Hodges, James & Smith

Biography

Hodges, James & Smith were originally known as Hodges, James, Smith & Crawford (former Motown artist Carolyn (Caroline) Crawford).They later became a trio..Pat Hodges, Denita James & Jessica Smith… all originating from Los Angeles. Denita James had a solo single on Flip around ‘63 and Pat Hodges had a solo release Keymen around ‘66. The group was the brainchild of William “Micky” Stevenson and they were intended to rival The Supremes which is hard to believe because H, J & S’s sound was more ag...

Hodges, James & Smith were originally known as Hodges, James, Smith & Crawford (former Motown artist Carolyn (Caroline) Crawford).They later became a trio..Pat Hodges, Denita James & Jessica Smith… all originating from Los Angeles.
Denita James had a solo single on Flip around ‘63 and Pat Hodges had a solo release Keymen around ‘66. The group was the brainchild of William “Micky” Stevenson and they were intended to rival The Supremes which is hard to believe because H, J & S’s sound was more aggressive and a lot more Soul/R&B oriented. Their first single was ‘Nobody’ on the Mpingo Label (previously a hit for Kim Weston on MGM). They updated it later for one of their 20th Century Fox albums in the 70s. So there are two versions released by them.
Hodges, James & Smith (HJS) was the brainstorm of producer/writer William “Mickey” Stevenson, Motown’s A&R Director during their glory years. All Detroit natives, Pat Hodges, Denita James, and Jessica Smith were handpicked by Stevenson, though they each took different routes to get there. Hodges played the clarinet in a local band, then attended college and earned a B.A. in music. James studied ballet and tap dancing, while Smith had a gospel background.

Mickey Stevenson had a great vision for HJS and groomed them to play the top, plush clubs. He created a snazzy nightclub act for them that rivaled the Supremes. They played the sweet gigs throughout Europe and recorded Incredible on 20th Century Fox in 1973, but the only thing incredible about it was the speed it reached cutout bins at discount record stores. Although a solid album, it just didn’t get a decent push. Another 20th Century album, 1975’s Power in Your Love, disappeared so fast that most people can’t recall its title. The lack of recording success though, didn’t douse HJS’ flame; they continued traveling, doing the plum gigs.

In 1976, they signed with London Records. What’s on Your Mind received quite a bit of promotion and acclaim that, unfortunately, didn’t transform into sales. A second London release What Have You Done for Love, met a similar fate. During 1977, they had a few singles that nested in the nose-bleed section of the charts: “Don’t Take Away Your Love,” and a medley “Since I Fell for You/I’m Falling in Love,” but no major busters. Other artists including Bobby Womack, and Sylvester used them on sessions, but after a few more years of the same the trio disbanded, never having achieved the success they and Stevenson tried so hard to obtain. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.