Wanda Young

Wanda Young (born 1944) is an American singer, famous for being the member and later lead singer of the popular Motown all-female singing group The Marvelettes.

Biography

Young was born and raised in the Detroit suburb of Inkster. Originally aspiring to be a nurse, Young's professional music career started after fellow Inkster High classmate Gladys Horton asked her to fill in for a departing member of her group the Marvels, which featured Horton, Katherine Anderson, Juanita Cowart and Georgeanna Tillman. After a successful audition, Young joined the group and the quintet, which had auditioned for a deal with Motown earlier, returned with a song written by former Marvels member Georgia Dobbins titled "Please Mr. Postman". Impressed with the group's sound, they were immediately signed and had their name changed to The Marvelettes and after the song was remastered, the song was released and became a hit single in late 1961. Young sung lead on the b-side of the single on a ballad titled "So Long, Baby".

While Young did occasionally do leads on Marvelettes records, Horton was the main vocalist of the group. In 1964, Young sung lead on her first Marvelettes single, "You're My Remedy", which didn't translate successfully to sales or charts figures. The first hit single to feature Young on lead was the dance hit, "I'll Keep Holding On". From then on until the Marvelettes' departure, Young would be the main lead vocalist of the group. Young went on to sing lead on the group's classics such as "Don't Mess with Bill", "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game", "When You're Young and in Love" and "My Baby Must Be a Magician". In 1966, Young married longtime boyfriend Bobby Rogers, member of The Miracles and became known professionally as Wanda Rogers. The Marvelettes' career fizzled after 1968 and two years later, the group broke up. In 1970, Young produced a solo album with Smokey Robinson as her producer. Sensing marketing value as a Marvelettes release, Motown released the album as The Return of the Marvelettes. The album flopped and Young left the label in 1972 after the Motown label moved from Detroit to Los Angeles.

Young dealt with years of substance abuse and alcoholism following the Marvelettes' departure. Young re-emerged in the late 1980s after accepting an offer from Motorcity Records' Ian Levine to record new songs and revised versions of her classics with the Marvelettes. She made a brief return to performing in the early 1990s solely without Marvelettes members Gladys Horton and Katherine Anderson, the latter member having retired from show business after the Marvelettes' breakup though both Horton and Young collaborated together on a Marvelettes recording for Motorcity though Young wasn't featured on the cover and Horton was.

Young still lives in Detroit, she has long since been divorced from Bobby Rogers. In 2002, Kanye West sampled Young's version of The Miracles' "After All" for Jay-Z's rap duet, "Poppin' Tags" from The Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse album, which featured Killer Mike, Big Boi and Twista.

• Wanda Rogers interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' September 1990