The Palace Blue Room in Rahway, owned by Paul Farano, held weekly amateur talent contests.

Reaves and the band toured the east coast, playing jazz and rock and roll at the Stork Club in New York City, the Peppermint Lounge in Boston, Zacks in Falmouth MA, and many other venues.

"[5] In 1955, Morty Shad of Harlem Records[6] saw Reaves perform in a New York club and signed her to record a single: "You Can't Stay Here (Step It Up And Go)", a rock and roll song, and "I'm Not Ashamed (Ugly Woman)", a blues song in which the narrator admits to being ugly but suggests that other, unnamed, qualities make up for that.

The backup group was the Concords,[1] which consisted of Milton Love (who later became the lead singer for the Solitaires), Joe Willis, Bob Thompson, and Jimmy Hunter.

The reviewer was more impressed with "You Can't Be Here", writing, "Jump blues is taken for a wild ride in this infectious reading by the warbler.

[8] The couple started their own record label, Pearlsfar, and over the next two decades, in addition to performing live at local nightclubs,[9] released several singles as Pearl Reaves and the Farano Trio.

[3] Although Reaves recorded only a handful of singles, they span four decades and several genres including R&B, rock and roll, soul, funk and gospel.