Fact #83797
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Brenda Reid (lead vocalist, The Exciters) : We (The Masterettes) were singing on a theatre show at the Hillside Theater in Queens. We were there with Shep And The Limelites, The Masters and some other groups, and someone backstage referred us to Al Sears. He liked us and offered to become our manager. He asked us to come down and meet some people at United Artists Records. We went and met up with Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller at the Brill Building. We auditioned for them and they loved us, but not our name. They said we had such powerful voices, we should be called The Exciters.
They had a record, Tell Her, that they wanted us to listen to, then go home and learn. It was by Gil Hamilton, who was really Johnny Thunder under a different name.He had a hit with Loop De Loop. Tell Her had been done a few times before, but they didn't want to give up on the song.
Herb Rooney, a friend of ours from the Masters, came by while we were rehearsing the song. He was the one who arranged the backgrounds with the 'doop-de-doops' in it. When we went back to Leiber and Stoller, Herbie came with us to play keyboards on the song and show them the arrangement. They said it sounded great and asked him if he would be interested in joining the group. Sylvia didn't see the future of the group being too promising, so he came in to replace her. At the time, you didn't have too many girl groups with a guy in it.
Ellie Greenwich (songwriter) : Brenda had one of the best female voices I have ever heard. As far as I was concerned she could do no wrong. She would only add to a song, make it greater.
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They had a record, Tell Her, that they wanted us to listen to, then go home and learn. It was by Gil Hamilton, who was really Johnny Thunder under a different name.He had a hit with Loop De Loop. Tell Her had been done a few times before, but they didn't want to give up on the song.
Herb Rooney, a friend of ours from the Masters, came by while we were rehearsing the song. He was the one who arranged the backgrounds with the 'doop-de-doops' in it. When we went back to Leiber and Stoller, Herbie came with us to play keyboards on the song and show them the arrangement. They said it sounded great and asked him if he would be interested in joining the group. Sylvia didn't see the future of the group being too promising, so he came in to replace her. At the time, you didn't have too many girl groups with a guy in it.
Ellie Greenwich (songwriter) : Brenda had one of the best female voices I have ever heard. As far as I was concerned she could do no wrong. She would only add to a song, make it greater.