Sitting In The Park Softiques / Coffee Interview

[boba]

Hi. Yesterday on my radio show, I interviewed a singer who sang in several groups from the west side of Chicago before becoming a solo singer. Originally Betty Berry, Betty began singing at an early age, and by her first year of high school was singing in the Marshall High School Jamboree Talent Show. She soon joined a group of male singers forming a Miracles-styled group. Soon an already formed group called the Softiques was looking for an existing singer and recruited Betty for their group.

Betty signed with the group's manager and went with the group to Winnetka to record the Softiques' only single "Bashful (I'm that type of girl)" / "Two kinds of boys". Betty sang lead on the "Bashful" side of the record. Although both sides were excellent Chicago girl group soul, the record was only test pressed in tiny quantity and promoed to local DJs. The group soon broke up after the release of the record.

After graduating from school Betty formed a group called Destiny that played Fifth Dimension-style pop soul at local clubs. After a few years Betty also hooked up with legendary west side soul promoter Ruth Moore who formed the group Coffee with Betty (now Betty Caldwell) and three other members. Coffee performed many local events around the city. In 1976, Betty sang lead on Coffee's first single "Your loving ain't as good as mine". The single had an excellent 70s Chicago sound and receieved some play in Chicago. After a couple of years Betty left the group and pursued her solo career.

In 1985, Betty released a solo dance 45 "Lovesick" on the Al-Turn record label, under the name Betty Cee. The record received some local play in Chicago. In 1988 Betty released a 12" on the Al-Turn label "Dr. Feelgood", a cover of the Aretha Franklin record. Betty has continued to perform jazz and blues (currently under the name Betty Sea), even singing the national anthem at a Cubs game and performing at the White House. In the late 90s Betty did several tours of Germany and recorded there and has continued to release more material here in the US.

You can check out my interview at the bottom of my interviews page at:

https://www.sittinginthepark.com/interviews.html

thanks,

Bob

[Djmelismo]

Hi Bob!

What a wonderful interview, such a warm and friendly atmosphere in the studio and the fact that Betty was the one who contacted you, made for her having a positive attitude and she was more than willing to talk in depth about her career. The Coffee 7" that she sang lead on wasn´t included on the (two?) Coffee albums, was it?

Edited February 9, 2010 by djmelismo

[boba]

Hi Bob!

What a wonderful interview, such a warm and friendly atmosphere in the studio and the fact that Betty was the one who contacted you, made for her having a positive attitude and she was more than willing to talk in depth about her career. The Coffee 7" that she sang lead on wasn´t included on the (two?) Coffee albums, was it?

no, it was originally released on a local clarence johnson related label, pre-Delite, not on either of the LPs. That softiques record is great, isn't it? she bought a bootleg of it on the internet thinking she found an original after I kept bugging her to find me a copy. She was a super nice person.