Ebonystic
Ebonystic hailed from Aiken, SC and were led by Lester Smalls. The group had some members from nearby Augusta, GA and this lovely ballad came from the Peach state. Married To One In Love With Another is beautifully sung with Smalls’ heartfelt lead particularly impressive. The small group backing is reinforced with some heavyweight horns as Smalls ratchets up the emotional tension. Pretty soon after this 45 came out, the group changed its name to Hearts Of Fire and there are copies of the disc with the new name inked in and Ebonystic scored out. Sadly the discs that Hearts Of Fire went on to make in their own name are not a patch on this one.
Smalls is now working in the gospel field and you can read more about his life and career on this website here.
Discography
As EBONYSTIC
Married to one in love with another / Ain’t it good to you ~ SCREAM 101 (1974)
As HEARTS OF FIRE
Indian hustle / Body rhythm ~ HEARTFIRE no# (1977)
I want to dance with you / Inst ~ DIT DOT 5730/ HEARTS OF FIRE 1151 (1979)
Let’s party all night / Inst ~ LSR 188 (1984)
Thanks to the doyen of Carolina soul Jason Perlmutter and to bob Abrahamian for disocgraphical info..