R&b Essential Edits

Hailing from Tampa, Florida, the original group (then known as The Lovelles) was formed in 1966 and consisted of Albert Bailey, Brenda Hilliard and Zulema Cusseaux. After touring with Sam & Dave, the trio signed with Maxwell Records, where they scored their first hit single in 1970 with “So Much Love,” which was produced by McCoy, who had been instrumental in securing their first record deal. After switching to Sussex Records, Cusseaux left for a solo career, and in 1975, Hilliard (“Faith”) and Bailey (“Hope”) were joined by Dianne Destry (“Charity”) just prior to signing a new contract with RCA, where they reunited with Van McCoy as their producer.

Follow-up volumes appeared in 1993 and 1996, extending the time period to 1979 and with additional songs from the 1972-76 period, available on cassette or CD (ALL 25 volumes were issued in both formats). Each volume has twelve songs. Despite the greater capacity of compact discs, the running time of each of the volumes is no longer than the limit of vinyl records in the 1970s, from 38 to 45 minutes long.