Gwen was the youngest of five children. She began performing in local clubs as a teenager, and singing with local groups like the Lafayettes and the Independents. In 1963, she met a young sailor named George McCrae who she married within a week.
From 1963, she recorded as a duo with her husband George, and was first to receive a solo recording contract, with Henry Stone‘s TK Records.George and Gwen were discovered in 1967 by singer Betty Wright, who helped get them signed to Stone’s Alston record label.
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