Patrice Holloway

Patrice Holloway died on 1 October 2006. For some reason I went searching for information about Patrice online yesterday and found very little, either information or photos. That's a great shame, but there's a very informative biography of Patrice on Spectropop called, 'Requiem For A Pussycat'.

Patrice was a name on the Northern Soul scene with her few, very rare singles. Even now, with the Motown compilations from the vaults, there's still very little available and I only have eight songs by Patrice.

Patrice sang backing vocals for loads of people including Joe Cocker and Neil Young and is name-checked for vocals on Buffy Sainte-Marie's 'Moonshot' album. She sang lead vocals on some of the songs recorded by Josie & The Pussycats - Patrice was a Pussycat and the first ever leading black character in an animated series. I can't find any Pussycat's songs to download but I'm sure they'll turn up at some point.

Patrice also wrote and co-wrote songs, most famously 'You've Made Me So Very Happy' with her big sister, Brenda Holloway. That song's been recorded so many times that I should think virtually everyone reading this blog will be familiar with it. Patrice recorded a duet with Brenda - 'Come Into My Palace' - which is available on Brenda's double compilation, 'The Motown Anthology'. Both Holloway sisters had great voices but lived in Los Angeles when Motown was based in Detroit so didn't receive the attention they deserved.

Courtesy of the magic that is YouTube, take a listen to 'Stolen Hours' which, as far as I know, isn't available on CD...



... and here's a Josey & the Pussycat's song with Patrice on lead vocals, 'Every Beat Of My Heart'. Enjoy!