The Sapphires comprised of:
Carol Jackson (lead vocalist)
George Gainer
and
Joe Livingston
The Sapphires were a vocal trio from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.
Signed to the Swan record label by producer Jerry Ross, the trio's first single releases were on that imprint.
Their first single release was entitled 'Where Is Johnny Now?' b/w 'Your True Love'.
The backing group consisted of several contributors to the Philadelphia International empire at a later date.
These included Leon Huff, Thom Bell (keyboards), Bobby Eli (guitar), Joe Macho (bass), and Bobby Martin on vibes.
Their follow up song was entitled 'Who Do You Love?', a song that made the pop charts, peaking at number 25 in 1964.
Further singles, 'I Found Out Too Late' and 'Gotta Be More Than Friends' were less successful.
During their early career, the group were associated with Kenny Gamble, who arranged their vocals on the groups debut album release, 'Who Do You Love'.
Moving to ABC later in the Sixties, they failed to return to the charts.
At ABC they released the popular song 'Let's Break Up For A While'.
Their songs proved to be highly popular, at a later date, on the Northern Soul scene, including 'Gotta Have Your Love' (number 33 on the R & B charts in 1965 and featuring background vocals by Valerie Simpson, Nick Ashford, and Melba Moore), 'Evil One', 'Gonna Be a Big Thing', and 'Slow Fizz' (1966).
The latter song ended their contract with ABC and the group went their seperate ways.
Albums:
Who Do You Love? (Swan Records 1964)
The Best Of The Sapphires (Sequel Records 1995)
