Not to be confused with the soft pop group best known for its hit rendition of Guantanamera, this particular Sandpipers was instead an all-female, blue-eyed soul vocal trio from Pensacola, FL, backed by a then-unknown Duane and Gregg Allman. Comprised of sisters Debbie and Charlyne Kilpatrick and Sally Hurst, the Sandpipers formed in 1965. According to Jeff Lemlich's profile in issue 43 of Soul Up North magazine, the teenaged group soon made its debut at the Pensacola Municipal Auditorium, clad in matching ensembles sewn by the Kilpatricks' dressmaker mother. A local DJ caught their performance and installed the trio at Pensacola's Sahara Club, where they befriended house band the Allman Joys -- the Allman brothers even briefly moved into the Kilpatrick home. The Sandpipers eventually followed the Allman Joys to New York City, where the latter auditioned for Columbia producer Bob Johnston. The Sandpipers impressed Johnston even more, however, and he invited them to return for a formal audition two weeks later.

In the interim, however, they signed to the short-lived Tru-Glo-Town label, with co-owner Ed Townsend writing their 1966 debut single, All Over But the Crying. The record was a hit back home in Pensacola but failed to generate national interest, and in early 1967 the Sandpipers self-released the follow-up, a rendition of the Young Rascals' Love Is a Beautiful Thing. Hurst left the lineup soon after, and the Kilpatrick sisters recruited Shirley Paris, with whom Charlyne also collaborated in a side project called Double Image that traveled to the legendary Muscle Shoals Studios to record a version of Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham's The Power of Love for the Amy label. When Paris also exited, a third Kilpatrick sister, Kay, completed the lineup. The success of the other Sandpipers soon forced the siblings to rename their group the Daisies, however, and within months the sisters called it quits. In mid-2003, the original lineup reunited for the first time in over 35 years, performing in front of a hometown crowd in excess of 10,000. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi