This entry contains Brenda & the Tabulations' work on Top & Bottom Records. For her earlier career on Dionn Records, which started with their first hit, "Dry Your Eyes," see under Brenda and the Tabs.
When Brenda & the Tabulations teamed up with Van McCoy as their producer, the sparks flew and created a firestorm of hits that included "Right on the Tip of My Tongue," "A Part of You," and "A Child No One Wanted." McCoy's sophisticated songs and productions and Brenda's expressive voice combined to make a soulful sound loved by teenagers but also appreciated by older audiences who shared Brenda's growing maturity and emotions. Songs not heard since their original release because they were never incorporated in an album include "Why Didn't I Think of That," "A Love You Can Depend On" and "To the One I Love." Brenda & the Tabulations's Top & Bottom years were significant for the evolution of soul music as well as evocations of an era still appreciated today
Washington, D.C.-born Van McCoy started out doo-wopping with his brother Norman in the Starlighters, who waxed three 1958-60 singles for End. McCoy had a bit of solo success with 1961's “Mr. D.J.” for Rock’n and cut a Columbia LP before concentrating on songwriting, arranging, and producing.
By the time he started working with Brenda & the Tabulations. McCoy’s compositional triumphs already included Barbara Lewis’ “Baby I’m Yours,” Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “Giving Up,” Aretha Franklin’s “Sweet Bitter Love,” the Shirelles’ “Stop The Music,” Betty Everett’s “Getting Mighty Crowded,” and Ruby & the Romantics’ “When You’re Young And In Love” (also a hit for the Marvelettes). He co-produced Peaches & Herb’s “Let’s Fall In Love” and wrote and produced the Spellbinders’ “For You” and Chris Bartley’s “The Sweetest Thing This Side Of Heaven,” the latter for his own Vando logo.
“He heard about Brenda & the Tabulations,” says Maurice. “He sent some demos to Gilda, and Gilda let us hear them. And we said yes, we liked it.” That’s how McCoy came to write (with frequent collaborator Joe Cobb) and produce their breathtaking Top & Bottom encore, “And My Heart Sang (Tra La La),” a #12 R&B/#64 pop entry during the spring and summer of 1970. McCoy and Cobb also supplied the sassy up-tempo flip, “Lies, Lies, Lies.”
Tragically, Brenda Payton died at the too-young age of 46 on June 14, 1992.
