BRENDA & THE TABULATIONS

In the summer of 1966, Brenda Payton and Maurice Coates worked together at a Philadelphia playground. Coates suggested they sing together in a show they presented for the kids at the end of the summer. Gilda Woods—wife of popular radio D.J. Georgie Woods—happened to be driving by and caught their performance. When she asked if they had any original material, they said yes—even though they had none. Within two days, however, Coates and Payton had co-written “Dry Your Eyes.”

Gilda Woods signed on as their manager, gave them their name (by opening up a dictionary), and co-produced the session with Bob Finiz, the in-house producer at Jamie/Guyden Records. “Dry Your Eyes” was released on J/G’s Dionn subsidiary. It became the group’s first and biggest hit, reaching #8 on the Billboard Rhythm & Blues chart and #20 pop during the first quarter of 1967.

By the time they recorded the song, Brenda & The Tabulations were a quartet rounded out by Eddie L. Jackson and Jerry Jones. Payton’s voice was sweet and occasionally rough-edged, making the group sound paradoxically innocent and world-weary.

Smokey Robinson wrote their next chart single, “Who’s Lovin’ You.” He himself had first recorded the song with his group, the Miracles, in 1960. At least two other Motown acts, Brenda Holloway and the Jackson Five, recorded their own versions. But only the Tabulations made it a hit.

Over the next two years, they placed additional songs on both the R&B and pop charts, though none duplicated the initial success of “Dry Your Eyes.” They also came out with an LP of the same name. By the end of 1969, Jamie/Guyden had discontinued the Dionn imprint and replaced it with Top & Bottom. After their first hit on the label, “The Touch of You,” Gilda Woods hooked the group up with songwriter/producer Van McCoy. He wrote and produced their next hit, “And My Heart Sang (Tra La La),” and would helm all their future Top & Bottom sessions.

By 1971, the male members had all left the Tabulations. Payton replaced them with two female singers, Pat Mercer and Deborah Martin. This was the line-up that recorded the group’s second-biggest hit, “Right On the Tip of My Tongue.” That same year, Top & Bottom released a self-titled album on the trio—though, inexplicably, it left out “Tip of My Tongue.”

In 1972, Brenda & The Tabulations signed with Epic Records. Their biggest hit for the company was “One Girl Too Late.” It was also their last recording produced by Van McCoy. By now, Brenda Payton was essentially a solo act, though she continued to record under the group’s name. In 1977, her third album, I Keep Coming Back for More, was released on Chocolate City, a division of Casablanca. It produced “(I’m a) Superstar,” the last charted single for Brenda & The Tabulations.

In 1974, the group was mentioned in the hit song, “Life Is a Rock (But the Radio Rolled Me),” by Reunion.

In 1975, the Tabulations’ one-time producer, Van McCoy, rode the disco bandwagon to #1 with the instrumental smash, “The Hustle.” Four years later, he died of a heart attack at age 39.

Brenda Payton, 46, died of breast cancer on June 14, 1992. Eddie L. Jackson, 63, died of a brain aneurysm on May 3, 2010.

In 2011, the group’s 44-year-old recording of “The Wash” (the original B-side of “Dry Your Eyes”) was used in a commercial for Axe body wash.

Charted singles:

“Dry Your Eyes” (1967) R&B #8, Pop #20
“Who’s Lovin’ You” (1967) R&B #19, Pop #66
“Stay Together Young Lovers” (1967) R&B #44, Pop #66
“Just Once In a Lifetime” (1967) R&B #41, Pop #97
“When You’re Gone” (1967) R&B #27, Pop #58
“Baby You’re So Right For Me” (1968) Pop #86
“To the One I Love” (1968) R&B #45
“That’s the Price You Have to Pay” (1969) R&B #43
“The Touch of You” (1969) R&B #12, Pop #50
“And My Heart Sang (Tra La La)” (1970) R&B #12, Pop #64
“Don’t Make Me Over” (1970) R&B #15, Pop #77
“A Child No One Wanted” (1971) R&B #42, Pop #120
“Right On the Tip of My Tongue” (1971) R&B #10, Pop #23
“A Part of You” (1971) R&B #14, Pop #94
“Why Didn’t I Think of That” (1971) R&B #34, Pop #107
“One Girl Too Late” (1973) R&B #48
“Home to Myself” (1976) R&B #61
“(I’m a) Superstar” (1977) R&B #31