Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 24, 1993 TAG: 9308250090
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MARK MORRISON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
First, there was Francine Hurd, the original Peaches. She was gone by 1970, became a housewife in Washington, D.C.
Then there was the most famous of the Peaches, Linda Greene, half of the team who scored big with "Reunited" and "Shake Your Groove Thing" in the age of disco.
She's in Los Angeles, reportedly singing gospel.
Now, there is Patrice Hawthorne, the latest Peaches, hoping to duplicate the success of her predecessors.
While all along, there has been the same steady Herb.
The new Peaches and Herb will play Valleypointe After Hours on Thursday.
Herb was born Herb Feemster, but calls himself Herb Fame. He is the original Herb, the present Herb, probably the future Herb, too.
He is also a U.S. marshal.
There is more to life than Peaches and music, Fame explained in a telephone interview from Washington, D.C., where he is a guard for the U.S. District Court.
"I won't let it control me," he said of his Peaches and Herb work. So, every so often, he quits, lays low in his native Washington for a few years and gets a regular job.
"Just to get myself together from the travel and hustle and bustle," he said.
His car radio stays tuned to the talk stations and away from music altogether.
He gets to know his wife of 30 years again and their three children. (Contrary to popular myth, Herb and the various Peaches have never been couples off the stage.)
He looks after his business interests. Most recently, he has had a hand in a Washington nightclub and a family run beauty shop.
And for the last four years, he has worked as a marshal for the federal courts.
"My family thinks I'm a workaholic. I love working," he said.
Fame doesn't necessarily need to work. With Peaches and Herb, money has never really been a problem over the years.
But there's nothing wrong with making more, he says.
"No matter how much money Pepsi-Cola has, they keep making Pepsi."
This isn't the first time Fame has dropped out of sight to regroup - only to later stage a comeback.
Back in 1970, halfway on a lark, he took the police exam in Washington, and passed.
This was after he already had been through his first Peaches - Hurd - and long before his "Reunited" heyday.
Originally, Peaches and Herb came together when record producer, Van McCoy, in 1964, teamed a young soul singer, Fame, with Hurd, who was fronting a singing group called The Sweet Things.
Hurd's nickname was Peaches, by the way.
Together, McCoy's new duo released a pair of albums, "Let's Fall in Love" and "For Your Love," and several singles that all did well enough to earn Peaches and Herb the title of The Sweethearts of Soul.
But in 1970, Herb went into law enforcement.
His first comeback didn't come for six years, when he teamed with Linda Greene.
McCoy, who went on to produce the disco standard, "The Hustle," signed on to produce their first record. But it flopped.
A follow-up, however, produced by Freddie Perren, became a smash in 1978 behind the success of "Shake Your Groove Thing" and "Reunited."
The "Reunited" Peaches and Herb had run its course for Herb by the mid-1980s, and again, he retreated home to Washington.
As a marshal, Fame said fans recognize him all the time. Sometimes, he will deny that he is the Herb. "Just to throw them off," he explained.
More often, he said his celebrity works to his advantage in dealing with prisoners. "That helps to ease some of the pain sometimes because we can talk about that."
At 51, he said starting over again in the music business is tough. "There are new people in the seats, so you have to sell yourself new every time."
He hooked up with Patrice Hawthorne a year ago, after spotting her in a talent contest in Philadelphia where she lives.
Fame won't, of course, rank her against the other two Peaches, but he is hopeful of their success. A new album is planned for this fall, with Freddie Perren again behind the controls.
With its release, Fame said he will quit his marshal's job and concentrate on music full time.
For how long, who knows? He said he won't hesitate to return again to law enforcement - when the time is right.
"There are always jobs," he said.
Peaches and Herb in concert Thursday, 6-8:30 p.m., Valleypointe Corporate Center. $3. 362-1656. Summary: From the where-are-they-now file, Peaches and Herb reunite for a third time around.
Keywords:
PROFILE
by CNB