Page 18 - The Ritchie family

THE RITCHIE FAMILY BIOGRAPHY

THE RITCHIE FAMILY - CASSANDRA WOOTEN, CHERYL MASON-DORMAN, RENÉE GUILLORY-WEARING

It’s time, at last, to break the ice with The Ritchie Family. This trio of distinguished vocalists was an innovator of club music at the height of the
disco era, and they remain so today, with a new look, a fresh sound, and a hip, irresistible attitude.
It’s true—the Ritchie Family is steeped in disco history. The Ritchie Family concept itself started off as a studio ensemble that net its producers a
Grammy nomination for the hit dance track “Brazil” in 1975. In the mid-’70s, Cassandra Wooten, Cheryl Mason-Dorman (formerly Mason-Jacks)
and Gwendolyn Wesley (formerly Oliver) became the voices and faces of the group. Cassandra and Gwendolyn had been performing out of
Philadelphia in a group called Honey and the Bees, and when that group ended, they partnered with Cheryl, who they met at a performing arts
school. They were the perfect vocal trio to represent and deliver the “Philly Sound” (a warm and uplifting hybrid of soul and disco) sought by
Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo and Richie Rome, the gentlemen who had produced, arranged and/or fashioned “Brazil”.
Brilliantly teaming with Rome, Morali and Belolo (the latter two gentlemen the creators of Village People), the ladies helped ignite one of the
biggest and most explosive disco hits of 1976 — the appropriately titled “The Best Disco In Town”. The track (lifted from their widely lauded LP
Arabian Nights and a medley of some of the most popular disco songs of that period) was a Top 20 US hit on the Billboard pop singles chart. It also

reached the number one spot on Billboard’s dance chart, packing dance floors throughout the last weeks of summer and achieving worldwide sales
in excess of reportedly two million copies. “As much as we enjoyed all the little things that had come before, this was finally the moment where we
thought we’d hit the jackpot,” says Gwendolyn in James Arena’s book, First Ladies of Disco (McFarland Publishing).
Their next album, the effervescent, disco-infused Life Is Music, solidified their appeal and influence on the club scene. African Queens, the ladies’
third set for the legendary Miami-based Marlin/T.K. Records label, brought the trio back to the top of Billboard’s dance chart with “Summer
Dance” and “Quiet Village”.