TheTammys
From top: Gretchen Owens, Cathy Owens, Linda Owens,
Though they recorded a few singles, the Tammys are best known for backing vocals for Lou
Christie
Members:
Gretchen Owens
Cathy Owens
Linda Jones
Few girl groups command the type of cult-following of the Tammys
fans. Like fans of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys love their Honeys, and fans of Phil
Spector drool over the Ronettes, legions of Lou Christie fans have a huge soft-spot for
three young girls with the wildest sound you could imagine. Finally, after years of being
the best-kept secret among girl group collectors, the Tammys are finding a wider audience
and new adherents to the cult of the "Egyptian Shumba."
Lou Christie, best recalled for his classic recordings, "Lightning Strikes," and
"Rhapsody In The Rain," not to mention his mysterious psychic advisor/manager
Twyla Hebert, had become friends with sisters Gretchen and Cathy Wagner, and their friend
Linda Jones before he started having big hits of his own.
Christie, also known as Lugee Sacco, paired the girls with his sister Amy and had them
sing back-up for him. The girls from Venango County, called the Tammys, were a rare find
and a lucky one for Christie. They had an incredibly versatility used in great effect on
their recordings and as backing singers. From traditional doo-wop, to sweet girlish wails,
to rough grunts and barks, the Tammys were unlike anything around at the time.
With Lou Chrisite
Once Christie hit with his first big single, "The Gypsy Cried,"
he brought the girls in to record a few of their own songs. But the groups three
tries at making a hit would prove discouraging. Despite local airplay, the weepy
"Take Back Your Ring," the sweet "Gypsy," and the absolute insane
"Egyptian Shumba," all failed to chart nationally throughout 1963-1964. Perhaps
the sheer unique sound of a group that sounded like the Pixies 3 as school-yard bullies
(on Shumba, anyway) was so much out-of-character for young ladies at the time that
national radio wasnt willing to give them a try. Only months later the Shangri-las
would take their ode to good-bad bikers to the top of the charts, so its a safe bet
that the Tammys could have been riding high too with the right promotion.
The group also backed Kripp Johnson of the Del-Vikings as Ritchie and the Runarounds for
some Christie-related singles.
By 1965 Christie was using another tough-sounding girl group, the Angels, to help him
propel his singles up the charts. His biggest chart success, "Lightning
Strikes," made it to Number 1 that year. The Tammys, meanwhile, continued to play
local shows and record background tracks until later in the decade; but with three no-hit
singles to their credit, the Tammys waxings became impossibly rare and the group
became a footnote in music history.
As Northern Soul hit Britain in the early 1970s, and spurred renewed interest in a girl group revival, collectors began searching for all sorts of rare records from the 60s that should have been hits but werent. Looking especially for songs with a dance groove, "Egyptian Shumba," was unearthed and became a sensation.
The song became an oft-bootlegged favourite for collectors who
couldnt get their hands on the 45 itself, and its incredible popularity finally led
to its release, along with seven other tracks (all six sides of their singles and two
previously unreleased tracks) on a new collections called, you guessed it, Egyptian Shumba
The Singles And Rare Recordings: 1962-1964. Credited to Lou Christie and the
Tammys, the project was spear-headed by Harry Young, president of the Lou Christie fan
club. The collection also contains the single by the Runarounds and several Christie hits
with backing vocals by the Tammys.
Critically acclaimed by music collectors and fans alike, the sides new availability may
yet prove that the Tammys had what it took to be a hit act - something the cult of the
Egyptian Shumba has always known.