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''Josie and the Pussycats'' is a 1970 bubblegum pop album by a girl group designed to be the real-life incarnation of a fictional band in Archie Comics and Hanna-Barbera cartoons. The album was released by Capitol Records with Danny Janssen's La La Productions. Besides being both an Archie comic book and a Saturday morning cartoon series, Josie and the Pussycats is also the name of a bubblegum pop singing group from the early 1970s based on the fictional characters. The group was made up of Cathy Douglas (also known as Cathy Dougher, and whose real name was Kathleen Dougherty), Patrice Holloway, and Cherie Moor (formerly known as Cheryl Jean Stoppelmoor and later better known as Cheryl Ladd). The group also released six singles in 1970 and 1971. All of the songs were re-released on a 2001 compilation, ''Stop, Look and Listen - The Capitol Recordings''. ==Background== In preparation for their upcoming cartoon series, Hanna-Barbera Productions began working on putting together a real-life "Josie and the Pussycats" girl group, who would provide the singing voices of the girls in the cartoons and also cut an album. The "Josie and the Pussycats" recordings were produced by La La Productions which included producer/songwriter Danny Janssen (who had written for Bobby Sherman and The Partridge Family), his business partner Bobby Young, and songwriters Austin Roberts, Sue Steward (now known as Sue Sheridan) and Bobby Hart (formerly one of the producers/songwriters for The Monkees). They held a talent search to find three girls who would match the three girls in the comic book in both looks and singing ability, and, after interviewing over 500 finalists, settled upon casting Dougher as Josie, Moor as Melody, and Holloway as Valerie. African-American with part-Hispanic background, Holloway was the younger sister of Motown legend Brenda Holloway. Having signed to the label as a solo artist in 1965, she was the only one of the three finalists with prior ties to Capitol Records (the label that released the Pussycats' album and singles). Her early Capitol singles, all highly collectible, include "Ecstasy," "Stay With Your Own Kind" and "Stolen Hours" (released between 1965 & 1967). Most were produced by Hollywood-based writer/producers Billy and Gene Page. Stoppelmoor had come to Hollywood from her native South Dakota with a country and western band that broke up and went back home almost immediately upon arrival. Shortening her unwieldy last name and now going as Cherie Moor, she decided to stay and try her luck as a singer, dancer and actress on television. After marrying David Ladd, she would go on to replace Farrah Fawcett in ''Charlie's Angels'' prior to the filming of its second season in 1977. She would also release a Gold album and a Top 40 single ("Think It Over") on Capitol the following year. Janssen presented the newly formed band to William Hanna and Joseph Barbera to finalize the production deal, but was in for a major surprise. Hanna-Barbera wanted Janssen to recast Holloway, as they had decided to portray "Josie and the Pussycats" as an all-White trio, altering Valerie's character to make her Caucasian. Janssen refused to recast Holloway, whose voice he felt he needed for the soul-inspired bubblegum pop songs he had written, and threatened to walk away from the project. After a three-week-long stand-off between Janssen and Hanna-Barbera, Hanna-Barbera finally relented, allowed Janssen to keep Holloway, and changed Valerie back to being an African-American. Valerie had been introduced in the "Josie" comic book in late 1969, and the character had been African-American from the start. Word quickly spread around Los Angeles about the stand Janssen had taken. To show their gratitude, a number of the most notable soul session players in the city offered their services to La La Productions and the ''Josie'' album at a fraction of their regular fees. Among them were Elvis Presley's drummer Ronnie Tutt, Elvis' bassist Jerry Scheff, keyboardist Clarence MacDonald, flutist Wilton Felder and guitarist Mike Stewart. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Josie and the Pussycats (album)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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