The Elgins - Heaven Must Have Sent You

When I managed to track down the Elgins to record for Motorcity, and get them to reunite again after so many years, the project I most wanted to do was to get them to re-record "Heaven Must Have Sent You", but in the style of Bonnie Pointer's wonderful disco classic of 1979. So this was the first project we did together. I always loved The Elgins. Along with The Velvelettes they were one of my favourite Motown groups. They were originally The Downbeats in 1962, with the three guys, Johnny Dawson, Norman McLean, and Duke Miller. They added a girl lead singer in 1965, Saundra Edwards, and recorded such classics as "Heaven Must Have Sent You" and "Put Yourself In My Place". In 1968 Saundra left and Yvonne Allen joined Motown and took over as lead singer. She recorded tons of stuff at Motown but they never released any more Elgins records. In 1972, "Heaven Must Have Sent You" was reissued in England and became a huge hit, and the group appeared at The Torch allnighter in Stoke On Trent, where I was DJing. I met all four of them, Yvonne, Johnny, Norman, and Duke. So then, seventeen years later, in 1989, I persuaded them to reform for my Motorcity project. Duke had died, so Johnny brought in Jimmy Charles, and together with Norman and Yvonne, The Elgins had a whole new lease of life. And now, in 2007, they're about to return to England for the first time in sixteen years, to appear at a big Northern Soul Weekender in Northampton. And long may they continue, always smart, sharp, and timeless.