Martha Reeves, Rosalind Ashford and Annette Sterling started singing together at their Detroit high school as The Del-Phis.
In 1962 Martha was working as a secretary for A&R man Mickey Stevenson at Tamla Motown when she was asked to fill in for a sick Mary Wells at a recording session.
Martha and her friends began to work regularly in the studio as backing vocalists for various Motown acts.
The Vandellas own career got underway when the Holland/Dozier/Holland team furnished them with a string of perfect soul rockers which kept them bubbling for eight years, scoring six Top 10 hits including Heatwave, Quicksand, Dancing In The Street and Nowhere To Run.
Their 1967 hit Jimmy Mack was written by Holland/Dozier/Holland as a tribute to recently deceased songwriter Ronnie Mack, who penned He’s So Fine for The Chiffons.
It was recorded in 1964 but was shelved because the quality control folk at Motown thought it sounded too similar to recent releases by The Supremes and because they thought it might upset the wives and loved ones of soldiers currently serving in Vietnam. The record was finally issued in 1967.
Betty Kelly replaced Annette and was herself replaced by Martha’s sister Lois. But the group were unable to recapture the magic after Martha herself left The Vandellas in 1971.
Junior Walker & The Allstars Junior Walker was born Autrey de Walt Jr. in Blytheville, Arkansas, in 1931, and was a teenager in South Bend,…
Marv Johnson When Berry Gordy first started his Motor Town touring spectaculars (the precursors of the celebrated Motown revues) Marv Johnson was…
Elgins, The The Elgins were a quartet - three males (two of whom had originally signed to Motown as part of The…
Velvelettes, The The Velvelettes were formed by Bertha Barbee at Western Michigan University in the early 60s, with Cal (Carolyn) Gill ending…
Kiki Dee Kiki Dee had been making records since the Sixties, but her career didn't really get going until Elton John signed…
Stevie Wonder Born in Saginaw, Michigan on 13 May 1950, Stevie Wonder (born Steveland Judkins) was not born blind. The blindness happened shortly…
Chris Clark Chris Clark was a 17-year-old, 6-foot platinum blonde when she arrived at Motown's Detroit headquarters in 1963 to audition for…
Spinners, The/Detroit Spinners Despite scoring a transatlantic hit in 1970 with It's A Shame (co-authored by Stevie Wonder), The Spinners remained overlooked at Motown in…
