Valerie Holiday (The Three Degrees) - A Profile

Today is the longest serving Three Degrees member, Valerie Holiday's, 75th birthday, she was born 2 Dec 1947.

In April 2021 Valerie released her debut solo album "In Bloom" which is an album of jazz covers that includes a version of Shirley Horn's "Here's To Life" recorded recently by Dion Bullard. Although this is her first solo project, she is no stranger to performing alone as she was a solo artist before joining The Three Degrees in 1967, and has done live shows by herself over the years in between the group's tour dates.

The Three Degrees are the longest running female vocal group in history and will be 60 years old next year. They started out as a trio in 1963 consisting of teenagers Fayette Pinkney, Shirley Porter and Linda Turner formed by singer/songwriter/producer Richard Barrett who was a member of 50s doo-wop group The Valentines and is credited for discovering Little Anthony & The Imperials, The Chantels and Frankie Lymon who he also managed 

Turner and Porter were soon replaced by Janet Harmon and Helen Scott. They were signed to Philadelphia label Swan Records and released their first single Gee Baby (I'm Sorry) in Dec 1964 followed by another six singles on the label between 1964-66, none of which registered on even the R&B chart.

Helen Scott left the group in 1966 to start a family and was replaced by Sheila Ferguson and later Janet Harmon was replaced by Valerie Holiday leaving Pinkey as the only original member, however this trio stayed together through their Philadelphia International heyday.

In 1968 they released a one-off recording on Warner Bros Seven Arts. The A side "Contact" became big on the UK Northern Soul scene in the 70s and it contains a sublime ballad "No No Not Again" on the flip side highlighting the group's incredible harmonies. Two further singles were released on Metromedia, followed by one on Neptune (an early Gamble & Huff label) before they signed to Roulette in 1970 where they had a hit with their second release "Maybe" (a cover of a  song recorded by The Chantels) with Valerie Holiday on lead which reached #4 R&B and #29 hot 100. A further four hits were achieved on Roulette who they recorded nine singles for between 1970-72. 

They then re-joined Gamble & Huff on their newly formed Philadelphia International Records in 1973 and the rest, as they say, is history. They hit with their first single and had a string of consecutive hits right through to the end of 1975 with songs such as "Dirty Ol Man", "TSOP", "Year Of Decision", "Love Is The Message", "When Will I See You Again", "I Didn't Know", "Take Good Care Of Yourself". Surprisingly only three crossed over to the Hot 100: "TSOP" (#1), "Love Is The Message" (#85) and "When Will I See You Again" (#2) which has become their signature song.

They were famously Prince, now King Charles', favourite group, who he invited to his wedding with Lady Diana Spencer, and had perhaps more success on the UK pop chart with a #1, five Top 10 and ten Top 40 hits, certainly after their PIR period in late 70 and into the 80s..

Their hits started to dwindle upon leaving PIR and Helen Scott re-joined the group to replace the only remaining original member Fayette Pinkey in 1976 (who died in 2009). Scott and Holiday have remained with the group to this day with Sheila Ferguson being replaced with various members when she left in 1986. The longest serving being Cynthia Garrison from 1989-2011 who left for health reasons being replaced in 2011 with existing member Freddie Poole.

Although their most successful commercial period was between 1973-75 on PIR, they only released two studio albums for PIR, their self-titled debut for the label followed by "International" along with two Live albums.

The playlist below avoids the 'obvious' hits which I'm sure most are familiar with and attempts to show a different side of the group. Also the early Swan singles are not included as Valerie Holiday was not a member at the time and the material after PIR which was more pop oriented so has not been included. 

I think some of the highlights, and ones not to skip if you're not already familiar with, include "No, No Not Again", a lovely cover of Marvin Gaye's "Distant Lover" and "Find My Way" which was also recorded by The Tymes and The Players aka Cameo who did a dance version of it in 1975 which got NS spins. It was originally released as The Players and reissued as Cameo when they changed their name to avoid confusion with The Ohio Players. I think my favourite Philly era song is probably "I Didn't Know".

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