Three X Sisters

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The Three X Sisters were an all-girl harmony singing trio formed in 1924. Initially known as The Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce, the trio comprised Pearl Santos (nee Hamilton), Violet Hamilton, and Jessie Fordyce.

The trio strated out on Broadway and in Vaudeville, with Helen Kane (aka Helen Schroeder), one of the most popular of the Betty Boop girls. The trio did various song and dance acts, eventually settling for three-part harmony singing. In 1925 they were touring in Vaudeville, backed by the Ramond Fagan Orchestra. Pearl Hamilton met Ed Santos, and a year later they married in Rochester, New York. In 1926, the trio toured with another popular all-girl act, Jerry and her Baby Grands, appearing together at the Palace Theatre in New York. They then toured Canada together.

Although the Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce had started to gain success, they had higher ambitions. During 1927, after departing from a "Stars of the Future" entertainment showcase, their Management, fronted by Ed Wolfe, groomed the girls to tour Europe, and specifically England. They travelled with New York's popular Savoy Orpheans musical unit (probably from the Savoy Hotel Orpheans). In England, the ladies met up with Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart.[1] Various recordings were made on HMV, Columbia, and RCA discs; some popular tunes were "Blue Room", "My Heart Stood Still" and "Someone to Watch Over Me".

Their real success started when the trio appeared in publicity photos wearing eye masks, and began to exploit the upcoming popularity of radio. A CBS sponsor hired the trio, and they took a new stage name, the Three X Sisters. They would soon go by only their first names Pearl, Vi, and Jessie. They became popular Palace Theatre headliners as well as performing regularly on NBC radio from 1933-1937. The Three X Sisters featured on Graham McNamee's NBC program Behind the Mike in January 1941.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Pictures account for this, as reproduced in Santos, Glenn (1998) In sweet harmony: The Three X Sisters, Apple Blossom Publishing, Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 99-94889. The photo session also included British bandleader Bert Ambrose of Ambrose & his Mayfair Orchestra.