Maggie Roche of The Roches sister vocal trio dies at 65
The Roches, group portrait, Waagtheater, Delft, Netherlands, 30th May 1980. L-R Suzzy Roche, Maggie Roche and Terre Roche.
New Jersey girls from Park Ridge, NJ. Havng a few of their albums I will always have a smile when I think of them. They are soooo good. The sisters got a break when Paul Simon brought them in as backup singers on his 1973 #2 album There Goes Rhymin' Simon. They got his assistance (along with an appearance by The Oak Ridge Boys) on their only album as a duo, Seductive Reasoning (1975). Shortly after that, youngest sister Suzzy (rhymes with "fuzzy", born September 29, 1956 joined the group to form The Roches trio.
Around this time, they parlayed bartending jobs at famous Greenwich Village folk venue Gerde's Folk City into stage appearances, an experience they commemorated in their song, "Face Down at Folk City" (from Another World, 1985). It was here that they met many of their future singing and songwriting collaborators. Terre was now writing songs as well, and by the time of their first album as a trio, The Roches (1979), Suzzy had also begun writing. Robert Fripp produced the album. Maggie's "The Married Men" from this album was eventually to become the biggest hit of the songwriting trio — not for them, but for Phoebe Snow.
After Snow and Linda Ronstadt performed the song in a duet on Saturday Night Live, the Roches were invited themselves to perform on the show a few months later in 1979 at the behest of Paul Simon. They did two songs, both unreleased at the time, "Bobby's Song" and "The Hallelujah Chorus".
NEW YORK (AP) — Maggie Roche, the folk-rock singer-songwriter who since the mid-1970s had performed and recorded as a trio and in pairs with her two sisters, has died.
Roche died of cancer, according to a statement posted online Saturday by her sister and bandmate Suzzy Roche. She was 65.
Growing up in Park Ridge, New Jersey, eldest sister Maggie formed a duo with middle sister Terre, and while touring, they caught the attention of Paul Simon, who brought them in as backup singers for his hit 1973 album, "There Goes Rhymin' Simon."
In 1975, they released an album of their own. Shortly after that, youngest sister Suzzy joined to form The Roches trio. The voices of this threesome blended majestically, with Maggie's rich contralto balanced by Terre's soprano and Suzzy filling in the mid-range.
They played Greenwich Village folk venues and, in 1979, released the well-received "The Roches," the first of their dozen albums as a trio, and were booked on "Saturday Night Live."
With "We," the first song of that debut album, they charmingly introduced themselves, with acoustic guitar backup, to the listening world:
"We are Maggie and Terre and Suzzy. /
"Maggie and Terre and Suzzy Roche. /
"We don't give out our ages, and we don't give out our phone numbers. /
"Sometimes our voices give out. But not our ages and our phone numbers. / .
"And as a point of interest, we spell our name R-O-C-H-E."
Their final studio album, "Moonswept," would be released in 2007. Maggie also recorded albums as a duo with sister Suzzy.
Maggie and her sisters would never be a big draw or huge sellers. But their unique sound and sensibility, plus their endearing quirkiness, was cherished by a devoted following over the decades.
The statement from Suzzy Roche, who, with Terre, survives her, describes their "dear, beautiful sister Maggie" as "a private person, too sensitive and shy for this world, but brimming with life, love and talent . a brilliant songwriter, with a distinct unique perspective, all heart and soul."
Rick A.
