First Choice - Love Thang (1979 Disco Purrfection Version) Funky Disco Soul

Rochelle Fleming, Annette Guest and Wardell Piper began vocalizing together in high school as the Debonettes, performing in various clubs around Philadelphia before graduating. Taken to heart by DJ Georgie Woods, he introduced the trio to Norman Harris, an architect of the nascent sound of Philadelphia. Their first single, 1972's "The House Where Love Died" started the fire in Philadelphia and spread through disco clubs hungry for the beat heavy dance tunes.

While radio was slow to get on the band wagon with that single, the next one "Armed & Extremely Dangerous" from 1973 quickly burned a path on the charts, peaking at #11 on the R&B survey and #28 on the Hot 100. The disco charts were not in existence until November of 1974 so neither single is recorded there.

Wardell left the band after those sessions and was replaced by Joyce Jones. The trio was now ready for their place in the spotlight and made many TV appearances to solidify their position. Their notable hits were "Smarty Pants", "Newsy Neighbors", "The Player (Part 1)" and then in 1976 "First Choice Theme/Ain't He Bad" peaked at #7 disco.

Its no wonder they were early heroes of disco, with the lushly produced sounds of MFSB behind them pointing their music in the direction of dance music. Jones opted for a solo career in 1975, just before the group signed with Warner Bros. records. Ursula Herring replaced her until 1979, Debbie Martin took over from Ursula. 1977's "Delusions" contained the #8 disco hit, "Doctor Love" which also reached #41 pop and #23 R&B. They opted for the disco funk of "Love Thang" in 1979 which was not a chartburner placing #52 disco that same year.

Their last great hit came out with 1983's "Let No Man Put Asunder" a #8 disco hit that was their last commercial single. Since then remixes of their songs charted in 1984, 1997, 1999, 2001 and 2002 also their repertoire became influential again with the rise of house and techno music whose artists sampled their tasty grooves. Even Mary J Blige covered "Let No Man Put Asunder" for her 1999 LP "Mary".

First Choice _ Love Thang 1979 Disco Purrfection Version - 8A - 110 Disco Funky Soul.wav First Choice - Love Thang 1979 Disco Purrfection Version - 8A - 110 Disco Funky Soul.mp3