The Three Degrees - Contact

The Three Degrees were formed in 1963 by Richard Barrett and signed to Swan records. They were originally Fayette Pinckney, Linda Turner, and Shirley Poole, as the vehicles for his vision of creating the next great girl group. Turner and Poole were quickly replaced by Helen Scott and Janet Harmon, and Barrett began the process of moulding the trio into a regional favourite, training them extensively and booking them at record shops and talent contests throughout the Eastern United States. The group was signed by Philly-based Swan Records in the mid-60s and scored a regional hit with "Gee Baby," working with a number of great local musicians, some of whom would become the backbone of the Philadelphia soul movement of the 70s. In 1966 Scott temporarily left the group and was replaced by Sheila Ferguson, already an accomplished solo singer, with a song on Swan that was to become a Northern Soul favourite, "Heartbroken Memories", and Valerie Holiday took over Harmon's slot. They then signed to Warner Brothers and recorded this wonderful song, "Contact", that became one of the favourites at Blackpool Mecca's legendary Highland Room. After Warner Bros, the act was then signed by Roulette Records and in 1970 scored their first major national hit, a top 5 remake of the Chantels' "Maybe." They followed later that year with the popular "You're the One," and landed a brief appearance singing in the Gene Hackman hit movie The French Connection. A major career move for the Three Degrees was their signing by Gamble & Huff's up-and-coming Philadelphia International Records in 1972. They made an immediate splash with the disco hit "Dirty Ol' Man" before joining with MFSB (the Philadelphia International house band) to record the Soul Train theme song "TSOP," which became an across-the-board #1 hit. They then followed the next year with what would become their signature song, the sophisticated ballad "When Will I See You Again," one of the greatest songs ever to come from Philadelphia, and the group's biggest international hit. The Three Degrees continued with moderate success at PIR before moving over to Epic Records in 1975 and then to Ariola. During the next decade their success in the U.S. was limited but they became bigger than ever in the U.K., where they continued to score with hits such as "Giving Up, Giving In" and "Woman In Love." Prince Charles proclaimed them his favourite group (they were guests at his wedding to Princess Diana) and they were consequently labeled by the British Press as "Charlie's Angels." Helen Scott rejoined the group (replacing Pinckney) in 1976, and the line-up of Scott, Ferguson and Holiday continued for a decade, when Ferguson left the group, ultimately being replaced with Cynthia Garrison and resulting in the line-up on this video, Valerie Holiday, Helen Scott and Cynthia Garrison, the line-up that continues to this day. We were very proud to re-record "Contact" and film them for "The Strange World Of Northern Soul", thanks to their wonderful manager, the founder of Blues and Soul magazine, John Abbey.