Viola Wills featured in the Top 20 countdown on one of Friday's vintage Top of the Pops on BBC4. I had to look her up to see what song it was and found that it was her disco interpretation of Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now.
A little research into the song showed that the most influential, though not the first, version of it was by this blog's old friends, the slightly spooky Patience and Prudence.
Patience and Prudence? A reminder from Ear Candy:
Patience & Prudence were actually sisters and the daughters of orchestra leader Mack McIntyre. Patience (11 years old) and Prudence (14 years old) McIntyre were encouraged by their father, who was already a well know piano player and songwriter (who also co-wrote the B-sides of their two hits).
Mack McIntyre brought his daughters into the Liberty Records recording studios in Los Angeles in the summer of 1956. One of the songs from their audition tape was a cover of the 1927 hit by Gene Austin called, Tonight You Belong to Me.
Liberty Records (also the home of rocker Eddie Cochran) signed Patience and Prudence and rushed the tune into distribution. The bouncy song became a hit, charting at #4 in September of 1956 and became Liberty's biggest selling record for two years.
Gonna Get Along Without Ya Now had charted earlier that year, but it and Tonight You Belong to Me were their only hits in the US or the UK.
Prudence, who died in September 2023, grew up to embrace the counter-culture, marrying Dan Conka, a founder member of Arthur Lee's band Love. Conka, the correct spelling of his name and his drug problems are discussed on Andrew Hickey's post on the Love song Alone Again Or.
Patience, the older sister, is still with us. She was married to John Fleck of the Sixties American band The Standells for a while.
Dead 2 Rights has an article on The Tragedy of Patience and Prudence, but I don't know how much of it is true.
Talking of girl stars, I can recommend this Gyles Brandreth interview with Petula Clark.
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