The Dixie Cups

The Dixie Cups , a trio of female singers from New Orleans, found fame in the spring of 1964 with their first single for Red Bird Records, "Chapel of Love." "Chapel" shot to the U.S. 1 chart position, knocking The Beatles' "Love Me Do" out of the top spot (and taking back the charts from the British Invasion). Other hit recordings included "People Say" (12) and "You Should Have Seen The Way He Looked At Me" (39), in 1964, and "Iko Iko" (20) and "Little Bell" (51), in 1965. Members of the trio were sisters Barbara and Rosa Hawkins and their cousin, Joan Johnson. Red Bird's executive producers were songwriters Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller, who brought the husband-and-wife songwriting team of Jeff Barry and Ellie Greenwich onboard to write and produce for The Dixie Cups and other acts on the label.
The Dixie Cups toured on the Dick Clark Caravan of Stars in 1964 and, in 1966, the group visited Vietnam where they performed for U.S. soldiers. During 1965, The Dixie Cups were moved to ABC-Paramount Records but none of the singles they released for this label charted because of the resultant litigation between the two record labels.
Although they stopped making records in 1966, The Dixie Cups have never disbanded. Two of the three original members - Barbara and Rosa Hawkins - remain active in the group; the only original member of The Dixie Cups ever to be replaced was Joan Johnson, their cousin, who retired from the group in 1967 because of illness. When they weren't touring, The Dixie Cups continued to perform at local functions in and around New Orleans (they returned to the city of their birth in the late sixties, after their recording career ended). Since Joan Johnson left the group, The Dixie Cups have had several fine singers as the trio's third member. The first of these was Beverly Brown, a singer from New Orleans, who remained onboard until she became ill in the 1980s and was replaced by Dale Mickle. Since Dale's departure a few years ago, the spot has been filled by the Hawkins sisters' childhood friend and sister-in-spirit Athelgra Neville (of the singing Neville family).
The Dixie Cups continue to perform for a multitude of public and private events. To book The Dixie Cups for a concert , corporate event , party , or wedding , please send an email to [email protected] .