Brenda & the Tabulations were an American R&B group, formed in 1966 in Philadelphia originally composed of Brenda Payton, Eddie L. Jackson, Maurice Coates, and Jerry Jones.
History
editThe 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 departing. Two female backing singers (Pat Mercer and Deborah Martin) were brought into the group.
Brenda and the Tabulations had two major US hits: "Dry Your Eyes", which hit number 20 in 1967, and "Right On the Tip of My Tongue", which hit number 23 in 1971. The latter was produced by Van McCoy. Several other songs became hits or moderate hits on the US soul singles chart from the late 1960s to the late 1970s including "Right on the Tip of My Tongue".[1]
The group released three albums: Dry Your Eyes on Dionn Records (1967), Brenda and the Tabulations on Top & Bottom Records (1970), and I Keep Coming Back For More on Chocolate City/Casablanca (1977), although by the time of the last album, Brenda Payton was relatively a solo act while keeping the group name. The group signed with Epic Records in 1972 and released four singles. One of the Epic singles, "One Girl Too Late", charted on the soul chart.
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. Payton, born on October 24, 1945, died on June 14, 1992, aged 46.[2] Eddie L. Jackson died on May 3, 2010, from a brain aneurysm at the age of 63.[3]
The group's music had a revival in 2011, when the song "The Wash" from the album Dry Your Eyes was licensed by Unilever for use in an Axe body wash commercial. "Who’s Lovin' You" was one of the Desert Island Discs chosen by Keith Richards for Pulse! magazine (now defunct) and reprinted for a 1999 satirical piece in The New Yorker.[4]
Discography
editStudio albums
edit| Year | Album | Chart positions[5] | 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 | ||||||
Compilation albums
edit| 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 | ||||||
Singles
edit| Year | Single (A-side, B-side) Both sides from same album except where indicated |
Chart positions[6] | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US R&B | |||||
| 1967 | "Dry Your Eyes" b/w "The Wash" |
20 | 8 | Dry Your Eyes | ||
| "Stay Together Young Lovers" / | 66 | 44 | ||||
| "Who's Lovin' You" | 66 | 19 | ||||
| "Just Once In A Lifetime" b/w "Hey Boy" |
97 | 41 | ||||
| "When You're Gone" b/w "Hey Boy" (from Dry Your Eyes) |
58 | 27 | Non-album tracks | |||
| 1968 | "Baby You're So Right For Me" / | 86 | — | |||
| "To The One I Love" | — | 45 | ||||
| "That's In The Past" b/w "I Can't Get Over You" |
— | — | ||||
| 1969 | "(You Gave Me) A Reason To Live" b/w "Hey Boy" (from Dry Your Eyes) |
— | — | |||
| "That's The Price You Have To Pay" b/w "I Wish I Hadn't Done What I Did" |
— | 43 | ||||
| "The Touch Of You" b/w "Stop Sneaking Around" (Non-album track) |
50 | 12 | Brenda and The Tabulations | |||
| 1970 | "And My Heart Sang (Tra La La)" b/w "Lies Lies Lies" |
64 | 12 | |||
| "Don't Make Me Over" b/w "You've Changed" |
77 | 15 | ||||
| 1971 | "A Child No One Wanted" b/w "Scuze Uz Y'all" |
120 | 42 | |||
| "Right on the Tip of My Tongue" b/w "Always and Forever" (Non-album track) |
23 | 10 | ||||
| "A Part Of You" b/w "Where There's A Will (There's A Way)" |
94 | 14 | Non-album tracks | |||
| "Why Didn't I Think Of That" b/w "A Love You Can Depend On" |
107 | 34 | ||||
| 1972 | "Little Bit Of Love" b/w "Let Me Be Happy" |
— | — | |||
| 1973 | "One Girl Too Late" b/w "Magic Of Your Love" |
— | 48 | |||
| "Key To My Heart" b/w "Love Is Just A Carnival" |
— | — | ||||
| "Walk On In" b/w "I'm In Love" |
— | — | ||||
| 1976 | "Home To Myself" b/w "Leave Me Alone" |
— | 61 | I Keep Coming Back For More | ||
| 1977 | "(I'm A) Superstar" b/w "Take It Or Leave It" |
— | 31 | |||
| "I Keep Coming Back For More" b/w "Let's Go All The Way (Down)" |
— | — | ||||
| 1987 | "Don't Give Up The Love" b/w "In The Night" |
— | — | Non-album tracks | ||
| "—" denotes the single failed to chart | ||||||
References
edit- ^ Joel Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. 7th edn, 2000
- ^ "1992-06-16 Brenda J. Payton Hill, singer and producer". Philadelphia Daily News. 16 June 1992. p. 14.
- ^ "The Dead Rock Stars Club January to June 2010". Thedeadrockstarsclub.com. Retrieved February 2, 2020.
- ^ Baumbach, Noah. "Keith Richards' Desert-Island Disks". The New Yorker.
- ^ "Brenda & the Tabulations US albums chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-11-26.
- ^ "Brenda & the Tabulations US singles chart history". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-11-26.
External links
edit- Brenda & the Tabulations discography at Discogs