Young Sisters

Lisa Pomilla, Angela Pomilla, and Patti Massaglia

Members:
     Patti Massaglia
     Lisa Pomilla
     Angela Pomilla

The Young Sisters were three young Italian girls from the east side of Detroit. They all attended Servite Catholic School in Detroit. Angela was the oldest (Class of '62), and her sister Lisa and Patti Massaglia were two years younger (Class of '64). Patti sang lead while Lisa and Angela usually sang harmonies, but Lisa sang lead on some of the solos. They had a called group, the Teardrops consisting of five girls and was started when they were in high school. "They started out singing things by Eydie Gorme and the Angels."

They were discovered at a sock hop at the school where djs attended. This one was with Joel Sebastion a W XYZ-1270 disc jockey.

They started their group in high school. Singing at record hops. They started with five girls and called themselves The Teardrops. They decided that they were going to audition. Deejay Ernie Stratton just wanted Patti, but she wanted the rest of the girls. He said there was too much "deadweight" with five. He said Lisa and Angie had great voices, so the other two girls were dropped.

John Brooks who did some birddogging for Irving Micahnik and Harry Balk saw the girls doing a record hop. It was there that Brooks said "Let me take you down to a studio." He took them Michanick and Balk's office in downtown Detroit. It was at that office where they rehearsed.

The girls were taken to New York along with their mothers. There they were taken to Mirasound Studios in New York where they recorded "Casanova Brown and "My Guy." "Casanova Brown" was released on Balk and Micahnik's Twirl label in the summer of '62. it did well locally and in surrounding areas in the Midwest, but not nationally, only reaching #94 on the Billboard chart for one week in September. if it had been release on Bigtop it might have done better.

Maron (Robert) McKenzie

Staff writer Maron McKenzie wrote both sides of the single.

Staff writer Maron McKenzie Maron, who co-wrote "Little Town Flirt" and six other tunes with Del Shannon, swiftly wrote "Playgirl" and "Hello Baby" for the Young Sisters to replace "Flirt" which was originally intended for them as the follow-up.

After "Casanova Brown" the girls started working on "Little Town Flirt" which was supposed to be the follow-up to "Casanova Brown." Del Shannon heard the song, liked it, but wanted the girls to sing back-up

They were brought back to New York where they did multiple sessions at Bell Studios. Besides Shannon's two sides, they overdubbed their vocals to Johnny and the Hurricanes "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?" They also had a session with Bobbie Smith and the Dreamgirls on "Your Lovey Dovey Ways" and did their follow-up single "Playgirl" b/w "Hello , Baby." The girls also sang on Dick & the Teenbeats' "Strawberries" and Jamie Coe's "I Got That Feeling Again."

The Young Sisters were used on Shannon's next session that followed "Little Town Flirt." All four songs at that session featured the Young Sisters on backround vocals: "Two Kinds of Teardrops," "Kelly," "Two Silhouettes," and "My Wild One."

Irving Micahnik and Harry Balk decided to use the Young Sisters to back Shannon in the studios on three consecutive singles. This included "Little Town Flirt," and "Two Kind of Teardrops" at February 21, 1963 were co-written by Shannon and Macron and featured the Young Sisters on background vocals. The girls were also used for the third intended single "Two Silhouettes" on London records. Shannon recorded "From Me To You" while on tour in Britain in May of 1963. and the American singles succession looked a little different than what was intended. Maron (who goes by Robert McKenzie today) wrote a third single for the girls, "She Took His Love Away" (written with Dick Bossi) b/w "Jerry Boy", released on Mala Records.

The group "never got paid" and only made money from other jobs, not from any of the records. They touring was limited because they were still in high school. Mostly they worked locally in Detroit with Bobbie Smith and the Dream Girls and the Topsiders. They also worked in some nightclus for about three months.

Lisa, Angela and Patti

Maron wrote a third single for the girls, "She Took His Love Away." It was the girls third and final single, released in the fall of 1963 on Mala Records.

When asked why the group broke up, Angela said Lisa had gotten engaged and her husband to be wanted her to go in another direction. Lisa left, Patti and Angela tried to get another girl but couldn't get the same sound

Patti and Lisa in Southfield, Michigan 2011

Although the group split up, Patti went solo and released a single on Ernstat "Head and Shoulders (Above the Rest)" b/w "The Valiant Kind," was produced by Fred Saxon and arranged by Mike Theodore and recorded at Tera Shirma Studios in Detroit. "Head and Shoulders" would go on to become a "Northern Soul" underground classic in the United Kingdom.