The Elgins were an American vocal group on the Motown label, active from the late 1950s to 1967. Founding members Robert Fleming, Norbert McClean, and Johnny Dawson recorded prior to their Motown days as The Sensations, The Five Emeralds, and The Downbeats before adding Saundra Edwards (Mallett) and adopting the name «The Elgins» in 1964.
With Edwards on lead vocals, the group recorded several singles for Motown from 1965 to 1967, including the hits «Darling Baby» (1965) and «Heaven Must Have Sent You» (1966) (which became a Motown hit for singer Bonnie Pointer on September 1, 1979), both written and produced by Motown’s main production team, Holland-Dozier-Holland.
The group disbanded in 1968, by which time Edwards had been replaced by Yvonne Allen, although its members periodically recorded covers of its hits for Ian Levine’s Motorcity Records record label in the UK. Recordings of the group, including the album, Darling Baby, all the singles and unreleased recordings up to 1968, can be found on The Motown Anthology released in 2007, as well as a British import CD which pairs their sole album for Motown with one by The Monitors, another group that recorded for Motown with limited success that featured future Temptation, Richard Street.
