Patty and the Emblems

Soul group Patty & the Emblems formed in Camden, NJ, around lead singer Pat Russell. The Emblems were Eddie Watts, Vance Walker, and Alexander Wildes. The group scored their lone Top 40 hit in 1964 on the Herald record label with Mixed-Up, Shook-Up Girl, composed by Camden native Leon Huff. The song reached Number 37 on the Billboard Chart.

Session pianist Leon Huff became half of a seminal R&B songwriting and production team when he teamed with Kenny Gamble in 1965. Huff played on sessions for Phil Spector, the Ronettes, and Carole King in New York City before moving to Philadelphia. He formed the Locomotions, and did sessions for Cameo and Swan. Huff performed on the song “The 81,” which was co-written by Kenny Gamble, who was at the session seeing the tune being recorded by Candy & the Kisses. Huff earned his first hit as a composer writing “Mixed-Up Shook-Up Girl” in 1964. Their 1967 release I'm Gonna Love You a Long, Long Time, while not a hit at the time, became popular in England in the 1980s on the Northern soul scene.

Patty Russell left music. She married and was living in Willingboro before passing away in the mid 1990s.

Patty & the Emblems were the contemporaries of acts like the Sapphires, and just as distinctive. Pat Russell was a soul belter on a par with any woman who ever stepped up to a microphone for Motown (check out her performance on “What's the Use”), and the Emblems could harmonize as sweetly as the Miracles. What's more, they had access to the songwriting talents of Leon Huff, who got them their one big hit (“Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl”) and brought them a lot of other worthy material (“Showdown,” which sounds a bit like “Heat Wave”; “You Can't Get Away,” “The Sound of Music Makes Me Want to Dance,” which sounds a bit like “Dancing In the Streets”), usually with clever hooks. Listening to the 20 sides here, it's impossible to fathom why they didn't last. Even where the songs weren't exactly first-rate, the group's style and Russell's voice were capable of carrying the material and making something special out of it. Their sound was not only sweet but bold; Russell projected angst in portions ranging from a trickle to a torrent of emotion, as well as a sultriness that would manifest itself at the strangest, most striking times. The rest of the group were impeccable in their singing, and the backing band always has a great beat and a good, heavy sound — even augmented with strings — that should have made the group a natural for radio play and discotheques. The collection is awesome throughout, and there isn't a bad song here, with the very best, the soaring “I'm So Confused,” saved for last. And the sound is superb, one of the best CDs that Collectables has ever issued.

— Bruce Eder, All Music Guide

by Leon Huff

She's a mixed-up shook-up girl yes she is
She's a mixed-up shook-up girl yes she is

Am I crying because I'm happy
Or am I crying because I'm blue without you
My heart has blown away
Now you've gone and gone away
I'm a mixed-up shook-up girl over you
Am I crying because you left me
Or am I crying because I don't know what to do
One day you said you'd never part
Am I sad or am I glad
I'm a mixed-up shook-up girl over you

INSTRUMENTAL INTERLUDE

One day you said you'd never part
Am I sad or am I glad
I'm a mixed-up shook-up girl over you
Oh yeah I'm a mixed-up shook-up girl over you
Yeah I'm a mixed-up shook-up girl over you.

Singles:

Herald 590 — Mixed-Up, Shook-Up, Girl / Ordinary Guy — 1964
Herald 593 — The Sound Of Music Makes Me Want To Dance / You Took Advantage Of A Good Thing — 1964
Herald 595 — And We Danced / You Can't Get Away From Me — 1964
Sphere Sound ? — Mixed-Up, Shook-Up, Girl / Ordinary Guy — 1964
Congress 263 — Easy Come, Easy Go / It's The Little Things — 1966
Kapp 791 — Let Him Go Little Heart / Try It, You Won't Forget It — 1966
Kapp 850 — Please Don't Ever Leave Me / All My Tomorrows Are Gone — 1967
Kapp 870 — I'll Cry Later / One Man Woman — 1967
Kapp 897 — I'm Gonna Love You A Long, Long Time / My Heart's So Full Of You — 1968

Compact Disc: Patty & the Emblems — Golden Classics
Released in 1997 on the Collectables label