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,
Chris Ballard (politician) Chris Ballard (politician) Chris Ballard is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 2014 to 2018 who represented the riding of Newmarket—Aurora. He was a member of cabinet in the government of Kathleen Wynne. Ballard was a journalist with the "Newmarket Era", the "Aurora Banner", the "Orillia Packet and Times", Canadian Press and the "Toronto Star". He has run his own business consultancy firm CSB Communications with clients in the business, education, association sectors in Ontario. He was also the Executive Director for a consumers advocacy group. He lives