Viola Billups (1946– ), born in Tuskegee, Alabama, is the birth name of soul and disco music vocalist Pearly Gates. Her music career began in 1964 when she teamed up with sisters Earnestine, Betty, and Shirley Pearce to form the girl band the Flirtations, which became a popular group in England. She left the group in 1973 to begin a solo career, first recording the single "Sad Old Shadow," released under her nickname "Vie." Over the years, she recorded a dozen singles and two albums, The Best of Pearly Gates (1995) and On a Winning Streak (2010), and ran a management company, Viemanagement, working with boy band Dyce and singer Anousha.
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