Performance season underway, more male vocals added to show

James takes a lead vocal on “I Want To Stay Here” during a July performance.

Perhaps you have been to an IT’S MY PARTY! performance and noticed that on a couple songs Paul, our bass player, steps up to the microphone adding a male vocal line. Songs like “Love Kitten,” which the band performs, illustrate that girl group music of the sixties included male vocals. The Raindrops, the group used by the writing team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich to demo their works, had many songs featuring the vocal lines of Barry, like “Hanky Panky.”

This year, we have the advantage of having three excellent male vocalists. Besides Paul and James, Sam, one of our violinists, has an outstanding voice. In fact, Sam writes and performs his own music. and will do so at our August 9 show at the Burgundy Basin Inn, and the August 12 performance at What’s ‘Ur Scoop. So, we have decided to take advantage of our male singers by add more male vocal songs to our 2016 show. On Sunday, July 24, we debuted the song “It Ain’t What You Do,” first recorded in 1939 by Ella Fitzgerald and revived in the ’80s by Fun Boy Three with Bananarama. On this song James and Sam sing a call-and-answer with Michelle, Sierra & Sarah. In another new song for us this year, James sings the male vocal on The Fleetwoods “Come Softly To Me.”

With several male artists from the ’60s, like Bobby Vee, Lou Christie, and Gene Pitney, using female backups on their hits — usually The Angels –there are a wealth of possibilities for us to explore. Besides featuring the talents of the guys in the band, adding male lead vocals is a great way to break up the performance and allows for variety. Come on out in August and give us a listen, I’m sure you will be pleased with these additions.