Reparata & The Delrons were an American girl group in the sixties, best known for their 1965 recording, ‘Whenever A Teenager Cries’.
In 1969, in spite of fairly great success with singles such as ‘Tommy’ and ‘Captain Of Your Ship’, lead singer Mary ‘Reparata’ Aiese O’Leary decided to leave the group to concentrate on family life and a career as a schoolteacher.
This didn’t stop her from making music though, and while The Delrons continued as a group without her, Mary stuck with the name Reparata (her confirmation name which she had taken from one of her favourite teachers) and released a string of new singles, well into the mid- seventies, all produced by Steve and Bill Jerome, who had worked on her former group’s records since 1964.
‘Jesabee Lancer (The Belly Dancer)’ became Reparata’s final solo single, released only in the UK in 1976.
It was written by Eric Beam, who also wrote her previous single, the now cult classic, ‘Shoes’.
Released on Polydor, ‘Jesabee Lancer (The Belly Dancer)’, like ‘Shoes’, is an Eric Beam composition originally recorded by his group, Felix Harp, in the early 1970s. Like its predecessor, it has a Middle Eastern or Turkish pop sound, which echoes the song’s lyrics about a belly dancer.
Sadly, the record did not make the UK singles charts, and quietly slipped into history’s forgotten corners.
Words: Anders Knudsen