Alex Henderson

Peaches & Herb
Remember 

When one thinks of male/female vocal duos that enjoyed major success in R&B, the name Peaches & Herb is often mentioned alongside Ashford & Simpson, Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell and Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis, Jr.—and some admirers have described Peaches & Herb as an R&B equivalent of Sonny & Cher. But unlike other famous male/female duos, Peaches & Herb have had their share of lineup changes; while Washington, DC native Herb Fame, a.k.a. Herbert Feemster (b. October 1, 1942), has always been the duo’s male half, no less than six different women have played the role of Peaches. The most commercially successful Peaches & Herb lineup consisted of Fame and Linda Greene, and when the two went their separate ways after 1983’s Remember, it marked the end of an era.

The Peaches & Herb story goes back to 1966, when Herb was signed to Date Records (a subsidiary of Columbia Records) as a solo artist and singer Francine Hurd Barker, a.k.a. Francine Day (b. April 28, 1947, d. August 13, 2005), was signed to the same label as the leader of a northern soul group called the Sweet Things (originally known as the Darlettes). Songwriter Van McCoy decided to produce Fame and Barker as a duo, making “We’re in This Thing Together”/“Let’s Fall in Love” the first Peaches & Herb single—and while “We’re in This Thing Together” received little attention, the b-side, “Let’s Fall in Love” (a soul arrangement of the 1933 Harold Arlen/Ted Koehler standard), became a hit. In fact, the success of “Let’s Fall in Love” inspired Barker to discontinue the Sweet Things and make Peaches & Herb a full-time commitment.

Other Date hits followed for Fame and Barker, including “Close Your Eyes,” “For Your Love” and a remake of Mickey & Sylvia’s “Love Is Strange” in 1967, “United” (a Kenny Gamble/Leon Huff gem that was also a hit for the Intruders) in 1968 and “When He Touches Me (Nothing Else Matters)” in 1969. When Barker retired from performing live, Fame hired singer Marlene Mack, a.k.a. Marlene Jenkins or Marlina Mars (who had performed on the Jaynetts’ 1963 hit “Sally Go ‘Round the Roses”), for the duo’s concerts but continued to use Barker for Peaches & Herb’s studio recordings. In 1970, however, Fame was feeling burned out on the music industry; Barker and Fame went their separate ways, and Fame surprised his fans by becoming a police officer.

But in 1976, Fame decided to leave the Washington, DC police force and return to the music business. One incident that weighed heavily in his decision was being called to the scene of an armed robbery and getting shot at. So Fame contacted long-time ally Van McCoy, who is remembered not only for producing hits for Peaches & Herb in the 1960s, but also, for his 1975 smash “The Hustle” and for writing 1960s hits that included “Giving Up” for Gladys Knight & the Pips and “Baby, I’m Yours” for Barbara Lewis. McCoy introduced Fame to Greene, who hired her as the third Peaches—and McCoy produced a self-titled comeback album for Peaches & Herb in 1977. Fame and Greene’s association with the late producer/songwriter Freddie Perren came shortly after that, and the Fame/Greene lineup ended up becoming even bigger than the classic Fame/Barker lineup thanks to late 1970s hits that included the ballad “Reunited” (a #1 hit on Billboard’s R&B and pop charts), the disco anthem “Shake Your Groove Thing” (a #5 pop, #4 R&B hit in Billboard) and the ballad “I Pledge My Love.” 1978’s 2 Hot went platinum in the United States thanks to sales that exceeded one million copies, making it Peaches & Herb’s biggest album ever. Fame recorded a total of seven albums with Greene, the last of which was Remember (originally released in 1983 by The Entertainment Co./Columbia Records).

Considering how popular Peaches & Herb had been a few years earlier, Remember’s lack of commercial success was surprising. Regardless, this is a solid effort, and the Fame/Greene chemistry is alive and well on danceable jams that include “One on One Situation,” “Keep On Smiling” and “I Got a Groove On.” While the spirited “I Got a Groove On” recalls Peaches & Herb’s late 1970s disco-soul output, “One on One Situation” and “Keep On Smiling” are more mindful of the R&B scene of 1983 and are not unlike something Kashif would have produced that year. Meanwhile, a comfortable medium-tempo groove serves Fame and Greene well on the sleek “Love Is Love Is Love.”  

Whether it was “Close Your Eyes” in 1967, “Reunited” in 1978 or “I Pledge My Love” in 1979, Peaches & Herb were frequent providers of romantic ballads—and there are plenty of them on Remember. “Be My Music,” “Come to Me,” “When the Lights Go Out” and the title song are exactly the way one expects Peaches & Herb ballads to be: warm, sweet and sentimental. And two of those ballads, “In My World” and the title track, were released as singles.

Disappointed because Remember didn’t sell, Fame parted company with Greene after this album and decided to return to law enforcement by taking a job with the U.S. Marshals Service.  Greene went on to record some gospel albums with her husband Stephen Tavani.

But that wasn’t the last of Peaches & Herb. Fame brought back the duo in 1990, recruiting Philadelphia-based singer Patrice Hawthorn as the fourth Peaches. A fifth Peaches, Wanda Makle, was hired in the 2000s, although neither Hawthorn nor Makle made any studio recordings with Fame and only performed with him on stage. After that, Meritxell Negre  (a native of Barcelona, Spain) became the sixth Peaches and the first non-black Peaches. In 2009, Fame and Negre recorded Colors of Love (Peaches & Herb’s first studio album since Remember) for Imagen Records.

Fame turned 70 in 2012, and the Peaches & Herb brand has now been in existence for an impressive 47 years. Long-time fans haven’t lost their fond memories of the Fame/Greene era, which clearly ended on an enjoyable note with Remember.

—Alex Henderson, April 2013

Alex Henderson’s work has appeared in Billboard, Spin, Creem, The L.A. Weekly, JazzTimes, Jazziz, AlterNet, Cash Box, HITS, CD Review, Skin Two, Black Beat, The Pasadena Weekly, Black Radio Exclusive (BRE), Music Connection, Latin Style, The New York City Jazz Record and many other well-known publications. Henderson (alexvhenderson.com) has also contributed several thousand CD reviews to The All Music Guide’s popular website and series of music reference books.