Now this is one funky girl group! This group was formed in 1960 when lead Delores Johnson (Flora Williams), Eloise Hester, and Joshie Armstead sang backup for Tina Turner on her first recording, “A Fool in Love.” They cut “I’m Blue” on the Atco label the following year, with Tina singing background for them, and it zoomed to #3 on the R&B charts and #19 on the Pop charts. In fact it charted eight higher than Ike & Tina’s “Fool In Love” release.
Unfortunately after this release The Ikettes couldn’t seem to get another hit as big as this one, but this tune insured their rock and roll legacy. Ike penned this track so you must give him his props as well.
The song was featured prominently in the original Hairspray movie and on the 1988 Soundtrack.
Last but not least — another girl group, Salt ‘N Pepa, turned “I’m Blue” into “Shoop” on London Records in 1993. So the song lived on for over 30 decades still charting that year at the top spot (#1) on the Dance chart, Rap Single chart, and Top 40 chart – plus #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart !
Thanks for letting me share the music with you.
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Filed under: Atco, Girl Groups, I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song), Ike Turner - Composer, J. Blunt/S. Denton/C James/O. Roberts, London Records, Nineties, Pop/Rap, R&B, Salt 'N Pepa, Shoop, Sixties, The Ikettes
