Rosalind Ashford helped the group to distinguish themselves from the other girl groups in the label including the pop-oriented Marvelettes and the doo-wop-influenced Supremes with a rougher, brassier gospel-influenced sound. Reeves was a brassy alto while Annette was a deep contralto, and Rosalind was a high soprano. Like the Supremes' Florence Ballard, the Marvelettes' Wanda Rogers and The Four Tops' Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Ashford registered as the high background vocal in Vandellas records. After "Quicksand" gave the group a third top forty pop hit, Beard left to start a family with her new spouse. Reeves recruited a former member of The Velvelettes,
Harold Ballard in the early 1930s, when the Canadian skate market was dominated by CCM). Harold attended Upper Canada College as a boarding student until dropping out in his third year in 1919. Ballard became a fan of speed skating and would attend skating events and hockey games, helping to promote the Ballard skates. For the 1928 Winter Olympics in St. Moritz, Switzerland, Ballard was appointed assistant manager of the Varsity Grads team that won the hockey gold medal. As a member of the National Yacht Club, Ballard became an avid racer of Sea Fleas, small outboard hydroplanes. He competed in several