Biography
Emerging as girl-group harmonies began fading and psychedelia gained traction on the airwaves, the Cake operated as a New York trio that merged those worlds by blending rich, emotionally grounded vocal blends with the exploratory edge of late-1960s pop. Formed in 1966 by Eleanor Barooshian (later known as Chelsea Lee), Jeanette Jacobs, and Barbara Morillo, the group arose after Jacobs and Morillo, already working as an a cappella pair, encountered Barooshian while appearing at Steve Paul’s Greenwich Village venue The Scene. Barooshian herself was a frequent performer there and had once shared a duet with Tiny Tim that appeared in the counterculture documentary You Are What You Eat. Managers Charlie Greene and Brian Stone discovered the trio at the club and arranged their relocation to Los Angeles, where they secured a recording contract with Decca Records.
Their self-titled debut, produced by Jack Nitzsche with arrangements from Harold Battiste and issued in 1967, contained several tracks that replicated the Phil Spector Wall of Sound approach with striking precision while also incorporating energetic R&B numbers and baroque pop pieces built around strings yet tinged with psychedelic hues. Unusually for girl-group acts of the period, the three members themselves co-wrote four songs on the album. After touring behind the release and performing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, they returned in 1968 with A Slice of the Cake. That follow-up concentrated more narrowly on the folk-rock and psychedelic-pop sides of their sound, and Barooshian, Jacobs, and Morillo contributed to seven of its ten tracks.
Although both LPs later attracted collector interest, neither achieved significant sales, and the Cake disbanded by the close of 1968. Barooshian, now recording as Chelsea Lee, and Jacobs went on to supply backing vocals for Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland and to tour and record with Ginger Baker’s Air Force as well as Dr. John; Chelsea Lee also made an album with bassist Tetsu Yamauchi, previously of Free and the Faces. Morillo kept performing in various ensembles including the Act, Nightflyte, and Bambu, and she currently fronts Barbara Morillo and Shrine. Jeanette Jacobs passed away in 1980 at age thirty. In 2006, Chelsea Lee and Barbara Morillo reunited onstage as the Cake for the first time since the group’s dissolution, appearing at a Jimi Hendrix memorial concert in New York City.
Their self-titled debut, produced by Jack Nitzsche with arrangements from Harold Battiste and issued in 1967, contained several tracks that replicated the Phil Spector Wall of Sound approach with striking precision while also incorporating energetic R&B numbers and baroque pop pieces built around strings yet tinged with psychedelic hues. Unusually for girl-group acts of the period, the three members themselves co-wrote four songs on the album. After touring behind the release and performing on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, they returned in 1968 with A Slice of the Cake. That follow-up concentrated more narrowly on the folk-rock and psychedelic-pop sides of their sound, and Barooshian, Jacobs, and Morillo contributed to seven of its ten tracks.
Although both LPs later attracted collector interest, neither achieved significant sales, and the Cake disbanded by the close of 1968. Barooshian, now recording as Chelsea Lee, and Jacobs went on to supply backing vocals for Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland and to tour and record with Ginger Baker’s Air Force as well as Dr. John; Chelsea Lee also made an album with bassist Tetsu Yamauchi, previously of Free and the Faces. Morillo kept performing in various ensembles including the Act, Nightflyte, and Bambu, and she currently fronts Barbara Morillo and Shrine. Jeanette Jacobs passed away in 1980 at age thirty. In 2006, Chelsea Lee and Barbara Morillo reunited onstage as the Cake for the first time since the group’s dissolution, appearing at a Jimi Hendrix memorial concert in New York City.
Albums
