Peaches & Herb had quite a task on their hands to follow “Reunited.” The smash-hit ballad spent four weeks at the top of both the pop and R&B charts in the spring of 1979. Following the disco hit “Shake Your Groove Thing,” which went Top 5 in both formats, it was a remarkable revival for a name that had figured on the soul charts between 1966 and 1970.
In that first incarnation, Herb Fame was joined by Francine “Peaches” Barker, with Marlene Mack filling in for her in 1968 and ’69. During that period, the group had a soul hit with “United,” the inspiration for the comeback hit. The new “Peaches” in the second line-up was Linda Green, and the duo’s latest singles were featured on the 2 Hot album. That itself emphasised their commercial power of the time by topping the R&B listings from March 1979, for eight non-consecutive weeks.
The song chosen to follow “Reunited” was “We’ve Got Love,” written like its predecessors, and the entire album, by top disco-era operatives Dino Fekaris and Freddie Perren. An archetypal slice of dancefloor soul, it entered the R&B chart on July 14, 1979, at No.71. It was the week that Peaches & Herb performed at Billboard‘s International Disco Forum VI in New York. But this time, success was far more modest. The single stopped at No.25, and at No.44 on the pop side.
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The 2Hot album achieved platinum status in the US, and was swiftly followed by Peaches & Herb’s next long-player, Twice The Fire, which hit the charts in November of their golden year of 1979. Indeed, it did go gold, and took them into the Top 30 of the R&B chart for a final time with “Roller-Skatin’ Mate.” Three further soul Top 40 singles followed on Polydor before the duo switched to Columbia, where they had one last chart entry with “Remember” in 1983.
Buy or stream “We’ve Got Love” on 2Hot.
