The group took its name from record producer Richie Rome, who added a T to the name; it originally consisted of three singers: Cassandra Ann Wooten and Gwendolyn Oliver (who eventually married musician Fred Wesley) of the girl group Honey & the Bees, and Cheryl Mason Jacks.
Morali remembered Wooten and Oliver had done some session work for him, and he called them a few years later when he wanted to form a group and the Ritchie Family was born.
[1] Cassandra Wooten and Nadine Felder from Honey & the Bees had done some background vocal work for Jacques Morali a couple of years prior and he contacted them as he wanted them to perform live as the Ritchie Family.
With Wotton's former Honey & the Bee's bandmate, Gwendolyn Oliver they were looking to do background vocal music and started practicing for a few weeks until Wooten got a call back from Morali.
Described in the book Saturday Night Forever: The Story of Disco by Alan Jones and Jussi Kantonen as magnificent from start to finish, Arabian Knights has a travelogue type of theme to it.
It had a Hollywood feel with lively percussion, disco glamour and uncharacteristic male voices helping with the vocal chanting.
[6] Phil Hurtt who had co-produced Honey & the Bees material with Bunny Sigler had a good understanding of what qualities the vocalists could bring to the group.
With their individual style he knew what they would be like together with Gwendolyn's sweet tone, Cassandra's soul and earthiness and Cheryl's more powerful vocals and embodiment of those two other qualities.
With the rhythm backing by the group Gypsy Lane the album had a bit more of the driving Euro type snare drum beat to it than the lush Ritchie sound of the previous releases.
[6] In July 1977, it was announced in Billboard that TK Productions was embarking on a massive campaign for the group's African Queens album.
Gwendolyn Oliver stepped away from performing and Cassandra Wooten and Cheryl Mason-Jacks later teamed up with Michelle Simpson and formed CasMiJac.
The group abandoned the exotic and highly kitsch costumes of their earlier incarnation in favour of a more contemporary, sexually provocative style.
For the next album, Bad Reputation, they brought in Victor Willis (original lead singer of Village People) joining Jacques Morali in writing the material.
Continuing with album releases, the next was a markedly different partnership with Jacques Fred Petrus and Mauro Malavasi, the pair behind Change.
The film was a resounding failure and still appears on many critics' "worst ever" lists; however, the soundtrack album sold well in some parts of the world.
Cas Mijac is the name given to a background vocal group which was made up of Michelle Simpson, Cassandra Wooten and Cheryl Mason Jacks.
In 1980, Wooten, Mason-Jacks joined Michelle Simpson and sang background vocals on John Lennon's Double Fantasy album.
which appears on the Christian-themed Pacita's Friends album which also featured Lenora Davis, Carrie Lloyd and Roz Christian.
[15] Gwendolyn Oliver (married to musician Fred Wesley)[16] opted for the quiet life, was a committed Christian who was very involved in her church and held Bible study sessions.
[1] In July 2016, The Ritchie Family released a single "Ice" on Martha Wash's Purple Rose recording label.