The Vocals endured for under twelve months as a unit, yet devoted half that span to a road stint alongside Ray Charles. Assembled as a quartet in Los Angeles, CA, during 1963, the group comprised photographer Lamonte McLemore, recent beauty contest winner Marilyn McCoo, Harry Elston, and Floyd Butler. Their association with Charles quickly yielded a contract on his Tangerine imprint, resulting in the 1964 single “Lonesome Mood” b/w “Look Out For Love.” The same year they also backed Margie Hendrix—herself a Raelet who had previously recorded with the Cookies on “Don’t Say Nothing Bad About My Baby”—on her April Tangerine release “Let No One Hold You” b/w “A Lover’s Blues,” issued under the billing Margie Hendrix and the Vocals.
Internal difficulties soon prompted Elston and Butler to depart. The pair subsequently ran a clothing store in Los Angeles before launching the Friends of Distinction alongside Jessica Cleaves and Barbara Love, achieving major success with “Grazing in the Grass” and “Going in Circles.” McLemore resumed photography, securing an assignment photographing bronze beauties in swimsuits for Jet Magazine’s centerfold, while McCoo accepted a retail position at a department store.
McLemore and McCoo eventually regrouped with schoolteacher and former beauty contest winner Florence LaRue, Ron Townsend, and gospel/soul vocalist Billy Davis from St. Louis, MO, to establish the Fifth Dimension. This pop-oriented quintet preceded the Friends of Distinction onto the scene and amassed numerous chart entries, among them “Up, Up and Away,” “One Less Bell to Answer,” and “Aquarius (Let the Sunshine In).”
