Fannie Cobb

Fannie Cobb aka Fannie Lee Cobb sang lead in two groups that recorded during the 1960s. Her vocals, either as lead or in backing can be heard on at least seven recordings issued by the Lash and Academy labels. EARLY YEARS She was the lead singer of Fannie & The Varcells, a group made up of herself and three other people that that had met in North Philadelphia. The Varcels were Bobby Harman, Charles Griffin, and Charles Robinson. They had a single released on Howard Ravitsky's Lash label in 1963 The A side, "The Guy" was her composition and the B side, "Inside of Me" was composed by Mark Schinderman. Both sides were a B & L Production which was overseen by Frank Bendinelli & Leroy Lovett. Some time after her venture with The Varcells, she was in a girl group called Honey and the Bees. This group had started out as The Creations. The members were Cobb, Lulu Martin and Rita Graves. They had two releases on the Academy label . Both of them were released in 1965. The first was "Two Can Play The Same Game" backed with a re-recording of Mark Schinderman's composition, now with a slightly modified title, "Inside O Me". The arranger and conductor was Leroy Lovett. This was a B & L Production, produced by the same team who produced the earlier released version by Fannie & The Varcells. The next single on the label was "What A Lesson I've Learned", a Fred Andrew Smith, Phil Hurtt composition backed with "Be Yourself", which was composed by Cindy Scott & Willie Hamilton. A version of "Be Yourself" had been recorded by The Companions as well, and it was also a B & L Production! Somewhere along the line, the group had recorded a Frank Bendinelli, Leroy Lovett composition "Don't Hurt Me". It never saw a release and remained un-issued. After the last single was released, the group seemed to drop off out of sight. OTHER GROUP A year after this Honey and The Bees had disappeared, the name was revived and applied to another unrelated line up. A new Honey And The Bees had emerged! This is mentioned on page 28 of the book, Girl Groups: Fabulous Females Who Rocked the World by By John Clemente. They had evolved out of another Philly group called The Yum Yums. They would first record for the ARCTIC label, have a fairly prolific output and have a hit on the Josie label with "It's Gonna take a Miracle". The connection between these two groups were the people on the periphery, the decision to re-use the name and Phil Hurtt. LATER YEARS In 1999, " Be Yourself" / "Two Can Play The Same Game" were released on a single issued by the Goldmine Soul Supply label. The A sides of both Academy releases were used for this single. The same year, the previously unreleased recording by Honey & the Bees, "Don't Hurt Me" appeared on the Philly Soul Girls Volume 1 compilation by Philly Archives. Also included were "Inside of Me" by Fannie & The Varcels, and the four songs from the two Academy singles. Both songs from the Fannie & The Varcells single appear on the The Best Of Lash Records - Rare R&B & Soul Productions 1961-1975 compilation released in 2009.