McGuire Sisters. March 17, 1958 Life magazine

Exerpt from March 17, 1958 Issue.

Sugartime's Singing Sisters

The melody is nursery-song simple and the word "sugar” recurs 28 times in the song's 2 1/2 minutes. But as sung by the McGuire sisters, Sugartime has sold more than a million copies and was the country’s best-selling record last week. The girls sing it in breathless close harmony with the energetic enthusiasm and expert rhythmic twists that have made them the country's top girl vocal group. But a crusty patron who heard them do Sugartime at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York concluded that when a hit song is that silly it sounds best when as many people as possible sing it. Unlike most sister acts in show business, the McGuires, Christine, 30, Phyllis, 27, and Dorothy, 29 are in fact sisters. They were born in Middletown, Ohio and when Phyllis was 10 started intoning three-part hymns in a nearby church where their mother was minister. During the week they sang for cake and ice cream at weddings until they won an amateur contest for getting through Three Little Sisters. Ten years after that triumph they turned professional. Since then they have sung in many of the best nightclubs between appearances with Arthur Godfrey, who did a monumental meddling job in Dorothy's romantic life. Close behind Sugartime in sales this week are the records of other vocal groups whose work has suddenly jumped into new popularity. Their success has brought out a rash of vocal combinations with odd names like The Four Ekkos, The Brother Sisters, Dickey Doo and The Don’ts, and a satirically tagged quintet billed as The Monotones.

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