The Du-Ettes

The Du-Ettes -- Barbara Livsey (a.k.a. Barbara Bates) and Mary Francis Hayes -- were two Chicago teens that recorded for the George Leaner family of labels. Duettes recordings appeared on M-Pac, One-derful, and Mar-V-Lus Records, with Otha "Otis" Hayes, Andre Williams, Verlie Rice, Monk Higgins, and others supplying the material. Despite magnetism and solid sounds they never enjoyed a chart record, although "Every Beat of My Heart" charted on stations in Chicago, Cleveland, and Baltimore.

Their recording career began with "Mister Steel" in 1963, followed by "Move on Down the Line" and "I'm Gonna Love You" in 1964 -- all on M-Pac. Leaner switched them to the One-derful label for "Lonely Days," with "Please Forgive Me," riding shotgun; a final single, "Every Beat of My Heart"/"Sugar Daddy," was issued by Mar-V-Lus Records in March 1965. "Lonely Days" appeared a second time on Lost Nite Records in 1965 but didn't do any better than the previous attempt. No more Du-Ettes recordings were released, though Barbara Livsey-Bates surfaced in 1970 as Barbara & the Uniques.