. Priscilla died on March 5, 2004, from injuries suffered in a fall at her home. She was 59... ~ Jason Ankeny
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