The Raelettes

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The Raelettes
The Raelettes (Ethel McCrea, Margie Hendricks, Patricia Lyles, and Gwendolyn Berry).
Background information
Origin	United States
Genre(s)	R&B/pop/soul
Occupation(s)	girl group
Years active	1950's-1970's
Label(s)	Tangerine/ABC-Paramount
Associated acts	Ray Charles
Former members
Ethel McCrea Margie Hendricks Patricia Lyles Gwendolyn Berry Mable John Susaye Greene Avis Harrell Madelyn Quebeck Estella Yarobourgh Trudy Cohran Pat Peterson

The Raelettes were a girl group in the 1950s, 1960s 1970s, and 1980s, formed, as their name suggests, to provide backing vocals for Ray Charles. Its membership originally consisted of Ethel 'Earl-Jean' McCrea, Margie Hendricks, Patricia Lyles, and Gwendolyn Berry. Later members included Mable John and Susaye Greene. The 1980's set of Raelettes included Avis Harrell, Madlyne Qubeck, Estella Yarobourgh, Trudy Cohran, and Pat Peterson: they recorded with Charles and featured in one of his biggest concerts not long before his death. The concert featured the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and was televised on KCET Television in Canada.

Although they were never famed for their singles, they had a number of pop and R&B hits and several have gone on to promising solo careers. According to the biopic Ray, before becoming the Raelettes, the group were known as The Cookies.