*Two, actually.
This brief biography will share long lists of iconic musicians and long lists of hit records impacted by the musical genius of Rhodes / Chalmers / Rhodes.
Brace yourself.
Let’s start in 1928, when Ethmer Cletus “Slim” Rhodes teamed with brothers Gilbert Ray (“Speck”), Perry Hilburn (“Dusty”) and sister Helen Beatrice (“Bea”) to form the rockabilly and country music group, the Log Cabin Mountaineers (the group was actually named by a Missouri state senator). Slim was M.C. and played guitar; Dusty played fiddle; Bea played fiddle, mandolin and accordion; Speck played the bass fiddle, banjo, and did comedy. They toured across the U.S., including the Mid-South Fair. Starting in 1939, “Slim Rhodes & The Mother’s Best Mountaineers” were heard live daily on Memphis television on WMCT (now known as WMC-TV Action News 5). Dusty Rhodes and his wife Garnett Arnold gave birth to two daughters, Sandy (in 1947) and Donna three years later.
Naturally, the sisters genetically inherited their family’s musical talent. Sandy Rhodes began as a songwriter, with her first success a minor hit in 1964 for Skeeter Davis, “How Much Can a Lonely Heart Stand.” The song was later recorded by Sandy and Donna as The Rhodes Sisters. In 1965 the pair began recording for RCA Records as The Lonesome Rhodes. They released five singles and one LP, “The Lonesome Rhodes (Sandy and Donna).”
The recordings were produced by Chet Atkins and Felton Jarvis. Chet Atkins had named the “The Lonesome Rhodes,” Sandy said, “We never could figure out why, because we weren’t ‘lonesome.’” The album contained several tracks written by Sandy Rhodes, together with songs by Bob Dylan, Tom Paxton and others.
In school, Donna earned a place on the homecoming court, but she missed the game and the dance because the sisters were performing at the Grand Ole Opry. However, while the sisters were raised by one of Memphis’ greatest families of country & western music, their voices, and their contacts, led them toward soul.
Now, it’s easy to see that “Rhodes” isn’t the only name among the three names being inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. There’s Charlie (Charles) Chalmers.
Charlie attended Southside High School where he learned to read music. His mother bought him a tenor saxophone as a graduation gift. He attended college classes at then Memphis State University, but dropped out for a good reason – to tour, as a teenager, with the great Jerry Lee Lewis! By age 19 Chalmers had toured with Jerry Lee and worked extensively with Sun Records artist Charlie Rich.
In 1966, he was asked to participate in a recording session at Muscle Shoals’ for Atlantic Records where he provided sax for Wilson Pickett’s “Mustang Sally” and “Land of 1,000 Dances.” After meeting Atlantic’s Jerry Wexler there, he was brought to Aretha Franklin’s session at the Shoals’ FAME Studios to track for her “I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You,” released in 1967. He also provided sax for Dusty Springfield’s 1968 hit “Son of a Preacher Man.”
Chalmers also met Sun Studios founder Sam Phillips. “Around that time, the recording scene in Memphis started happening,” said Chalmers. “I got to know Sam Phillips. He gave me a key to the studio and gave me an office over there.” Chalmers did the arrangement for James Carr’s soul hit, “Dark End of the Street,” with arrangements conducted at Phillips’ studio. Also in 1968, Rick Hall of Muscle Shoals’ FAME Studios produced Chalmers’ album “Sax & The Single Girl.”
Chalmers and his saxophone talents caught the attention of Bill Black, Elvis’ former bass player (and Bill Black Combo) who hired him for a session, as did Willie Mitchell. Chalmers played lead sax on Mitchell’s iconic instrumental “Soul Serenade” in 1968, and Chalmers became a regular at Royal Studios playing sax, arranging and singing back-up. One day, Mitchell was seeking some female background vocalists. Chalmers knew Sandy and Donna Rhodes, who were regularly performing and singing backup around Memphis and nationally.
So in 1969, not only had sisters Sandy and Donna Rhodes united with Charlie Chalmers to form the trio Rhodes / Chalmers / Rhodes, but Charlie and Sandy Rhodes had also united in marriage.
As a vocal trio, Rhodes / Chalmers / Rhodes recorded as backing singers on many recordings for Hi Records and elsewhere in Memphis during the 1970s, especially by R&B and soul musicians such as Al Green, Ann Peebles, Syl Johnson, Millie Jackson, Candi Staton, Clarence Carter, O V Wright, and others. They sang backup for Green’s “Let’s Stay Together,” “I’m So Tired of Being Alone,” and others.
In 1972, Sandra scored a solo deal with Fantasy Records, and released her first solo album, Where’s Your Love Been, which she co-produced with Chalmers. The Rhodes sisters also provided backup vocals on hits at Memphis’ American Sound Studio, including “Hooked on a Feeling,” by B.J. Thomas.
After Rhodes / Chalmers / Rhodes sang on Paul Anka’s hit “(You’re) Having My Baby” in 1974, they performed live dates with Anka in Las Vegas for three years at Caesar’s Palace. Chalmers located a studio in Las Vegas, where they sang back up on a Frank Sinatra session. After working for several years in Vegas, the trio were invited to Miami to do some sessions at Criteria Studios. For the next few years, they recorded with artists including Andy Gibb, The Bee Gees, Fire Fall, Harry Chapin, John Mellencamp and K. C. and the Sunshine Band.
As Rhodes / Chalmers / Rhodes, they released an album of their own, Scandal, in 1980, and had minor hits in the U.S. with the songs “Scandal” and “Give It to You.” Along with Wayne Carson, the trio wrote Conway Twitty’s 1981 hit, “The Clown,” and in 2003, they backed Al Green on his album “I Can’t Stop.” Throughout their careers they recorded albums and singles separately, as sisters, and as a trio:
Donna Rhodes, “I See Love,” 1968, Epic Records;
Sandy Rhodes, “Where’s Your Love Been,” 1972, Fantasy Records;
Charles, Chalmers, “White Dove,” 1967, XL Records;
“How Much Can a Lonely Heart Stand,” 1964, Penthouse Records;
RCR, “Just Someone You Had,” 1975, Warner Brothers Records.
In 1989, Mel Tillis asked Chalmers to work with him at his new theater in the exploding music and tourism market of Branson, Missouri. Two years later, Chalmers built his own recording studio in Branson, where he now resides. Through his career, he’s also worked with Isaac Hayes, Boz Scaggs, Etta James (“I’d Rather Be Blind,” “Security is What I Want”… used by Google in 2022), Delbert McClinton, Andy Gibb, KC & The Sunshine Band, Clarence Carter, The Oak Ridge Boys and others. He worked with Stax Records’ Al Bell and arranged songs for The Staple Singers at the Muscle Shoals studio. After his first Aretha recording, Chalmers went on to arrange the horns and played sax on many other Aretha Franklin songs, including “I Ain’t Never Loved A Man,” “Respect,” “Do Right Woman,” “Chain of Fools,” and “Dr. Feel Good.”
Sandy and Donna Rhodes have continued to perform, with family members and others, including adopted sister Brenda Bear Barnett, as The Rhodes Show.
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