Sister Act: Back in the Habit

They talk over each other, giggling at their shared memories and chiming in with perfect timing and pitch to sing old commercial jingles.

"There are only three sisters in our family and all three of us were born to sing," says Phyllis McGuire of the singing triple sister act, The McGuire Sisters. "You have to just look upstairs and thank God because it's God-given talent."

The McGuire Sisters -- Phyllis, Christine and Dorothy -- will share this talent with fans when they perform at the Orleans hotel-casino tonight through Sunday, marking their return to a Las Vegas stage after a seven-year absence.

The sisters -- Phyllis lives in Las Vegas, Christine lives in Summerlin and Dorothy resides in Scottsdale, Ariz. -- thank God, family and luck for their charmed lives.

"It was just one wonderful thing after the other," Christine McGuire says of their rise to fame and continual success. "We really did not have a sad beginning or a sad story to tell. We are just so lucky."

It began in a small church in Middletown, Ohio, where their mother was an ordained minister and the girls would perform for the congregation. The trio took to the road, performing at military bases and church functions in 1949 for the pleasure of performing, but fame would soon follow.

"It's something we've been doing since I was 4 years old and we got a handshake and a "God bless you" (for pay) and then, all of a sudden, everyone wanted a piece of your clothing and to touch you," Phyllis says.

The "all of a sudden" celebrity came in 1952 when the sisters won a spot on the "Arthur Godfrey Talent Scouts," a top-rated television show at the time.

"We had the good fortune of being hired on 'The Arthur Godfrey Show," Phyllis says. The sisters pause for just the briefest moment before chiming in together ...

"Let's have another cup of Lipton tea...," they sing, more than 40 years after selling the beverage on live national television.

"We got lucky everywhere we went," Phyllis says. "It was really just part of (God's) master plan, everything we touched turned to gold."

They traveled the country, performing with other popular acts from the 1950s, and appeared on many top-rated television shows.

"We found that it was very easy, we didn't have a hard time at all," Phyllis says.

The title of their hits reflect the innocence of the times -- "Sugar Time," "Sincerely," "Picnic," "Goodnight, Sweetheart" and "Just For Old Times Sake," to name a few.

"It wasn't real," Phyllis says about their own awe of their fame. "You are singing for the president and you are requested to sing for the Queen of England -- it was one mind boggling thrill after another."

The list of performers they have shared a stage with reads like a who's who of the golden age of television.

"We've performed with all of them, all of the aristocracy," Phyllis says.

They reel off names of legendary performers -- Frank Sinatra, George Burns, Maurice Chevalier, Johnny Carson, Dean Martin and Jack Benny, among others.

"To work with them and record with them, it's like it wasn't real," Phyllis says.

But that was then.

"When we started in TV, everything was black and white. You had to wear a certain color of lipstick; you couldn't wear white; it was a chore to pick the right colors and the whole bit," Phyllis says.

"Oh yeah," Christine remembers. "You had to be gray," rather than to wear bright clothes or makeup that would disrupt the black and white image, "and the lights were so hot."

They ooh and ahh over today's female singers and musical groups.

"I love Mariah (Carey) and Whitney (Houston)," Phyllis says.

"And Madonna," Christine says.

"And Natalie Cole, Celine Dion," Phyllis says. "We've always been supportive of other vocal groups, male and female, and also what we call 'the genetic blend,' which means family. There's a different blend when it comes to harmony and singing together."

The difference between today's divas and the sisters' experience, they say, is overexposure of current artists, as well as the natural ability to harmonize and sing without cheating with technology.

"The major differences as far as we are concerned is that there is so much going on in the business now that could never have happened then because they didn't have the technology or the ability," Phyllis says. "Then, everything you recorded had to be used, you actually cut the record, the needle cut the record."

"All of the television and radio shows were live," Dorothy says. "We couldn't erase anything."

"We had to be real," Christine adds.

"It was 100 percent real," Dorothy says.

"Today they can change the key, they can take out a note, they can raise a note, it's unbelievable," Phyllis points out.

"We had that venue that we could sing the things that we recorded and the public decided quickly, and fortunately, that they liked us," Phyllis says.

The hot lights, hectic schedule and mass media attention didn't spoil the sisters' delight in performing and they still feel giddy before taking the stage.

"I still feel nervous," Dorothy says.

"You have to have some butterflies or it doesn't work," Christine says.

In 1968, they broke up the sister act so Dorothy and Christine could spend more time with their families, but the desire and joy they found in performing together would always stay with them.

Now that families have been raised (and their grandchildren can now attend their performances), the sisters feel free to spend more time on their still growing popularity.

"We will work more now than we have in the past because family is, and has been, a big priority," Phyllis says.

This year, the sisters are planning to perform concerts in Chicago and Palm Beach, Fl. as well as releasing two new albums.

Their first release since 1963 will be an anthology of their hits -- and a little mystery.

"It's a very exciting release -- with something extra the fans will love," Phyllis says. "We are going to do a religious album that we've longed to do for a long, longtime because that is the way it started."

And what is the secret to their continual success?

"Good music," Phyllis says. "They are standards, they will be here forever, when we are long gone."

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