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,
Edward Ballard Admitted a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Fellow of the Royal Society, Ballard is best known for his work as the Medical Officer for Health at the Local Government Board, a position in which he wrote numerous reports on the unsanitary conditions in which the masses of Victorian England lived. In 1846, Ballard married Julia Hannah Huggons. They had three sons and two daughters. He died in 1897 at High Barnett, London. Ballard published several books and reports during his career. The most important of these are: Edward Ballard Edward Ballard (15 April 1820 – 19 January