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In December 1967,Phyllis moved to New York, Where she found employment in a bank. That could have been the end of her musical story but, luckily for us,it wasn't. For the next five years she led a double life: Bank Clerk in the USA, singing star in Jamaica. she regularly flew back to Kingston to record at Treasure Isle, and we can only assume that Duke peid paid her fare, although he apparently wasn't very forthcoming with actual cash. Certainly she rewarded him with a flow of high-quality singles; around this time, the producer paired her with various male singers to record a series of duets.
Some, like her version of Perry Como's 'Tulips and Heather', with that most easy-listening of Jamaican singers Boris Gardiner, are almost forgotten today. Others, such as her ballad treatment of the 1945 Dick Haymes smash, Love Letters', shared with Alton Ellis, are enduring classics. This one's a big production, with what sounds like the Treasure Isle Chorus & Strings in the background!
She's also accompanied by Alton on the liliting 'Remember That Sunday' and on 'Why Did You Leave Me', a 1962 hit for Vincent 'Ben Casey' Edwards. Ray charles' 'Right Track' finds her in the company of Mr. Take It Easy, Hopeton Lewis, as do 'Take My Heart', from the songbook of Fifties torch singer, Toni Arden, and a country song given a Caribbean flavour,George Jones' Walk Through This World'. It's strange, though, that she doesn't seem to have recorded with the best romantic singer Treasure Isle's book, John Holt.
As Rocksteady gave way to Reggae at the end of the Sixies, Phyllis continued her trips to Bond St. and laid down great sounds like our title track 'Love Is All I Had'. Duke Reid still excelled at finding suitable songs in unlikely places. 'One Life To Live One Love to Give', the title track of her only Treasure Isle LP, was originally called 'Living In Love', though those words never occur in the lyrics. A Teddy Randazzo song, it was waxed by the obscure but pleasantly-named Buttercup label, and lay dormant until Britain's Northern Soul scene later discovered it. Phyllis' version shows her artistry as she copes with some tricky chord changes to create a memorably assertive slice of Reggae.
