• The Three Degrees 7:30:24 5.34 PM

  • Jul 30 2024
  • Length: 5 mins
  • Podcast

The Three Degrees 7:30:24 5.34 PM

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  • Summary

  • Into by: Gail Nobles

    The Thee Degrees are a female vocal group form circa 1963 and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although 16 women have been members over the years, the group has always been a trio. The group were particularly successful in the UK, achieving 13 Top 50 hit singles between 1974 and 1985.

    The original members were Fayette Pinkney, Shirley Porter and Linda Turner. Porter and Turner were eventually replaced by Helen Scott and Janet Harmon and the group was signed to Swan Records in Philadelphia. The line-up from 1967 to 1976 was Pinkney, Valerie Holiday and Sheila Ferguson, who would go on to sing lead on most of the group's biggest hits. This line-up topped the US Hot 100 as featured vocalists on the MFSB single "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" in 1974, and had seven UK Top 40 hits, including the 1974 single "When Will I See You Again", which was a huge international hit, reaching the Top 5 in seven countries, including number two in the US and topping the UK Singles Chart. After Pinkney was fired from the group in 1976, Helen Scott returned to join Sheila Ferguson and Valerie Holiday to have four UK Top 20 hits, including "Woman in Love", which reached number three in 1979. Ferguson left for a solo career in 1986.

    It was 1973 when the group was signed to Philadelphia International Records under Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff where they had their greatest successes. The first song they recorded for the label was with the studio band MFSB, titled "TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)", which was the theme song for Soul Train.In October 1973, the group also made an appearance on the American television sitcom Sanford and Son (season 3, episode 4), singing their song "I Didn't Know".

    Their first album for the Philadelphia International label, The Three Degrees, spawned three hits: "Dirty Ol' Man" (which went gold in the Netherlands and Belgium), "Year Of Decision" (which made it to No. 13 in the UK Singles Chart),but it was the third single, "When Will I See You Again", that propelled the trio into the mainstream. It topped the UK Chart for two weeks in August 1974 (the first time this had been achieved by an all-female group since The Supremes in 1964, and became the fourth best-selling single of the year. It also reached No. 2 in the US, where it sold over two million copies and earned the trio a gold record in December 1974.

    I’m Gail Nobles. Thank you for listening. Goodbye for now.
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