For a short time, Rare Silk looked as if it was going to be a significant jazz vocal group. Rare Silk, which consisted of Gaile Gillaspie, Marylynn Gillaspie, Todd Buffa and Marguerite Juenemann (replaced by Barbara Reeves), started out as a swing-oriented group in the vein of The Pied Pipers and (even with the inclusion of a male member) The Andrews Sisters. They appeared with Benny Goodman at the 1980 Playboy Jazz Festival. During the next few years, the ensemble modernized their style to include both bop and funkier material, recording for Polydor (1982) and Palo Alto (1985-86); most notable were their versions of "New York Afternoon," "Red Clay" and "Spain." However, Rare Silk never really did catch on and they eventually broke up.

Rare Silk was formed in 1979, and after 9 years of music in the eighties, the band was finally disbanded in 1988. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.