Biography
Note The Jewels refers to several bands of the same name.
(1) Female Christian trio from Iowa.
(2) Female soul vocal group from the Sixties.
The Jewels (originally the Four Jewels) got together in their native Washington, DC in the late 50’s as the Impalas. Via an association with Billy Stewart (cousin of group member Grace Ruffin) they recorded at Bo Diddley’s studio (Bo was living in DC at the time, where he hired Stewart as the pianist in his band) and the results became their first 45 for Checker in 1961.
They went on to record several 45s as the Four Jewels for the Start label, as wel as backing Stewart on his 1962 classic ‘Fat Boy’. They recorded another 45 for Checker before signing with Dimension in 1964 and releasing ‘Opportunity’, their first record as ‘The Jewels’*. The tune was a minor hit that year and the group went on to record a few more 45s for Dimension, as well as a James Brown-produced side for Federal.
In 1965 the Godfather brought the Jewels in as part of the James Brown Revue (which is where I had heard their name before). They recorded a number of sides for Brown, including the ‘Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag’ “answer” record ‘Papas Left Mama Holdin’ The Bag’.
From the wonderful Funky 16 Corners blog.
Artist descriptions on Last.fm are editable by everyone. Feel free to contribute!
All user-contributed text on this page is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply.
