Dorothy Jones (May 16, 1934 - Dec 15, 2010) was a
founding member of the Cookies, an American R&B girl group in the 1950s to
1960s. Members of the original line-up would later become The Raelettes, the
backing vocalists for Ray Charles.
Dorothy Jones, was born in South Carolina, but as a child
moved to Brooklyn. At seven she joined the choir of the First Baptist Church in
Coney Island. She continued singing, drifted into backup session work, and
later brought Brooklyn friends Earl-Jean
McCrea and Margaret Ross into the business. McCrea born in North Carolina,
moved at the age two to Brooklyn, finished high school and was working as an
IBM operator when Jones brought her into the record business. They Recorded for
Lamp Records in 1954. Together they became the Cookies making their debut at
The Apollo Theatre on Amateur Night, winning the contest. There they were
spotted by an Jesse Stone of Atlantic Records, who brought them to the label
for vocal sessions in 1955.
One of the sessions produced In Paradise, a 1956 hit that
went to number 9 on the R&B charts. Robertson was replaced in 1956 by
Margie Hendricks (Hendrix). The group was introduced to Ray Charles through
their session work for Atlantic Records. After backing him and other Atlantic
Records artists, McCrea and Hendricks helped form The Raelettes in 1958. Pat
Lyles was a Raelette, but never a Cookie.
In 1961, a new version of the Cookies emerged in New
York, with Dorothy Jones joining newcomers "Earl-Jean" McCrea
(Darlene's younger sister) and another of Dorothy's cousins, Margaret Ross.
Jones also recorded one solo recording for Columbia in 1961. This trio had the
greatest success as the Cookies, under their own name, as backing vocals for
other artists, including Neil Sedaka's hit songs "Breaking Up is Hard to
Do", "The Dreamer" and "Bad Girl"; and recording demos
for Aldon Music, under the direction of Carole King and Gerry Goffin. They
provided the backup vocals for the Little Eva hit song, "The
Loco-Motion", as well as her follow-up hit "Let's Turkey Trot",
both from 1962. They scored their biggest hit in 1963 with the song "Don't
Say Nothin' Bad (About My Baby)", which reached #3 on the Billboard R&B
chart and #7 on the Billboard Pop chart.
A 1962 hit, "Chains", was later recorded by The
Beatles. Earl-Jean McCrea left the group in 1965 after two solo singles, which
included the first recording of the Goffin/King song, "I'm Into Something
Good".
As the British Invasion hit the American shores, hits
started drying up for the girl groups and, even though they released several
recordings under pseudonyms, mostly with Margaret Ross on lead, hey never
managed another hit. Their alter egos on recordings were The Palisades
(Chairman), The Stepping Stones (Philips), The Cinderellas (Dimension) and The
Honey Bees (Fontana).
Dorothy Jones died on Christmas Day, 2010, in Columbus,
Ohio from Alzheimer's Disease. She was 76.
Margaret Ross, now Margaret Williams, tours today as The
Cookies with new back-up singers. She also performs with Barbara Harris and The
Toys occasionally. (Info edited mainly from Wikipedia and History Of Rock)
1 comment:
For The Complete Cookies (1963-1964)go here:
http://www14.zippyshare.com/v/nzOfEk5I/file.html
01 - The Cookies - Chains
02 - The Cookies - Don't Say Nothin' Bad About My Baby
03 - The Cookies - Girls Grow Up Faster Than Boys
04 - The Cookies - Will Power
05 - The Cookies - The Old Crowd
06 - The Cookies - Stranger In My Arms
07 - The Cookies - Softly In The Night
08 - The Cookies - Foolish Little Girl
09 - The Cookies - I Want A Boy For My Birthday
10 - The Cookies - On Broadway
11 - The Cookies - Only To Other People
12 - The Cookies - I Never Dreamed
13 - Earl-Jean - I'm Into Something Good
14 - Earl-Jean - We Love & Learn
15 - Earl-Jean - Randy
16 - Earl-Jean - They're Jealous Of Me
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