Hot -

Hot was an American soul-pop vocal trio from Los Angeles that released three albums through 1979 on Big Tree Records. They scored a major 1977 hit with “Angel in Your Arms,” a ballad concerning a scorned wife’s sexual double life and its influence on the narrator.

Members: Gwen Owens, Cathy Carson, Juanita Curiel

Background

Hot formed in Los Angeles in late 1976 when singers Gwen Owens and Cathy Carson recruited Juanita Curiel into the trio previously billed as Sugar & Spice.

Owens came from Detroit, where she sang in church and attracted a recording contact through a high-school sponsorship program. She made “Mystery of Love” as her first recording and followed with the 1964 Oncore single “Mystery Man” (b/w “Someone to Love”). Owens recorded further singles for Velgo and Lau-Reen before Josie issued “Keep On Living” (b/w “It Ain’t Hardly Over”) in July 1969; the A-side reached No. 40 on the Billboard soul chart.

Owens moved to California in 1971 and recorded in Muscle Shoals, where she met producers Clayton Ivey and Terry Woodford. The producers brought Owens into their Motown production arrangement, and she limited her artist contract to six months. Motown left her completed recordings unreleased, and Owens obtained release from the contract at the end of the term. Ivey and Woodford subsequently placed “You Better Watch Out” (b/w “Everybody Needs Love”) with Casablanca, which issued the single in 1974. Owens also worked as a backing singer for Ann-Margret, José Feliciano, The O’Jays, Lou Rawls, Nancy Sinatra, and Raquel Welch.

Carson came from Wichita, Kansas, and was born Catherine Sue Fiebach. In 1975, Carson joined Owens and Irene Cathaway as backing singers on the Wolfman Jack Shock & Rock Review under the name Sweet Talk. The trio appeared on television in 1976 as Sugar & Spice, including a recurring slot on Bill Cosby’s variety series Cos. After Ivey and Woodford ended their Motown agreement, the producers contacted Owens for another recording session. Owens rejected another solo project and proposed Carson and Cathaway as her partners.

Curiel sang in a high-school choir before moving to Las Vegas after graduation. She won a dancer audition and soon replaced one of Wayne Newton’s two backing singers, which began a three-year run in Newton’s Las Vegas shows. Curiel also wrote songs with a guitarist from Newton’s band, including “Christmas in the U.S.A.,” which Newton recorded for the 1976 album Christmas Everywhere. Curiel left Newton’s organization for Los Angeles, where she pursued songwriting and auditioned for Sugar & Spice at manager Ed Sherman’s Ventura Boulevard office after an unsuccessful audition for Stevie Wonder.

Cathaway accepted another touring job before the proposed Muscle Shoals session, which left Owens and Carson to record four songs at the newly opened Wishbone Recording Studio. The pair recorded “Angel in Your Arms” before Curiel joined the group, and the four-song session secured a contract with Atlantic subsidiary Big Tree. Curiel passed the Los Angeles audition and joined Owens and Carson before the singers adopted the name Hot. Big Tree issued “Angel in Your Arms” in February 1977; as the single entered the national charts, Hot returned to Wishbone with Curiel to complete the self-titled debut album.

Discography: