Brenda & the Tabulations were an American R&B group formed in 1966 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally composed of Brenda Payton, Eddie L. Jackson, Maurice Coates and Jerry Jones.
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The group had a distinctive, almost doo wop sound, especially at the start, featuring Payton's sweet occasionally rough-edged vocals with background male harmonies. The line-up changed around 1971 with the original three men having departed. Two female backing singers (Pat Mercer and Deborah Martin) were brought in to support Payton.
Brenda Payton was just sixteen when she formed her first group The Joyettes in 1965, the following year she, along with Jerry Jones, Eddie Jackson and Maurice Coates, made Dry Your Eyes her debut recording as Brenda & The Tabulations for Dionn #500. (image)
The group had a series of hit singles in the late 1960s and early 1970s, mainly in the US soul charts mostly on small independent labels, Dionn and Top & Bottom, operated by the group's manager, Gilda Woods. However, two were big US pop hits, their first release, "Dry Your Eyes" (Pop #20, R&B #2) on Dionn in 1967; and later in 1971, "Right On The Tip Of My Tongue", (Pop #23, R&B #5)[1]. The first was written by Payton with group member Maurice Coates and the latter written and produced by Van McCoy. They released three albums, Dry Your Eyes (1967), Brenda and the Tabulations (1970) and I Keep Coming Back for More (1977).
Brenda & the Tabulations are one of many recording artists referenced in the song "Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me)" by the studio group, Reunion.
Brenda Payton, who was born in 1946, died on June 14, 1992. Eddie L. Jackson died on May 3, 2010, from a brain aneurysm, at the age of 63.[2]
The group's music burst back into cultural consciousness in 2011, when "The Wash" from Dry Your Eyes was licensed by Unilever for use in an Axe body wash commercial.
| Year | Album | Chart positions[3] | Record label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
|||||
| 1967 | Dry Your Eyes | 191 | 19 | Dionn | ||
| 1971 | Brenda & the Tabulations | — | — | Top & Bottom | ||
| 1977 | I Keep Coming Back for More | — | — | Chocolate City | ||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | ||||||
| Year | Album | Chart positions | Record label | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
|||||
| 2000 | Right on the Tip of My Tongue | — | — | Jamie/Guyden | ||
| 2008 | The Dionn Singles Collection 1966-1969 | — | — | |||
| The Top and Bottom Singles Collection 1969-1971 | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart | ||||||
| Year | Single | Chart positions[4] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B |
|||||
| 1967 | "Dry Your Eyes" | 20 | 8 | |||
| "Stay Together Young Lovers" (A-side) | 66 | 44 | ||||
| "Who's Lovin' You" (B-side) | 66 | 19 | ||||
| "Just Once in a Lifetime" | 97 | 41 | ||||
| "When You're Gone" | 58 | 27 | ||||
| 1968 | "Baby You're So Right for Me" (A-side) | 86 | — | |||
| "To the One I Love" (B-side) | — | 45 | ||||
| "That's in the Past" | — | — | ||||
| 1969 | "Hey Boy" | — | — | |||
| "That's the Price You Have to Pay" | — | 43 | ||||
| "The Touch of You" | 50 | 12 | ||||
| 1970 | "And My Heart Sang (Tra La La)" | 64 | 12 | |||
| "Don't Make Me Over" | 77 | 15 | ||||
| 1971 | "A Child No One Wanted" | 120 | 42 | |||
| "Right on the Tip of My Tongue" | 23 | 10 | ||||
| "A Part of You" | 94 | 14 | ||||
| "Why Didn't I Think of That" | 107 | 34 | ||||
| 1972 | "Little Bit of Love" | — | — | |||
| 1973 | "One Girl Too Late" | — | 48 | |||
| "Key to My Heart" | — | — | ||||
| "Walk On In" | — | — | ||||
| 1976 | "Home to Myself" | — | 61 | |||
| 1977 | "(I'm a) Superstar" | — | 31 | |||
| "I Keep Coming Back for More" | — | — | ||||
| "—" denotes the single failed to chart | ||||||