Rochelle Fleming, First Choice Lead Singer, Dies at 72

Rochelle Fleming, the lead singer and founder of the Philadelphia disco group First Choice, died Nov. 5 in Philadelphia at 72, according to a statement posted on her official Instagram page.

Her manager announced the death on behalf of her family. "It is with a heavy heart to share the passing of Rochelle Fleming-Finney," the post read. "She brought light, laughter and love to the world." No cause of death was provided, and the family said services to celebrate her life would be announced later.

Fleming sang lead on a run of records that started in Philadelphia soul studios in the early 1970s and never really left the dance floor. "Armed and Extremely Dangerous." "Doctor Love." "Let No Man Put Asunder." If you have been inside a club, a roller rink or a wedding reception in the last fifty years, you have heard her.

Her manager's note mentioned the gum

George Iz Correia, Fleming's longtime manager, posted his own tribute on Instagram on Nov. 8. "Although my heartbreak is unbearable and the gravity of the situation hit at the most sporadic times, I have so many wonderful memories with Rochelle that I can't help but to smile with immense gratitude," he wrote.

He said she "never uttered a harsh word about anyone (unless you were chewing gum)."

Correia also noted that she hated the word fans. "She despised referring to her supporters as 'fans.' You were ALL known affectionately as her 'sweeties,'" he wrote, adding that she would not want anyone "sad during this time." He closed the post, "Sleep on Ro, I love and miss you. Love, 'G.'" The note asked people to keep celebrating the music instead.

It started at Overbrook High School

Fleming was born in 1954 in Philadelphia and started singing with fellow Overbrook High School students Annette Guest and Wardell Piper. The group called itself the Debonettes and worked clubs in and around the city after school.

Philadelphia radio personality Georgie Woods made the introduction that changed things, connecting the teenagers with producer Norman Harris and songwriter Allan Felder. They became First Choice and landed at Philly Groove Records.

Their first single, "This Is the House (Where Love Died)," came out in 1972 and never charted nationally, though Philadelphia radio and dance clubs around the country played it anyway. The follow-up did the job. "Armed and Extremely Dangerous" hit No. 11 on the R&B chart in 1973, reached No. 28 on the pop chart and climbed to No. 16 in the United Kingdom. The group was barely out of high school.

Soul Train, American Bandstand and a top 10 in Britain

Wardell Piper left for a solo career before the first album came out. She still sang on the record but was not pictured on the sleeve. Joyce Jones replaced her.

The national hit got them on television: Dinah, Soul Train and American Bandstand. More R&B hits followed. "Smarty Pants" reached No. 25 R&B and became their biggest British single at No. 9. "Newsy Neighbors" got to No. 35 R&B. "The Player (Part 1)" became their biggest R&B record, peaking at No. 7, and "Guilty" hit No. 19.

What made those records work was the contrast. The arrangements were polished Philadelphia soul, strings and all, and Fleming sang over the top of them like she was arguing with somebody. The albums charted modestly, with The Player peaking at No. 143 on the pop albums chart in 1974. The singles were the point. The third slot changed hands three times over the decade, and Fleming and Annette Guest stayed through every lineup.

Warner Bros., then Gold Mind, then "Doctor Love"

First Choice moved to Warner Bros. Records in 1976. Joyce Jones left and Ursula Herring came in. That stretch produced "Gotta Get Away (From You Baby)," "Ain't He Bad" and the title track of the album "So Let Us Entertain You."

In 1977 they switched again, this time to Norman Harris's own label, Gold Mind Records. That is where they cut "Doctor Love," which reached No. 8 on the dance chart, No. 23 R&B and No. 41 on the pop chart. It came off the album Delusions, which AllMusic critic Ed Hogan rated as the group's best LP.

Hold Your Horses arrived in March 1979 with another lineup change, Herring out and Debbie Martin in. The title track went to No. 5 on the dance chart. The album also carried "Love Thang" and "Double Cross," two songs that would matter enormously to producers who were still kids when they came out.

The song that outlived the group

First Choice officially disbanded in 1980. Three years later, Salsoul Records pulled "Let No Man Put Asunder" off that 1977 Delusions album and released it as a single. It rose to No. 13 on the Billboard dance chart in 1983 and became the group's signature record, which is a strange fate for an album cut nobody pushed the first time around.

Remixes by Shep Pettibone and Frankie Knuckles turned it into a fixture of the Chicago house scene. By then disco was supposedly dead and buried in American pop culture, and Fleming's vocal was running the room in clubs that had no interest in what the radio thought.

Salsoul also reissued and remixed the back catalog for years. "Doctor Love" charted again on the dance list in 1984 and once more in 1999. "The Player" returned in a remixed form in 2001 and hit No. 7 on the dance chart, 27 years after the original.

Mary J. Blige, J. Cole and a Grammy she never held

Early house and techno producers mined First Choice constantly. Todd Terry and the Jungle Brothers both sampled the group, mostly from "Let No Man Put Asunder." Mary J. Blige covered the song outright on her 1999 album Mary.

J. Cole sampled "Wake Up to Me" on his 2019 single "Middle Child." Kaytranada built his track "10%" with Kali Uchis around "Love Thang," and that record won the Grammy for best dance recording.

So there are two audiences here. One remembers buying the 45. The other has been hearing Fleming's voice for years on streaming playlists without ever seeing her name in the credits they scroll past. She is on an enormous number of records she did not make, which is the quiet currency of being a great dance vocalist.

Forty-five years of solo work

After the 1980 split, Fleming kept recording and performing internationally on her own. "Love Itch" came in 1985, "Danger!" in 1994 and "Suffer (The Consequences)" in 1995. Club DJs kept booking her through every shift in what dance music sounded like.

On Aug. 6, 2014, she reunited with Annette Guest, Wardell Piper and Ursula Herring for a First Choice set at the East River Bandshell in New York City, part of a concert stacked with former Salsoul labelmates.

She was still performing in her 70s. Her final release was "Balls 2 Bounce," a 2025 collaboration with Chicago house producer Terry Hunter. That is a 53-year gap between her first single and her last, almost all of it on a dance floor.

The church on the other side of the fame

Christian Hope Baptist Church in Philadelphia posted its own tribute on Facebook. Fleming attended as a child and "remained a faithful member all her life," the church wrote.

"Even as a world-renowned artist, she always came home," the post said.

"Her voice stirred our spirits, moved us to tears, and lifted us into praise," the statement continued. "We looked forward to those moments, and we will carry them with us always." The congregation knew her as a member first and a disco singer second.

First Choice is still working

The group reformed in 2014 and continues to perform without Fleming. Annette Guest and Ursula Herring tour as The First Choice alongside Andre Jackson.

Guest also built a second career as a songwriter, writing for artists including Stephanie Mills. Wardell Piper, who walked away before the debut album shipped, went solo.

Fleming's name sits in the past members column of the group she started as a teenager with two classmates and a radio DJ's phone call. Her records are not in the past column of anything. Memorial details have not been released.