The Ritchie Family 1975 - 1983

The Ritchie Family consisted of the disco diva trio Vera Brown, Jacqueline Smith-Lee and Theodosia ‘Dodie’ Draher. They were in fact the second line up of this iconic disco act. Vera Brown formerly sang in the group of the Philly soul singer David Simmons and recorded with producer Butch Ingram.
Their famous disco producers Jacques Morali & Henri Belolo (Ritchie Family, The Village People, Patrick Juvet) left the comforts of Casablanca Records in 1982, around the time when label founder Neil Bogart had passed away from cancer. They took The Ritchie Family to RCA Records for their next album I'll Do My Best. RCA promoted the group well but remember that The Ritchie Family had been really spoiled by Casablanca Records. Morali & Belolo submitted their act to the successful sound of Little Macho Music in favor of Brazilian producer Eumir Deodato (Kool & The Gang, Con Funk Shun, Kleeer, One Way, Juicy) who had been approached originally.

Ritchie Familiy singer Dodie Draher recalled memories: "I remember meeting the label executives and different songwriters, like the fabulous Eumir Deodato. He was a Brazilian pianist, composer, record producer and arranger most famous for his work with Kool & The Gang. Initially we spent some time with him, going through music, conceptualizing a new sound and such. We thought he was going to be the primary writer for this RCA venture, so we were very, very excited about the possibility of working with such an incredible, succesful musician. But then that never came to fruition."
Instead Jacques Fred Petrus was brought in to produce The Ritchie Family's excellent top 40 R&B album I’ll Do My Best for the Morali & Belolo company Can’t Stop Productions. Both Jacques Fred Petrus and the team of Jacques Morali & Henri Belolo were French and this made the agreement pretty easy. Fred Petrus utilized his longtime writing companion Mauro Malavasi and Little Macho Music associated writers like Herb Smith to compose the songs on the RCA album. Fonzi Thornton, an up- and-coming funk artist on the label, co-produced the vocal tracks. Dodie Drager recollected: "We were very excited by the material they eventually came up with because now we got to do something different. We were able to use our abilities in another area, in another genre –and that made us extremely happy. I really love that album. The single "I'll Do My Best (For You Baby)" crossed us over more into pop and R&B territory and we enjoyed having the chance to expand our audience. Had we stayed with the pure disco sound –that would have been fine too, trust me– we would have made it work! But then the business heads didn't want to gamble on disco."

This Ritchie Family projectsurprised because it wasn’t fluffy or too over the top but very funky and substantial which wasn’t in line with their previous disco output. Their sound changed to more of a dance/R&B style to reflect the times. That was for survival because of the post-disco backlash effect. To keep up with the trends in Black music it was necessary to adopt a contemporary mode and a more soulful perception.
Mauro Malavasi supervised the project and the Italian-born Philadelphia arranger/producer Giuliano Salerni took care of the artistic production. Salerni had previously composed, arranged and produced the disco projects Ultimate and Hi-Gloss. The Hi-Gloss group comprised incidentally Timmy Allen (of group Change) on bass and Kae Williams (B.B.&Q. Band) on keyboards. Salerni also successfully arranged and mixed for Geraldine Hunt ("Can't Fake The Feeling") and France Joli (album Now!).

The first single was the brilliant title track “I’ll Do My Best (For You Baby)” (#27 Billboard’s R&B Singles Chart; #17 Billboard’s Disco/Dance Chart). The song was co-written by Fonzi Thornton, Malavasi and Salerni and carried the recognizable Malavasi signature sound. The club hit "I'll Do My Best (For You Baby)" was the first time The Ritchie Family enjoyed R&B airplay and clubplay simultaneously in several years. The other tracks were "This Love's On Me", the very melodious “One And Only”, the sweet ballad "You Can Always Count On Me", the smooth cover “Walk With Me” which was originally released by Valerie Horton-Brown in 1981, the irresistible floorshaker “Alright On The Night”, "Tonight I Need To Have Your Love" and "You've Got Me Dancin'".
The heavy workload for Little Macho Music in 1982 forced Fred Petrus to outsource a great deal of the project's songwritings. Unfamiliar but seasoned names like Zenobia Conkerite, David Rose, Jerry Marcellino, Winston Gay, Trevor Veitch and Greg Mathieson were enlisted to compose tracks. Besides “I’ll Do My Best (For You Baby)”, none of the songs were written by inside components of Little Macho Music. Just four tracks were published by Little Macho Music, three of which were supplied by the American guitar player Herb Smith who also co-wrote "The Very Best In You" for Change.
Petrus' musicians —including Mauro Malavasi and Timmy Allen of Change— and a handful of session professionals like Ira Siegel, Herb Smith, Yogi Horton, Kae Williams Jr. and Terry Silverlight simply carried out the songs, providing them with the characteristic texture and elegant style of the Little Macho Music productions.