Many people have asked me about the Soul Sisters Six, the studio vocal group featured on “The Harder They Strum.” So I thought it was time to devote a post to them.

When I was planning the album, I decided that I wanted a female vocal group to redo the Toots and the Maytals songs from the original recording. The sound I had in mind was a reggae version of one of my favorite groups ever, the amazing Mahotella Queens from South Africa. So I did what I always do when I need advice about vocalists. I called my friend Janice Pendarvis, a NYC session legend who knows everything there is to know about singers. I sent her some Mahotella Queens songs as well as the Toots and the Maytals originals and asked her what was going on and how we could replicate the Mahotella Queens approach in the studio.

Janice said, “It sounds like three part harmonies double or triple tracked.”

I said, “I don’t want to overdub anything. I want to record the singers and the band live in the studio together. What if I hire six singers instead of overdubbing? Will that work?”

Janice answered, “I think it’s a great idea. If you do that, you’ll get the sound you’re looking for.” I was elated. Six is my favorite number, so that made it even more exciting.

So we talked about what singers to call. I had already decided I wanted Kim Miller, Simone Gordon, Magano, and Shae Lawrence in addition to Janice. Janice and Kim have worked together before, so that was a no-brainer. Shae and Magano had worked together as well and sounded great. Janice wasn’t familiar with any of the other singers except Kim, but she was willing to trust my judgement. But we still needed a sixth voice.

I wanted someone that I had a personal connection with and knew could fit in well. But of my top two choices, one lives out of town and the other was MIA at the time of the session. I was stuck. Janice said, “Call Audrey Martells. She has a Caribbean background so she’ll be comfortable with the idiom, she’s great to work with, and she’ll fit in with whoever else is there.” The name was vaguely familiar, but I’d never met Audrey. However, this is why you call Janice Pendarvis: she knows these things. I called Audrey, explained who I was and that Janice had recommended her. Was she available? She was! So the sixth voice was in place.

Janice and I both agreed that a rehearsal was necessary. I had written charts, but I wasn’t sure everybody could read them. So we’d need time to sort that out. Plus, it would take time to decide whose voices sounded best on each part.

Rehearsal was the day before the session. Shae was concerned because she couldn’t find child care for her son Jojo for the weekend. I told her to bring him, that the other ladies would have her back and that he wasn’t going to be in the way. Plus there would be people at the studio while we were recording to keep an eye on him. I’d flown in from a show in Utah the night before and I had a show that night, so time was of the essence.

When rehearsal started, it turned out that some of the ladies read music and some don’t, but I wasn’t worried. I knew that the non-readers would catch on fast, particularly with Janice in charge. I didn’t know who was going to sing what part either, but Kim and Simone are great utility singers that can sing on top, in the middle, or on the bottom. What wasn’t clear yet was what kind of blend or vibe we would get.

We were recording two songs by Toots and the Maytals, a male vocal trio, with female singers…in the same key as the original recording. It’s very common to change keys when your vocal group changes genders, but I was set on sticking to the original key. I was sure the ladies would find a way to make it sound good. Janice had checked my chart beforehand and pronounced it singable. Not all of the SSS are Jamaican, though all of them have done reggae gigs. But Magano is from Clarendon, the same province in Jamaica where Toots was raised, so I had an in-house dialect coach if there was any question about what the lyrics said or how to pronounce them.

What unfolded was magical. I was pretty much a fly on the wall. All I did was play guitar as the ladies worked through the songs and sorted out among themselves who sounded best on what part. Within fifteen minutes it was clear to me that this was going to work. It was incredible to witness the team spirit at work as everybody made suggestions, checked notes, and worked on blending and phrasing. Within an hour they sounded like a group that had been singing together for years.

Jojo was, as I expected he would be, a minor distraction. He’s a music-loving child and he was in the middle of a glorious wash of sound. When he got fussy, someone would pick him up until he calmed down. After a few hours it seemed to both Janice and me that we were ready.

The session next day, at EastSide Studios in Manhattan, was epic. I had Commissioner Gordon (Williams) behind the board. I had an amazing band: Paul Sutton on drums, Derrick Barnett on bass, Mikey Chung on rhythm guitar, Al Street on pick guitar and tenor banjo (on “Sweet And Dandy,” Earl Appleton on organ, Sidney Mills on piano, and Larry McDonald on percussion. The ladies were arranged across the studio from me so I could cue them in and out. The studio people were frantically running around patching in mikes, moving things, and looking worried. Monitors were overloading, plugins were crashing. Gordon was unflappable. While I worked with the musicians and singers, he directed the studio personnel like a general in battle, issuing orders and solving problems while moving faders and setting levels. Afterwards, the studio people confessed that they thought I was out of my mind until they heard the first complete take. We got both songs in one session, completely live. When I heard the playbacks I realized that we’d pulled it off: my dream was now an audio reality.

After the session, I decided that this group needed a feature credit and a name to go with it. So I contacted the ladies to see if they had any suggestions. No one came up with anything I found compelling. Eventually I decided on Soul Sisters Six, as a tribute to the 60s R&B group the Soul Brothers Six and my favorite number. Everybody liked it, though some of them thought we should spell it “Sistas.” But it’s my project, and the proofreader in me couldn’t handle the thought of putting “Sistas” on an album cover. I told them that if they wanted to prounounce it as such, it was fine with me! In my perfect world, the Soul Sisters Six would have their own recording career. I think they are brilliant and hope that we will hear more from them in the future.

So here they are: the Soul Sisters Six!

• Janice Pendarvis is a permanent A list studio singer, with a list of recording credits that would choke an elephant. I met Janice in Jamaica at Dynamic Studios on a hot summer night in 1981. She had come to Jamaica with Ben Vereen and was standing outside the studio waiting for her turn to sing. I was there for the session after hers. She looked friendly and interesting, so I approached her and introduced myself. We ended up talking for hours about everything under the sun. I didn’t see her again for years. When I moved to New York, we reconnected. Janice is the world’s busiest human but whenever I see her, the conversation resumes until some outside force stops us. I respect Janice as much as anyone I’ve ever met in the business and if I can call her in on a project, I do. In addition to singing, Janice teaches at Berklee and is a union delegate with SAG-AFTRA.
• Originally from Queens, Kim Miller is one of my best friends. We first met in J. C. Lodge’s backing band, then met again when she was singing with Judy Mowatt. Later she joined my band The Blue People and I discovered what a great person she was as well as a great singer. Then I became godfather to her daughter Kayla. And on it goes! We know way too much about each other, and laugh about it often.
• Simone Gordon is another one of my best friends. Born in Jamaica, she came to Miami with her mother when she was a year old and grew up there. I ran into her occasionally on different gigs but never really noticed how good she was until she sat in with Derrick Barnett’s band one night. Later we worked in CCB together and bonded over our mutual disinterest in smoking. Simone sings with Talking Dreads and Junior Marvin, has worked with a plethora of Marleys, and does a lot of studio work around NYC. She has a gift for languages (how many reggae singers do you know that speak Russian?) that comes in very handy on tour.
• A daughter of Clarendon, Jamaica, Andrea (Magano) Sawyers is one of the most interesting people I know, which is saying something. She is a tremendous talent, equally happy fronting the band or singing harmony all night. Magano also has a wonderful sense of fashion and style, and makes and modifies a lot of her own clothes. I work with her regularly in Derrick Barnett’s band and part of the fun of having her on the gig is seeing what she’s going to wear. I’m not very fashionable myself, so I’m fascinated by Magano’s ability to look not only good, but different, night after night. Magano is deeply religious and very involved in her church, but unlike many church people she has no problem performing secular music.
• Bronx-born of Jamaican parents, Shevon (Shae) Lawrence got her start working with Wayne Smith and does studio work with a variety of reggae and hip hop artists. Shae is the only person I know who can sing reggae and R&B equally convincingly that can also rap and DJ! I met Shae on a Luciano gig; she lived near me in the Bronx at the time and I got drafted into giving her rides to rehearsal. I was impressed by her work ethic as well as her singing, and we’ve been friends ever since. Sometimes I get to babysit her son Jojo!
• Audrey Martells is the sister I know least about personally. She’s a consummate pro with big ears who can sing just about anything and Audrey is as gracious and charming as she is talented. Her husband, Beldon Bullock, is a world class jazz bassist and her sons are talented dancers and singers. It must be a very interesting household! A few months ago I was going through my cassettes and found one from a recording I’d done for producer and writer Ron Brawer back in the 90s when he was in charge of the music for “Another World.” The cover said: “Lead vocal: Audrey Martells!” So we’d worked together before we worked together! Most mysterious.