Gene & Eunice – This is Our Story – Singles As & Bs 1954-1960 Plus

The ‘boy/girl’ duet partnership was an integral component of black American music in the 1950s and 1960s, and a continuous presence on the charts throughout both decades. Some duos paired existing individual solo stars, but the majority introduced new pairings of young people who were involved professionally (and occasionally romantically) with no outside projects to distract them.

Such was the case with one of R&B’s biggest twosomes of the 50s. Transplanted Texans Gene Forrest and Eunice Russ Levy both had limited solo experience before they pooled their talent resources in Los Angeles in 1954 and came up with a string of singles that pretty much set the template for mixed R&B duos for the rest of the decade – starting with the original version of a record that turned out to be one of the first big hits (and most covered songs) of R&B’s pre-Rock ‘n’ Roll era, the immortal ‘KoKo Mo (I Love You So)’ in 1954.

Over the next five years, and alternating between up-tempo rockers and sweet ballads – almost all of which they wrote themselves – G & E established themselves with a string of 45s that endeared them to young record buyers across the US and also in the Caribbean, where their fast and low numbers alike were staples of the local sound system culture in Jamaica and songs like ‘This Is My Story’, ‘The Vow’, ‘I’ll Never Believe In You’ and ‘BomBom Lulu’ were revived by local artists many times from the 60s to the 80s.

Chart books do not necessarily reflect just how popular Gene & Eunice were, or how many records they sold during six years of recording activity. This Jasmine collection – possibly the most complete anthology of the CD era – brings together as many of those records as we could fit on a single disc. This IS their story, and it will delight fans old and new to have it all in one place for the first time.

1. KO KO MO (Original) - Gene and Eunice with Jonesy’s Combo
2. YOU AND ME - Gene and Eunice with Jonesy’s Combo
3. KO KO MO (Remake) - Gene and Eunice with Johnny’s Combo
4. FLIM FLAM - Gene and Eunice with Johnny’s Combo
5. CAN WE FORGET IT - Gene and Eunice with Johnny’s Combo
6. MOVE IT OVER BABY - Gene and Eunice with Johnny’s Combo
7. THIS IS MY STORY - Gene and Eunice with Johnny’s Combo
8. HAVE YOU CHANGED YOUR MIND?
9. I GOTTA GO HOME
10. HOOTCHY KOOTCHY
11. I’LL NEVER BELIEVE IN YOU
12. LET’S GET TOGETHER
13. I’M SO IN LOVE WITH YOU
14. BOM BOM LULU
15. HI DIDDLE DIDDLE
16. STRANGE WORLD
17. THE VOW
18. DON’T TREAT ME THIS WAY
19. DOODLE DOODLE DOO
20. THE ANGELS GAVE YOU TO ME
21. I MEAN LOVE
22. POCO LOCO
23. GO ON KOKOMO
24. AH! AH!
25. YOU THINK I’M NOT THINKING
26. WITHOUT LOVE
27. YOU DRIVE ME BUGGY
28. ACHING AND CRYING - Gene Forrest
29. SEND ME SOMEONE - Eunice Levy with Jake Porter’s Combo
30. ONLY LOVERS - Eunice Levy with Jake Porter’s Combo