Today’s classic Philly Soul song of the day is “When Will I See You Again” by the Three Degrees. This track was released in September of 1974 (a few months earlier in the UK) and hit #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, #4 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart, #1 the Billboard Easy Listening and Cash Box Top 100 charts, and #1 on the UK Singles Chart.
“When Will I See You Again” was written and produced by Philly Soul stalwarts Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff and released on their Philadelphia International Records label. Lead singer Sheila Ferguson says she was initially reluctant to record the track:
“The song was played to me by Kenny Gamble at the piano in 1973 and I threw a tantrum. I screamed and yelled and said I would never sing it. I thought it was ridiculously insulting to be given such a simple song and that it took no talent to sing it. We did do it and several million copies later, I realized that he knew more than me.”
Yes, Kenny Gamble and his partner Leon Huff knew a lot more than a lot of people in the music business. They knew how to craft real hits, building on the pop and R&B blend of ’60s Motown with more sophisticated harmonies and orchestration. Philly Soul added a certain gloss to its obvious soul and doo-wop roots and the result was a new R&B sound for a new decade.
The Three Degrees were a Supremes-like trio consisting of Sheila Ferguson, Fayette Pinkney, and Valerie Holiday. The group formed in Philadelphia in 1963 when Pinkney, Shirley Porter, and Linda Turner first started singing together. Porter and Turner left and in 1967 were replaced by Ferguson and Holiday, the classic lineup that lasted until 1976. This version of the group signed with Gamble and Huff in 1973 and scored a number of hits in the UK, where they were considerably more successful than they were here in the States. (You can also hear them singing the brief vocal lines in MFSB’s hit “TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia),” a previous classic song of the day.)
Different configurations of the group continued to perform and record over the decades. There is a version of the Three Degrees out on the oldies circuit today, but it doesn’t include any of the classic members.
As to the classic lineup, here’s the Three Degrees performing “When Will I See You Again” live on the BBC Top of the Pops Christmas Special in 1974. Those ladies could sing.
