BMG has paid tribute to Rochelle Fleming after her passing, honoring the founding member and lead singer of First Choice as a voice that helped define Philadelphia soul and disco. Dan Baxter said the records she made with the group still matter to dancers and DJs around the world.
Fleming, a Philadelphia native, began singing with school friends in the group that would become First Choice, and the results quickly carried beyond local stages. The group broke through in 1973 with Armed and Extremely Dangerous, then kept building with songs like Smarty Pants and The Player, while working with producer Norman Harris on recordings for Gold Mind, the label linked with Salsoul.
By the time First Choice reached its 1977 album Delusions, the group had cut Doctor Love and Let No Man Put Asunder, two records that helped push Philadelphia soul toward disco and, later, the sound that would feed house music. Later releases such as Love Thang and Double Cross kept that run going. BMG represents part of the catalog through Salsoul, which helps explain why the tribute landed now: Fleming's death closes a long chapter, but the recordings remain active in clubs and collections.
The company’s tribute was strongest on the songs that never stopped moving. Baxter said Fleming was a remarkable singer and that the records she made with First Choice had a lasting influence on dance music. He singled out Doctor Love, Love Thang and Let No Man Put Asunder, saying they still connect with dancers and DJs around the world. He added that remixes and samples introduced her voice to successive generations, which is one reason the group’s music kept traveling long after its original release.
There is still one detail the tribute leaves open: it does not give the date of Fleming's death. Even so, the shape of her legacy is clear enough. Let No Man Put Asunder became especially influential because it was taken up again and again through remixes, samples and reinterpretations, a second life that carried her voice from one generation of DJs and producers to the next. Baxter offered condolences to her family, friends and fellow members of First Choice, and said her voice and the joy it brought to so many will not be forgotten.
What remains now is the music itself, still moving through the same channels that made it matter in the first place: dancers, DJs and the records that never really left the room.
