| The Raelettes | |
|---|---|
The Raelettes (Darlene McCrea, Margie Hendricks, Patricia Lyles, and Gwendolyn Berry). |
|
| Background information | |
| Origin | United States |
| Genres | R&B/pop/soul |
| Occupations | girl group |
| Years active | 1950s–1970s |
| Labels | Tangerine/ABC-Paramount |
| Associated acts | Ray Charles |
| Past members | |
| Mary Ann Fisher Darlene McCrea Margie Hendricks Patricia Lyles Rita Graham , <Beverly LeSure>, Gwendolyn Berry Merry Clayton Mable John Alexandra Brown Susaye Greene Avis Harrell Madelyn Quebeck Estella Yarbrough Cynthia Scott Trudy Cohran Pat Peterson Kay Nickerson Renee Collins Georges Tonett McKinney Karen Evans Regi Brown Barbara Franklin-Perrault[1] |
|
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 Darlene McCrea, Margie Hendricks, Patricia Lyles, and Gwendolyn Berry. Later members included Mable John, Merry Clayton, Clydie King, Minnie Riperton, Susaye Greene, Beverly LeSure, and Rita Graham who recorded the album 'Rita Graham Vibrations' produced by Ray Charles on his Tangerine label, the only major recording production Ray Charles produced on a single female artist on the Tangerine label. The 1980s' set of Raelettes included Avis Harrell, Madlyne Qubeck, Estella Yarbrough, Trudy Cohran, Pat Peterson and Alexandra 'Alex' Brown, who had a minor hit with the single "(Come On,) Shout", which was featured on the soundtrack of the movie Girls Just Want to Have Fun.
Although they never gained fame 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. The group's name was on occasions also spelled as The Raelets or Raeletts.