Rochelle Fleming’s voice reached two generations of dance floors through the same song. First Choice recorded “Let No Man Put Asunder” for its 1977 album Delusions. Years later, DJs turned it into a house staple, and Frankie Knuckles made it the first record he remixed. Fleming, a founding member and lead singer of the Philadelphia group, died Nov. 5 in Philadelphia at 72, her manager said in a statement reported by FOX Local on behalf of her family. BMG, which represents part of the group’s catalog through Salsoul, confirmed her death in a tribute.
The record’s long life can make First Choice sound like a group that started in the clubs. Its first hit came earlier, when Fleming and her school friends were making Philadelphia soul records with the directness of a three-minute single. The band’s catalog offers a way to hear how those singles grew into records that DJs could stretch across a dance floor.
The Philadelphia singles
Start with “Armed and Extremely Dangerous,” the 1973 breakthrough. Its title sounds like a police bulletin, and the song uses that premise to describe a man who breaks hearts. Fleming delivers it with the urgency the conceit asks for. “Smarty Pants,” another early single, has a lighter touch, while “The Player” returns to the subject of a man whose charm comes with a warning. The UK’s Official Charts archive puts the early singles alongside the dance releases that came later.
BMG traces the group’s move to Gold Mind, a label associated with Salsoul, to its work with producer Norman Harris. The 1977 album Delusions contains both “Doctor Love” and “Let No Man Put Asunder.” Putting the tracks next to each other makes it easier to hear what Fleming brought to the group. “Doctor Love” has the rush of a disco single, with the lead and backing voices moving in and out of each other’s lines. On “Let No Man Put Asunder,” her delivery has more room to build, and a repeated phrase can stand on its own even after the arrangement changes around it.
The song Chicago DJs kept playing
“Let No Man Put Asunder” had another life outside the album. AllMusic’s discography and biography describes how Knuckles played the song in Chicago clubs and on local radio before Salsoul released a 12-inch remix. In a 1991 interview, Knuckles explained that he reworked records he liked when their original arrangements did not fit his dance floor. The First Choice song was his first remix.
How the remix changes the song
That connection helps explain why people who know the track from house sets might encounter it in several forms. The Delusions cut sits inside a Philadelphia disco album. The extended versions give a DJ more time to bring the record into a mix, and they let Fleming’s voice reappear over passages that would pass quickly on a shorter recording. The versions share the same singer and song, but the placement and repetition of her voice can change how the record feels in a room.
BMG also points to “Love Thang” and “Double Cross” from the group’s later recordings. “Love Thang” is a useful next stop if you came to First Choice through the Knuckles remix. To hear the distance Fleming covered with the group, play “Armed and Extremely Dangerous,” then the album recording of “Let No Man Put Asunder,” then the extended remix. The first was made to get to the point quickly. By the third, the DJ can let a phrase hang in the air and bring it back when the room is ready for it.
