The Cake

Infobox musical artist |
Name = The Cake


Img_capt = The Cake
Background = group_or_band
Origin = New York City, United States
Genre = Baroque pop Psychedelic pop R&B Girl group
Years_active = 1966 – 1968, 2006 –
Label = Decca
URL =
Current_members = Jeanette Jacobs Barbara Morillo Eleanor Barooshian (Chelsea Lee)

The Cake are a 60s girl group made up of Jeanette Jacobs (1950-1980), Barbara Morillo and Eleanor Barooshian. They were managed and produced by Greene & Stone, two Sunset Strip impresarios who also managed Sonny & Cher, Buffalo Springfield and Iron Butterfly.

History

The Cake formed in New York in 1966, starting out as an a cappella vocal group singing at Steve Paul's The Scene. Barooshian and Morillo both appeared in You Are What You Eat, a 1967 documentary film produced by Peter Yarrow of folk group Peter, Paul & Mary. In the film, Barooshian performed the Sonny & Cher hit I Got You Babe with Tiny Tim. She sung the male part while Tiny sung the female.

What set The Cake apart from other girl groups of the time is that they recorded their own material as well as a number of R&B standards. Their own songs were in the vein of 60s baroque pop with intricate madrigal-style vocal harmonies. They released just two albums on Decca Records, The Cake (1967) and A Slice Of Cake (1968). Both were recorded at the famed Gold Star Recording Studios in Los Angeles.

Their debut single was the Jack Nitzsche/Jackie De Shannon song 'Baby, That's Me' (previously recorded by Lesley Gore for her 1965 album 'My Town, My Guy and Me'). The production of the song, which was arranged by Harold Battiste, aped the Wall of Sound technique created by Nitzsche and Phil Spector. Battiste arranged all the music for the group's two Decca albums.

The Cake also contributed back-up vocals to Why Are We Sleeping?, the closing track on 'The Soft Machine, the 1968 debut album by the British psychedelic rock band of the same name.

Following the break-up of The Cake in 1968, Jacobs and Barooshian toured with Dr John, who was one of the session players on their albums, and subsequently moved to the UK where they became part of Ginger Baker's Air Force. Barooshian also recorded an LP in Japan with The Faces and Free bassist, Tetsu Yamauchi.

Jeanette Jacobs married Chris Wood of the English group Traffic in 1969. Jeanette Jacobs Wood died in 1980, aged 30.

In 2006, after a 37-year hiatus, Chelsea Lee (Barooshian) and Barbara Morillo reformed The Cake to perform at a one-off Jimi Hendrix tribute concert in New York City, organised by Hendrix archivist and documentary film-maker, David J. Kramer. The show also featured Buddy Miles, Johnny Winter and Jose Feliciano. Their two Decca Records albums have been re-released on CD for the first time by Rev-Ola Records.

Discography

Albums

*"The Cake" (Decca, 1967)
*"A Slice Of Cake" (Decca, 1968)

ingles

*"Baby, That's Me/Mockingbird" (Decca, 1967)
*"I Know/You Can Have Him" (Decca, 1967)
*"Fire Fly/Rainbow Wood" (Decca, 1968)
*"P.T. 280/Have You Heard The News 'bout Miss Molly" (Decca, 1968)

External links

*myspace|thecakebabythatsme|The Cake
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKEv1CJWJyg Performing 'You can Have Him' on the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, August 1967]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9fibYnDcy4 Performing on the 1967 Popendipity TV special]
* [http://www.cherryred.co.uk/revola/artists/cake.htm Revola Records page for The Cake]