American singer Rosetta Hightower passed away today in 2014, at aged 70. She was the lead vocalist of The Orlons, an American 60s girl group who had several Top 10 US hits. The Orlons who assembled in the late 1950s had five US Top 20 hits in the Sixties, consisting of ‘The Wah Watusi’, ‘Don’t Hang Up’ and ‘South Street’. Before they became The Orlons, they were an all-girl band called Audrey and the Teenettes.
The Orlons provided back-up vocals on Dee Dee Sharp’s 1962 hits ‘Mashed Potato Time’ and ‘Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)’. The Orlons provided back-up vocals on Dee Dee Sharp’s “Mashed Potato Time” (#2 pop, No. 1 R&B).
That spring, they recorded “The Wah-Watusi” which, in July 1962, going to No. 2 on the Billboard charts. Around the same time, they recorded back-up vocals on Dee Dee Sharp’s second hit, “Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)” which went to No. 9.
The follow-up to “The Wah-Watusi”, “Don’t Hang Up” reached No. 4 pop and No. 3 R&B in the fall and winter of 1962. The Orlons’ first major performance was at New York’s Apollo Theatre with The Crystals, Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, Chuck Jackson, Tommy Hunt, and Gene Chandler. In 1963, they had hits with “South Street” (#3 pop, No. 4 R&B) and “Crossfire” (#19 pop, No. 25 R&B).In the late 1960s, she was a popular female session singer who backed many hit songs. She worked with Joe Cocker on his With a Little Help From My Friends album.
Hightower left the group in the late 1960s to engage in a solo career in the UK.
Moving permanently to England in 1970, Hightower married musician-producer Ian Green. She represented the US in Belgium for the first international singing contest ever held. She released many singles and at least two albums. In 1971, she was a backing vocalist for John Lennon‘s ‘Power to the People’.
