Pussycat Patrice

I had a real "blimey, I never knew that" moment when looking up some facts about Patrice Holloway for this post. I already knew that she was Brenda Holloway's little sister but I never knew that her biggest claim to fame was being the singing voice of the character Valerie in the early 70s cartoon series Josie and The Pussycats. Not having ever seen the show (I don't think it was shown in England) I can't comment on the aesthetic merits of that gig but apparently Valerie was the first black cartoon character to be a TV series regular which is something in itself to be proud of.

Before being immortalised in cartoon form Patrice cut some tracks for Motown which have never been released and recorded a few singles for Capitol in the mid-60s, one of which was the terrific double whammy of "Love And Desire" with the flipside "Ecstasy" from 1967. These are 100% prime, bright and bouncy female soul tracks that have long been top tunes on the Northern Soul scene (they weren't hits in the real world though.) Both songs are about the thrill of love and Patrice gives an appropriately joyful vocal performance, sounding as if she's burtsing at the seams with love and, um, desire. She's a really great singer and should have been famous beyond the cartoon universe. Though it was the b-side I think "Ecstacy" is the better track and there's a risqué undertone to the lyrics so you know she's not singing about just holding hands.

Patrice's discography doesn't contain much solo work so there isn't an album of her on her own, but you can get these on Talcum Soul Volume One and Volume Two.

PS: If you think the blonde girl at the front above looks familiar, that's because it's future Charlie's Angel Cheryl Ladd who was the singing voice of Cherie in the series.

[Download]
Love and Desire - Patrice Holloway
Ecstasy - Patrice Holloway