The Dixie Cups

The Dixie Cups, originally called The Meltones, were an American pop girl group from the 1960s. They are famous for hits like "Chapel of Love," "People Say," and "Iko Iko." The group was made up of sisters Barbara Ann and Rosa Lee Hawkins, along with their cousin Joan Marie Johnson, all from New Orleans. They started singing together in elementary school. Before their first release, they were almost named Little Miss and the Muffets, but ended up as the Dixie Cups.

In 1963, the trio decided to go professional and performed locally as the Meltones. Within a year, singer Joe Jones, known for his 1960 hit "You Talk Too Much," became their manager. After five months, he took them to New York City, where producers Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller signed them to their new label, Red Bird Records. Their first single, "Chapel of Love," became their biggest success, hitting number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1964.

It sold over a million copies and earned a gold disc. The song later appeared in the 1987 film "Full Metal Jacket" and the 1991 film "Father of the Bride," and Rolling Stone ranked it number 279 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The group also had other hits: "People Say" reached number 12 in 1964, "You Should Have Seen the Way He Looked at Me" reached number 39 that same year, "Little Bell" hit number 51 in 1965, and "Iko Iko" peaked at number 20 in 1965.

"Iko Iko" was a traditional New Orleans song that the group recorded in 1964 but released as a single in early 1965. Barbara Hawkins had heard her grandmother sing it; it was first recorded in 1953 as "Jock-a-Mo" by James "Sugar Boy" Crawford. Barbara said they were just messing around with it during a session, using drumsticks on ashtrays, and did not realize the tapes were rolling. Leiber and Stoller added a bassline and percussion before releasing it. It became the group's fifth and final hit.

In 1965, the Dixie Cups moved to ABC-Paramount Records, but their careers paused in 1966. In 1974, the Hawkins sisters left New York for New Orleans, where they both had successful modeling careers and worked as makeup artists. Joan Johnson retired from the group because she could not handle the stress of touring. The Dixie Cups kept performing as a trio with Beverly Brown, a New Orleans singer who had released two solo singles in the early 1960s, replacing Johnson, who became a Jehovah's Witness and left music. Brown stayed until the early 1980s, when illness forced her out, and Dale Mickle took her place. The group continues to perform and make appearances. The current lineup includes the Hawkins sisters (until Rosa Lee's death in 2022) and Athelgra Neville, sister of the Neville Brothers.

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina flooded much of New Orleans, forcing Barbara and Rosa Hawkins to relocate to Florida. Joan Johnson moved to Texas. In April 2007, the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame inducted the Dixie Cups for their contributions to Louisiana music. Joan Marie Johnson died of congestive heart failure in New Orleans on October 3, 2016, at age 72. Rosa Lee Hawkins died from surgical complications on January 11, 2022, at age 76.