The Flirtations were one of the more active all-girl R&B groups of the mid- to late '60s, though they had to go pretty far from home to find their most lasting success. The group had started life as a quartet called the Gypsies, consisting of three sisters, Betty Pearce, Shirley Pearce, and Earnestine Pearce, and Viola Billups, who worked for three years under that name. They changed their name to the Flirtations in 1965 -- some sources say that Betty Pearce left the lineup at this time, while others indicate that she remained with the group until 1967 -- and they were signed to Josie Records that year. Their one release on the label, "Change My Darkness into Light" b/w "Natural Born Lover," co-produced by J.J. Jackson and Sidney Barnes, was released in 1966, and they got one more single out on the Festival label.