Rosetta Jeanette Hightower (June 23, 1944 - August 2, 2014) was an American singer, and the lead singer of the 1960s girl group The Orlons. She was born in Philadelphia. Hightower left the group in the late 1960s to pursue a solo career in the UK.
Her primary fame derived from being the lead singer of The Orlons, the prime American girl group who scored several Top 10 US hits between 1962-1964, including "The Wah Watusi", "Don't Hang Up", "South Street", and "Not Me". In early 1962, The Orlons provided back-up vocals on Dee Dee Sharp's "Mashed Potato Time" (#2 pop, #1 R&B). That spring, they recorded "The Wah Watusi" which, in July 1962, made it in the Billboard charts to the #2 spot.[1] Around the same time, they recorded back-up vocals on Dee Dee Sharp's second hit, "Gravy (For My Mashed Potatoes)" which went to #9. The follow-up to "The Wah Watusi", "Don't Hang Up" reached #4 pop and #3 R&B in the fall and winter of 1962. The Orlons' first major performance was at New York's Apollo Theatre with The Crystals, Bob B. Soxx and the Blue Jeans, Chuck Jackson, Tommy Hunt, and Gene Chandler. In 1963, they had hits with "South Street" (#3 pop, #4 R&B)[2] and "Crossfire" (#19 pop, #25 R&B).
Hightower left the group in the late 1960s to pursue a solo career in the UK. She joined the ranks of the then-popular female session singers who backed many hit songs. This group included Madeline Bell, Lesley Duncan, Kiki Dee, and Sue and Sunny. She recorded with Joe Cocker on his With a Little Help From My Friends album.
Moving permanently to England in 1970, Hightower married musician-producer Ian Green. She represented the US in Belgium for the first international singing contest ever held. She released numerous singles and at least two albums. In 1971, she was a backing vocalist for John Lennon's "Power to the People".
Hightower released singles on various labels in the UK including Toast, CBS, Ariola and Polydor, but none were commercial successes.
She released two albums in the early seventies - Hightower (1970) and Every Little Bit Soul (1971), the latter containing twelve renditions of Motown classics.
Rosetta Hightower Green died in Clapham, London, on August 2, 2014, aged 70.
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Below is a list of Rosetta Hightower songs, sorted by the most popular first. Place mouse on

to see information about song. Click song title to play song and to read details about the song including lyrics (if available). Click year to list all songs from that year. Click label to list songs from that record label. Songs with chart position "---" either never made it into the US top 100 R&B or UK charts or we have no details of their highest chart positions if they did.
(Song are sorted in highest US R&B Top 100 and/or UK Top 100 chart position order)