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a brief history
The
Pixies Three began their professional career in high
school when John Madara and Dave White signed them to a recording
contract with Mercury Records. Before that, they went by the
name “The Pixies” and played at talent shows, service
clubs, carnivals, and the Ted Mack Amateur Hour. John discovered
the trio at a Philadelphia club on “talent night.”
Within a month, working with John and Dave, their first hit
“Birthday Party” shot into Billboard’s Top
40 with a bullet. Leon Huff, who had been discovered by John
in a nightclub playing piano with a group called the Lavenders
and had later partnered with Kenny Gamble to create “The
Sound of Philadelphia,” was their rehearsal pianist.
Following
the success of “Birthday Party,” they recorded two
other Madara/White songs, “Cold, Cold Winter” backed
with “442 Glenwood Avenue.” Sales were bigger than
Birthday Party and was an immediate hit. The group’s
first, and only, album, PARTY WITH THE PIXIES THREE, also
produced by John and Dave, featured renowned session musicians
Trade Martin, Artie Kaplan, Vinnie Bell and Leon Huff.
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