Biography
Originally known as the Five Empressions, the group achieved greater recognition after adopting the name Five Emprees. Their cover of the Addrisi Brothers’ “Little Miss Sad” became a regional sensation in Chicago and climbed to number 74 on the national charts. The track had originally appeared on the tiny local imprint Freeport under the Five Empressions billing. Legal pressure from the prominent soul act the Impressions compelled the change; that ensemble obtained an injunction after discovering the younger outfit had once performed under the identical name the Impressions before appending “Five Empressions.” Built around a catchy rising riff, tightly woven harmonies reminiscent of the British Invasion, and a rhythmic pulse echoing Trini Lopez that Neil Diamond would later echo on “Cherry, Cherry,” the single stood out as a solid garage-pop-rock effort. Billing themselves as the Five Emprees, the musicians issued an album and additional singles through 1968, yet none matched the earlier breakthrough.