Josie and the Pussycats (music) Cherie Moor, and Cathy Dougher. This article is about the Josie and the Pussycats musical group. For other versions of the property, see Josie and the Pussycats. Josie and the Pussycats, besides being both a Archie comic book and a Saturday morning cartoon series, is also the name of a bubblegum pop group from the early 1970s, which was designed to be the real-life incarnation of the musical girl group featured in both the comic and the cartoon. The group was amde up of Cathy Dougher, Patrice Holloway, and Cherie Moor (formerly known as Cheryl Ann Stepplemoor and later better known as Cheryl Ladd), who cut an album and six singles for Capitol Records in 1970 with Danny Janssen's La La Productions. Overview In preparation for their upcoming cartoon series, Hanna-Barbera Productions began working on putting together a real-life "Josie and the Pussycats" girl group, who would provide the singing voices of the girls in the cartoons and also cut an album as well. The "Josie and the Pussycats" recording were produced by La La Productions which included producer/songwriter Danny Janssen (who had written for Bobby Sherman and The Partridge Family), his business partner Bobby Young, and songwriters Austin Roberts, Sue Steward and Bobby Hart. (formerly one of the producers/songwriters for The Monkees). They held a talent search to find three girls who would match the three girls in the comic book in both looks and singing ability, and, after interviewing over 500 finalists, settled upon casting Cathy Dougher as Josie, Cherie Moor as Melody, and Patrice Holloway as Valerie. Janssen presented the newly formed band to William Hanna and Joseph Barbera to finalize the production deal, but was in for a major surprise. Hanna-Barbera wanted Janssen to recast Patrice Holloway, because they had decided to portray "Josie and the Pussycats" as an all-White trio and had altered Valerie's character to make her Caucasian. Janssen refused to recast Holloway and threatened to walk away from the project. After a three-week-long stand-off between Janssen and Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera finally relented and allowed Janssen to keep Holloway, and changed Valerie back to being an African-American. Word quickly spread around Los Angeles about the stand Janssen had taken, and to show their gratitude, a number of the best soul session players in the city (including Elvis Presley's drummer Ronnie Tutt, Elvis' bassist Jerry Scheff, keyboardist Clarence MacDonald, flutist Wilton Felder and guitarist Mike Stewart offered their services to La La Productions and the Josie album at a fraction of their regular fees. The Josie and the Pussycats sound is very much based upon that of Motown acts such as Diana Ross & the Supremes and the Jackson 5 (a cover of The Jackson 5's classic "I'll Be There" is present on the album). Ironically, almost half of the lead vocal parts on the album are done by Patrice Holloway, who almost didn't even end up in the group. Holloway also sings lead on the famous "Josie and the Pussycats" theme song, which was wrtten by Hanna-Barbera musical director Hoyt Curtin (and based on a recurring score cue from The Jetsons), William Hanna, and Joseph Barbera. The majority of the rest of the lead parts are done by Cherie Moor. Although she was cast as the singing voice of Josie, Cathy Dougher only sings lead vocals on four of the Pussycats' songs, "If That Isn't Love," "A Letter to Mama," and the covers of "I'll Be There" and "It Don't Matter to Me." Although Janssen used strings, horns, keyboards, and oscillators (electronic synthesizers) to create the band's sound, the on-screen cartoon band featured Josie on guitar, Valerie with tambourines, and Melody on drums; no other musicians appeared on-screen with them, creaating a disconcerting contrast between audio and visual for many viewers. At least one, but usually two, of the band's songs were heard during the course of an episode of the TV show, especially during a high-action chase sequence. Josie And The Pussycats: From The Hanna-Barbera TV Show was released on 15 December 1970 by Capitol Records, who also relased 6 singles as well (4 of which were only available as part of a Kellog's mail-order promotion). None of the singles charted at all, and many people didn't even know the album was even available. As a result, sales were far below expectations, and plans for a national tour were shelved. Hanna-Barbera contracted producer Jimmie Haskell and a group of anonymous session singers to do the music for Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space, and La La Productions' Josie and the Pussycats group was officially disbanded. Danny Janssen and Patrice Holloway worked together on a few songs after the demise of the band, and Sue Stewart wrote a few songs for Cheryl Ladd's self-titled 1978 debut album (also relased on Capitol Records). The album, the singles, some alternate takes, and a few songs that only appeared in the animated series were all collected in a limited edition set entitled Josie and the Pussycats: Stop Look and Listen: The Captiol Recordings, released by Rhino Handmade on 5 October 2001. Rhino only pressed 5000 copies of the album. The Group's Songs On the album Josie And The Pussycats: From The Hanna-Barbera TV Show 1. Every Beat Of My Heart (also released as a single) 2. La, La, La (If I Had You) (originally performed by Bobby Sherman) 3. Stop, Look And Listen (also released as a single) 4. Hand Clapping Song 5. I'll Be There (originally performed by The Jackson 5) 6. You've Come A Long Way Baby (also released as a single) 7. (They Long To Be) Close To You (originally performed by The Carpenters) 8. Roadrunner 9. Lie, Lie, Lie 10. It Don't Matter To Me (originally performed by Bread) Singles-only tracks: It's All Right With Me Voodoo Inside, Outside, Upside Down A Letter to Mama It's Gotta Be Him If That Isn't Love Josie (and the Pussycats) (an extended version of the theme song) Songs that only appeared in the cartoon, never released for consumer purchase: Dreammaker Clock on the Wall Together The Time to Love In 2001, music producer Babyface produced a new Josie and the Pussycats album as the soundtrack for the motion picture released by Universal Pictures that same year. This new reincarnation of the Pussycats had a harder, punk-rock sound, as opposed to their Motown-ish 1970 counterparts. Letters to Cleo vocalist Kay Hanley sung lead on all the Pussycats' new songs. See Also Josie and the Pussycats (the Archie comic) Josie and the Pussycats (the Hanna-Barbera cartoon show) Josie and the Pussycats (the live action movie) Outside Links | Archie Comics' Josie and the Pussycats homepage Most Popular Articles: Music    Musical Instruments    Guitar    Classical Music    History    Music Definition    Country Music    Rock Music    Pop Music    Hip Hop    Rap    DJ    Video Games    Casino Games    Poker    Blackjack    Casinos    Real Estate    Loan    Auction    eBay    Marketing    Search Engine Optimization    File Sharing    MP3    Music Industry    Kazaa    Internet    Supermodel    Fashion    Fashion Designers    Erotica    Modeling    Clothing    Boots    Shoes    Diamond Engagement Rings    Diamond    Rugs    Gospel Music    Affiliate    E-Commerce    Radio This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License at http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html You may copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. You must provide a link to http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html To view or edit this article at Wikipedia go to http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josie_and_the_Pussycats_(music)