The Chantels

by Erika Cox

The Chantels were one of the few girl groups that had success in a mostly male dominated area they were one of the first girl groups to have nationwide success. The Chantels consisted of Arlene Smith who sang lead, Lois Harris who sang first tenor, Sonia Goring who sang second tenor, Jackie Landry who sang second alto, and Rene Minus.

The girls were just that girls – their ages ranged from thirteen to sixteen. They met in their hometown while attending choir practice at St. Anthony of Padua in the Bronx, New York. They sang together for more than seven years in church, at school, and in their leisure time. However, unlike boys back in those days, girls could not hang out on street corners singing, so since Arlene played basketball at school, everyday after basketball practice the group would practice singing at school.

Smith grew up singing Classical music and at the age of twelve sang a solo at Carnegie Hall. All the girls had some Classical music training and the group incorporated it into their singing. They also would include Latin rhythms in their songs. They perfected their singing style that consisted of chanting and changing notes simultaneously. The group also played instruments, which at that time was not the norm for girl groups.

The Chantels began to take their singing outside of the school and started signing up for talent shows at different schools around the city performing alongside other groups like the Crows and the Sequins. The only problem is that they hadn’t come up with a name yet, so one of the girls suggested they call themselves the Chantells, later on the second L was dropped.

One of the things that made this girl group stand out more than others is their ability to write their own songs, Arlene who sang lead also wrote the group’s songs. Not only were they noted for their great singing ability but their writing ability as well, because back in those days it was rare for girl groups to write their own music. Arlene was very talented, she wrote the songs and provided the music for the group and with her classical and gospel background she made the group stand out to many as the best of the girl groups.

The first song Arlene wrote for the group was “He’s Gone” while she was practicing on the piano. In 1956, Richard Barrett of the Valentines discovered the girls when they asked him for an autograph and in turn he asked them to sing an encore right there at that very moment.

Barrett was astonished by the girls singing and took their information promising to get them a rehearsal, however, weeks went by and the girls never heard from Barrett. The girls knew Barrett had connections with George Goldner, owner of Gee and Roulette Records, so they were determined to meet Barrett again. Finally, the girls hunted down Barrett through some connections, Barrett remembered them and set up a rehearsal right away.

He met with their parents and shortly after the girls signed with one of Goldner’s labels. Barrett and Arlene worked on two songs, which she composed called, “The Plea” and “He’s Gone”. They released “He’s Gone” first, and due to the exquisite harmonizing of the song it set a new standard of quality for female groups.

After an appearance at the Apollo Theater, the Chantels would go on to have a string of Top 40 hits and perform around the country. In 1958, they also became the first R&B female group to record an album. However in 1959, changes started to happen for the Chantels, the record label was having success with Little Anthony and the Imperials, so their record label dropped the group even though they had been a success.

At that time, girl groups were not treated very well and were often overlooked for male groups. Also, Arlene left the group for a solo career and Lois would leave the group to pursue a nursing career.

Eventually, Barrett created a new record label and a new Chantel group, throughout the early 1960’s the new group had some success but more failures, and by 1970 the group was all but over; their style was out of touch with what the public wanted to hear. But in 1973, Arlene Smith would form a new Chantel group and today they perform all over singing Doo-Wop classics with various original members filling in from time to time. In 1997, Jackie Landry died of breast cancer and in 2002, they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.

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