The Girlfriends

Vocal soul trio

Active in the early '60s

Girl group one-shot the Girlfriends was an offshoot of the famed Los Angeles session vocal group the Blossoms. Singers Gloria Jones (nee Goodson), Nanette Jackson, Fanita James and Darlene Wright first joined forces as members of Richard Berry's backing group the Dreamers; in 1957, the foursome founded the Blossoms, scoring a hit four years later with the single "Son-in-Law" but earning their greatest renown as one of the finest session units in the business. When producer Phil Spector tapped James and Wright for his group Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans (renaming the latter Darlene Love in the process), the remaining duo of Jones and Jackson enlisted former Ikette Carolyn Willis to form the Girlfriends. The group's lone single, the David Gates-produced Colpix release "My One and Only Jimmy Boy," remains one of the best Spector homages of the era, but struggled to crack the Top 50 in late 1963; no follow-ups were forthcoming, although rumors exist of a sequel titled "I Don't Believe in You" (possibly recorded with an altogether different set of vocalists). In 1969, Willis returned to the charts as one-third of the soul trio Honey Cone; she and Jones later reunited to tour oldies circuits as one of several groups calling themselves the Shirelles