The Three Degrees

As their name implies they have been a trio since their formation in 1963; however, over the course of the group’s career there have been a total of 15 members cycling in and out. The original line up was comprised by Fayette Pinkney, Shirley Porter, and Linda Turner and was initially discovered and to some extent directed by producer/song-writer Richard Barrett. This line up released their 1st single “Gee Baby (I’m Sorry)” through Swan Records in 1965; however, both Porter and Turner were eventually replaced by Janet Harmon and Helen Scot later that year.

Line up reconfigurations persisted until 1967, but the group finally stabilized into the trio consisting of Fayette Pinkney, Valerie Holiday and Sheila Ferguson. Though the group were a popular night club act and managed to produce several well received singles they did not strike a hit or even issue their 1st album until the 70s.

This decade proved to be the climax of the band’s career, starting with the release of their studio debut, “Maybe”. This album came out in 1970 through the label Roulette and featured their No. 4 US R&B charting title song. Their 2nd release through Roulette “So Much Love” did not come out until 1975, but it spawned the hit single “I Do Take You”. This release proved to be their last album distributed by Roulette; however, by 1973 they had already claimed Philadelphia International Records as their new home.

They issued their self-titled 2nd studio album that year, which showcased the three hit singles “Dirty Ol’ Man”, “Year of Decision” and “When Will I See you Again”, the latter of the releases catapulted the group into the mainstream and certified them as the 1st all-female group since the Supremes to top the UK Charts for two weeks . After their 1975 release of “So Much Love” they proceeded to put out an additional three albums that year, including “Live In Japan”, “The Degrees Live” and “International”. The album “International” was their biggest album hit in the UK, reaching No. 6 on the album charts. The album was also a success in Japan and in fact featured two Japanese pop songs “Midnight Train” and “Nigai Namida”.

Though the group was raking in attention with their album releases their 1st claim to fame is often attributed to their TV and movie appearances. They made their silver screen debut in the 1971 Academy Award Winning film, “The French Connection” and in 1973 they were featured in an episode of “Sanford and Son” as well as on “Soul Train”, for which they provided the show’s theme song.

1976 saw the release of another live album “The Three Degrees Live” as well as a concept album “A Toast of Love”, their 1st album through Epic. Later that year Pinkney departed from the group and her spot was filled by Helen Scott. In 1977 the group issued their last album through Epic “Standing Up For Love”. After this album the band moved into a dance/pop and disco oriented direction. They recruited the production help of acclaimed Italian electro-dance composer Giorgio Moroder and put out two of their most important pop albums to date: “New Dimensions” (1978) and “3D” (1979). Both these releases came out through Ariola, but their follow up “Album of Love” (1982) was their 1st to be released through the label 3D.

The group toured frequently, but stayed fairly inactive in the recording studios throughout the 80s. Besides “Album Love”, “...And Holding” was their only studio album to be released that decade; however, they did issue the very successful compilation “Gold” as well as another live album “Live in the UK”. The girls released two albums of original material in the 90s “Out of Past, into the Future” (1993) and “Christmas with the Three Degrees” (1998), but the remainders were greatest hits compilations. The group’s proceeding album, “Undercover 2009” did not come out until close to 11 years later and consisted entirely of cover songs by artists such as Abba, Stevie Wonder, Bee Gees, and Paul Simon.