Hello,
This is probably one of the most obscure musical duos I've ever written and I find that a bit sad. Peaches and Herb had many great songs and would definitely be listed in my Top Ten Disco artists of all-time. Before I started listening to their music a few days ago, I would have only been able to come up with "Reunited" as a Peaches and Herb song.
As I've been going through my Disco phase lately I've checked out many Disco artists. Artists like Chic, who come with a great reputation and pedigree, is essentially a two hit wonder. When I think of Village People I can think of a few great songs right off. Surely they have more great songs, right? Sad to say after those great songs, the rest of their music is basically filler. Diana Ross has a few good songs from her Disco phase, but not enough to put her in the Disco pantheon. I've been surprised by how few truly great Disco artists there were. It was basically Donna Summer, The Bee Gees and a bunch of one or two hit wonders. I'm next going to check out Earth, Wind and Fire, but after those mentioned in this paragraph very few Disco artists had much of an impact.
That includes today's featured artist, Peaches and Herb, they made relatively little impact on Disco specifically but that was just one small part of their career. In DigitalDreamDoor.com's Top 100 Disco artists list, they aren't even listed. I'm highly dubious of their list, neither Billy Ocean or Lionel Richie had any Disco hits. None of Peaches and Herbs songs, including "Shake Your Groove Thing" is on DDD.com's list of Top 100 Disco songs.
"Peaches & Herb were an American vocalist duo, once comprising Herb Fame (born October 1, 1942) and Francine "Peaches" Hurd Barker (April 28, 1947 – August 13, 2005). Herb has remained a constant in "Peaches & Herb" since its creation in 1966, while seven different women have filled the role of "Peaches." (Thanks to Wikipedia.)
As you can see Peaches and Herb were an established duo before Disco came around, they've had hits since the 60s. Like many other artists, they took full advantage of the Disco music to extend their career and influence.
If people were more familiar with how great their music is, I truly believe they would get much more recognition. Before I listened to Peaches and Herb I thought they would have two or three great songs and a bunch of filler. I was pleasantly surprised that they have several good songs, they easily have enough great songs to make a Top Ten. Here are Peaches and Herb's greatest hits + 1. Since Peaches and Herb are relatively obscure a few of their songs aren't available on Youtube. Here's Peaches and Herb's "Reunited", this album has many of their classic songs on it:
+1) "Hearsay": not available on Youtube.
10) "Funtime":
9) Peaches and Herb mastered the art of the ballad, they almost have as many great ballads as the great and incomparable Whitney Houston. This is one of their many great videos, "Bluer Than Blue":
9) "(I Want Us) Back Together":
8) "Love Is Strange":
7) Peaches and Herb mastered the art of the ballad, they almost have as many great ballads as the great and incomparable Whitney Houston. This is one of their many great videos, "Bluer Than Blue":
6) This great songs is a Peaches solo track and she does quite well on her own. "Time After Time":
5) "Love Stealers":
4) Another great ballad "Child of Love":
3) "Pledge My Love":
2) "Reunited" (What an amazing and beautiful ballad.):
1) "Shake Your Groove Thing" (great song, but this ranks high on the unintentional comedy scale:
the corniness of "Solid Gold", funky clothes and terrible lip synching and that incredibly stupid fake laser sound.)
themusicaddict
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