When I was fifteen years old, I discovered a singing group that consisted of five girls. Everyone was talking about them. Men and Women. Boys and girls. It was like everyone was under some unbreakable spell, and I was the only person who didn't fall under its compulsion. Up until that point, I hated girl groups. They seemed like they were only filled with a bunch of prissy girls in expensive dresses and over-the-top feathers. Much like The Supremes and Labelle. So, when I heard about this new group I was skeptical. I thought that they were just like them. And it didn't help that everyone was comparing its lead singer to Diana Ross and Patti Labelle. Hearing that made me think that they were just like them. So, I strayed away from their music without even listening to it.
In the spring of 1979, I visited my cousin who lived in Manhattan for spring break. Arriving their to find that--just like every other teenaged girl in America--she was a fan of them. Normally, we shared the same music interests. We both shared a love for Stevie Wonder for example. As well as Earth, Wind, & Fire and Gladys Knight and The Pips. But this time was different. She felt the same way I did about girl groups. So, when I heard that even she was falling under their spell. I felt like she had betrayed me in a sense. I remember when I walked into her small room that was painted a strange burgundy red and seeing a large poster of those five, beautiful girls hanging over her bed. I remember saying, "Oh, not you too!" as I eyed them on the wall.
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I went one by one, examining these girls. One was tall and kinda chubby. Her hair was a deep tan and in soft curls surrounding her face. She seemed innocent as she leaned in closer to the girl next to her. Like even though she was tallest one of them all, she was the one who needed to be protected the most.
Next to her was a girl that confused me. Mainly, because of her skin color. She was white. I mean, as white as white could be. Blonde hair and ivory skin. I was aware that that the girls sung R&B music. R&B was a dominantly black genre in music. So, seeing her there thew me off completely. What did a little white girl like her have any business singing in a group of black girls? Many people was asking that question around that time, and I don't think that the question was ever answered. I didn't know how to feel about her. She was pretty. Just like the other that she stood next to. That's all I saw was a pretty girl.
Underneath the innocent one, was the one who looked older than all four of them. She had long features. Long face. A long nose. She had lips that looked as they were blossoming into something more. Her eyes were slanted and filled with a soft sense of serenity of sorts. I remember thinking that her mahogany skin was gorgeous, but aside from that she looked kinda plain. There was nothing special about that girl. She was exactly what they would call marketable.
On the far right was a girl the smallest girl of them all. Like the rest, she was beautiful, and I could tell that, like me, she was mixed with something other than black. I eyed her longer than I eyed the ones before her. She looked like she was fun. The one who liked to party and have a good time, and I would soon find out that my observation was right. She was a party girl. She was the party girl out all of them.
