The Soulettes were a Vocal
trio comprised of Rita
Marley, Marlene
Gifford and her cousin Constantine
'Vision' Walker. One day Rita found out that the Wailers passed by their
house everyday. She decided to talk to them and when they passed by the next
time, they sung, "What's Your Name" by Sam
& Dave. Peter
Tosh invited them afterwards to come to the studio. In 1964 The
Soulettes began recording for Clement
"Coxsone" Dodd at Studio
One. In 1964 they cut "Friends And Lovers" with Peter
Tosh and Bunny
Wailer as backing vocals. Rita Anderson of that trio pairs with Bob on a
duet called "Oh My Darling" also in 1964 and “Sugar and Spice” with Roland Al and the Soul
Brothers.
They make occasional stage
show appearances, but concentrated primarily on daily rehearsals to polish
their sound, influenced in particular by the harmonic style of the Impressions.
In 1965 The Soulettes began releasing singles with Lee Perry. “Please Don’t Go”, “That Ain’t Right”/”One
More chance”, and “opportunity” in 1965
In 1966 they released “A Deh Pon Dem”, “Lala Lover”, “I Want To Be”,
and “Nice Time”/” Play Play play” with The Wailers.
During 1966 The
soulettes also released “Don’t Care What
people Say”/”Tighten Up”, “Doctor Dick” with Lee Perry, and “Rub & Squeeze”
also with Lee Perry, and “Baby Come On Home” with Tony Gregory
“Dum Dum” followed these
singles in 1967
In 1968 the group lost a member,
so Nora
Dean joined Rita and Cecile
Campbell. They released "King Street" and "Barbwire" in 1969.
Regrettably, as the group
was about to tour Canada in support of their hit, "Let It Be", Nora
was taken ill and replaced by Hortense
Lewis.
In 1969 the lineup was revised: Rita Marley, Hortense Lewis and
Cecile Campbell. In 1970 they released an LP called "Jamaica Magic"
with the mento singer Lloyd Wilks. The LP includes tracks include 4 familiar
mento selections (like Banana
Boat (Day-O) / Star-O), plus 8 originals written by Cornel Lumiere. The
music is best described as easy listening as played by a jazz combo. The last
recording found was “Same Thing” in
