The Three Degrees is an all-female American group formed in 1965 in Philadelphia and originally composed of Fayette Pinkney, Shirley Porter and Linda Turner.
The trio released their first title "Gee baby (I'm sorry)" in 1965 and for a first it was particularly successful since the girls obtained their first ranked title.
Unfortunately untransformed test which forces the girls to wait 5 long years and the 1970s before regaining an equivalent level of success. In particular thanks to 2 tracks which are "Maybe" and "I do take you", both extracts from the album "Maybe" which was released the same year.
The consecration, the real one, came three years later in 1973 with the release of the album bearing the name of the group. Album that will make a real worldwide hit and literally explode the notoriety of the trio with the enormous title "When I will see you again". A flagship single which was released a year later in 1974 and which remains to this day the biggest success of all their discography.
They will experience another notorious success the same year with the track "TSOP (The sound of Philadelphia)", a track they recorded as a duet with the group MSFB.
New hit album in 1975 with the album "International". Album which offers the trio a new notorious success with the title "Take good care of yourself", single with less success than the previous titles but success all the same.
The result was unfortunately much less favorable with 2 very relative success albums : "A toast of love" in 1976 and "Standing up for love" in 1977.
They will have to wait for the year 1978 and the release of the album "New Dimensions" to finally get back into the race with a triplet of very high caliber titles. Starting with "Giving up, givin in" which also came out in 1978. Followed in 1979 by the track "The runner" then "Woman in love", a flagship single which gave the group one of its biggest hits.
Another relapse at the end of 1979 when their new album "3D" was released. Only the single "Jump the gun" which will be extracted from it will painfully succeed.
The transition to the 80s was also painful with an album "Album of love" in 1982 which was a notorious failure.
It was the arrival in 1985 of the "hitmakers" namely Stock Aitken and Waterman which allowed them to get back on track for one track with the single "The heaven I need". Single which will experience significant success across the Channel.
Success which will unfortunately be the last because everything that will come out subsequently will go somewhat unnoticed.
To discover or rediscover...
Discography (among others ...) :
60s Decade :
Gee baby (I’m sorry) 1965
Close your eyes 1965
Look in my eyes 1966
Maybe 1966
70s Decade :
I do take you 1970
You're the one 1971
There's so much love around me 1971
Trade winds 1972
Dirty Ol' man 1973
Year of decision 1974
TSOP (The sound of Philadelpia) 1974
Love is the message 1974
When will I see you again 1974
Take good care of yourself 1975
Long lost lover 1975
Giving up, giving in 1978
Woman in love 1979
The runner 1979
My simple heart 1979
80s Decade :
Without you 1980
Starlight 1980
Set me free 1981
A sonnet to love 1982
I only have eyes for you 1982
Liar 1983
The heaven I need 1985
This is the house 1986
Tie U up 1989
Make it easy on yoursel 1989
A tender lie 1989
Lock it up 1989
90s Decade :
Emotional thing 1993
Question of love 1993
I'm going to miss you 1993
Hurry hurry 1994
Sleigh ride 1998
Have yourself a merry little Christmas 1998
2000s Decade :
I ear a symphony 2009
Happy birthday 2009
2010s Decade :
Holding back 2010
Strategy 2016
Ain't no stoppin us now 2016
Tracks :
1965 ... a first title for the trio which rhymes with initial success. This is called a successful and above all ideal start !
1965 ... a year 1965 which sees them align the successes in an impressive way. Certainly, we are far from the top of the Charts but it is an excellent start anyway ...
1966 ... the rest will prove to be a little more complicated to manage than expected. This title will once again find favor with the public but the trio will descend into the Charts as quickly as it has climbed in the years that will follow ...
1966 ... a title that will go completely unnoticed. Just like those who will be released in the next three years. We will have to wait for the year 1970 to see this title re-recorded and that it finally knows a much greater success than during its first release ...
1970 ... new decade and above all new challenges. The 3 girls regain hope with this title and finally come back to the race. We came close to the worst ...
1971 ... even if they returned to the race, the level of success is still limited. They will therefore have to raise the level of play to hope to land a first global top hit ...
1972 ... and yet what they propose is far from unworthy. It just lacks that little extra that could make all the difference ...
1973 ... after having confined themselves for years to the Intimist register, an area where they excelled, they finally dare to step up the tempo. And as luck would have it, the success is on the rise ...
1974 ... a rise in power which will reach its culmination during this year 1974. Starting with this title which allows them to obtain their first planetary top hit ...
1974 ... an absolutely exceptional year in 1974 which saw them succeed in everything they did. And in what way ! The proof with this title which will undoubtedly remain as one of their most emblematic
1974 ... and it continues ! The 3 girls are at the top of their form and reap the successes in a totally bluffing way. And it's not over, far from it !
1974 ... because it is THIS title which will consecrate them definitively. They achieve here the biggest success of all their discography and enter in a sensational way in the musical legend of this XXth century. MAS-TER-FUL !
1975 ... they repeat in 1975 and obtain a new star which completes a prize list which is now well supplied. Even if this title will not have the same level of success as its predecessor, it still maintains the girls in the leading pack with obvious ease !
1975 ... the euphoria will unfortunately fall as quickly as it has risen. The following years will see the girls plunge again in an impressive way in the Charts and this without demerit. Hard law of the trade ...
1978 ... an air gap that will last until this year 1978. They return temporarily to the race thanks to this title but not on the improvement lasts very long ...
1979 ... their last planetary top hit. And yes, already. Even if the girls will continue the adventure, they will never regain the level they reached in the mid-1970s ...
1979 ... they will stand out for the last time thanks to this title. And it is not the good will that is lacking, far from it. But the competition is such that it is now difficult for them to exist at the highest level ...
1979 ... they will still obtain a last nice success across the Channel with this title. A title which will be taken over 2 years later by Carol Douglas and which will also experience significant success at that time...
1980...the start of the 80s which saw them really struggling with a first title which would go unnoticed to say the least...
1980...and a second one which won't really do any better. Times are tough for the 3 girls who are really struggling to understand this new decade and especially its enormous musical developments...
1981...a year 1981 which will see them regain a little color but we cannot speak of a return to grace, far from it...
1982...new air hole during this year 1982 with more titles which will go somewhat unnoticed. Times are getting harder and harder for girls...
1982...yet they put obvious good will into it but unfortunately that is no longer enough. The competition is now light years ahead...
1983...they can't get back to the surface and yet it's not for lack of trying. It is clear that they did not know how to reinvent themselves at the very beginning of the decade and they are paying a high price...
1985 ... when nothing goes, only providential help can possibly reverse the course of time. This is what they hope by calling on the magical trio Stock-Aitken-Waterman on this title. Unfortunately, and despite the obvious quality of the title they deliver to them, this will not be enough to change anything as to what happens next ...
1986...they will have at least tried what is already not bad. The delay with the competition was such that it was almost mission impossible to bring them back into the race...
1989...we lost sight of them for almost 3 years but here they are again regardless. A desire to believe in it until the end which undoubtedly commands respect...
1989...they will try everything at the end of the decade but when it no longer wants, it no longer wants. This time, it is indeed the end of an adventure which lasted almost 25 years !
1989...end of the adventure at the highest level certainly but not of the adventure itself. Because the girls still have things to offer and especially to sing...
1989...and what they continue to offer is far from ridiculous so it would be a real shame not to give it a minimum of importance...
1993...we will be largely satisfied with it in any case. Especially since they really seem determined not to give up until the end...
1993...we must still remember that they started almost 30 years ago, which is no small thing. A longevity necessarily reserved for the most talented of each generation...
1993...groups having started like them in 1964 there are not many still active, that's clear. Hats off, ladies !
1994...especially since they intend to add a few more titles to a discography which is starting to include a certain number...
1998...when nothing is going well anymore, nothing beats the good old Christmas special album. And on this occasion they are far from being ridiculous, that much is clear...
1998...they revisit titles revisited a thousand times but we can't blame them for trying to do it. Because they have a more than obvious good will...
2009...well, we're going to lose them altogether for almost 11 years, which is starting to happen. But here they are again !
2009...it is clear that it is not with this style of music that they risk returning to the race but it does not matter to them as long as they take pleasure in what they do...
2010...and one more decade, one more ! They will go to the end, that's a certainty, to the delight of their core fans...
2016...big air holes follow big air holes but they keep coming back again and again. An adventure that is not ready to end...
2016...they will have gone through the 60s, then the 70s, then the 80s, then the 90s, then the 2000s and now the 2010s. That's a whole lot of years !
2016...
Top Bonus : the story of a lifetime...
Wiki :
Official Website :
Greatest Hits :
Discography :