(The Best Part of) Breakin' Up
However, according to Ronnie Spector, the group's lead singer, producer Phil Spector had already begun to somewhat lose enthusiasm for the Ronettes in early 1964. The group had recorded the Phil Spector, Jeff Barry, and Ellie Greenwich song "Chapel of Love" in early 1964, but Spector refused to release it. "It doesn't sound like a hit," he told the group, so The Dixie Cups recorded their version of the song, which peaked at number one on the Billboard top 100, a position never held by the Ronettes.
Col Loughnan
The Soulmates were a house band at the Coogee Bay Hotel, owned by Mrs. Munro, a widow who was known to have a favourite saying: "It's permanent, you know!". By October 1967, Loughnan had joined the band, not as a vocalist, but as a saxophonist. In his book "Behind the Rock and Beyond", Leon Isackson describes the band's reaction: "everybody remembered [Loughnan] as the lead singer [of] the Delltones ... [and] here he was blowing us all away with the saxophone!" At that time, The Soulmates were led by guitarist, Jimmy Doyle along with Les Young on bass, Brian Myers on piano, Loughnan, and, shortly thereafter they were joined by drummer, Isackson. Loughnan and Doyle were to become lifelong friends, as well as working together from time to time over several decades.