The Marvelettes

The Marvelettes

The Marvelettes were an American singing girl group on the Tamla (later Motown) label. Motown's first successful female vocal group, the Marvelettes are most notable for recording the company's first US #1 pop hit, "Please Mr. Postman", and for setting the precedent for later Motown girl groups such as Martha and the Vandellas and The Supremes.

During their eight-year run on the Billboard charts, the group scored nineteen top forty American R&B singles and ten top forty American pop singles. Of these hits, three were top ten pop singles, nine were top ten R&B singles, and one was number one on both charts.

Origins

Gladys Horton and Georgia Dobbins formed the Casinyets (or "Can't Sing Yets") in their hometown, Inkster, Michigan, with backing vocalists Georgeanna Tillman, Wyanetta (usually spelled "Juanita") Cowart, and Katherine Anderson.

In 1961 the quintet, now called The Marvels, entered the Inkster High School talent show, where they finished fourth. Though only the first three winners could win the prize of a trip to audition for the new Motown record company, an exception was made and they were allowed to audition as well. In April they did this for Motown executives Brian Holland and Robert Bateman, with the girls alternating lead parts. They auditioned for Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson, who scheduled a second audition, after asking if the group had any original material.

At the next audition, Georgia arrived with pianist William Garrett, who had also written a few tunes. Georgia had asked Garrett if he had any new songs, and he showed her a blues song called "Please Mr. Postman" that had only a few lyrics and no music. Garrett agreed to Georgia's rewriting the song into something more favorable for a young girl group, as long as he was given songwriting credit. Georgia, who had no previous songwriting experience, took the tune home and reconstructed it overnight, keeping only the title.

The song by Dobbins and Garrett turned out to be the Marvelettes' first single and their greatest hit, "Please Mr. Postman." The group returned to Motown with the song and a new member, Wanda Young (later Rogers), who replaced Dobbins (whose church-going father was against the idea of his daughter singing in nightclubs), giving them, like The Shirelles before them, two lead singers.

Early success

Motown gave the Marvels the star treatment. Gordy renamed the group The Marvelettes and had "Please Mr. Postman" re-written for them and released as their first single in the summer of 1961 on the Tamla imprint, with Gladys Horton singing lead. The song proved to be a slow burner, not even entering the Billboard Pop Chart (now known as the Billboard Hot 100) until late December of that year. The song took fourteen weeks to hit #1 on the pop chart, a record for its time. The song also hit #1 on the Billboard R&B Chart.

In a short-sighted move, Motown execs released the vain "Twistin' Postman" to capitalize on both the success of the group's first single and the twist dance craze. Released in December 1961, as the fad was dying down, the song only reached #34 on the pop chart and #13 at R&B. Despite this, The Marvelettes were becoming a popular touring group, going on various Motown ensemble tours and even a few solo outings. The next few years were a blur of publicity, concerts, and recording. As the first popular Motown act, they carried a lot of responsibility during this time.

Their second album featured songs from many accomplished writers, for example, Brian Holland, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Lamont Dozier. The hit album featured the hit singles "Playboy" (#4 R&B / #7 Pop), a catchy pop song, "Beechwood 4-5789" (#7 R&B / #17 Pop) (which became the most popular telephone number in America before Tommy Tutone's 1982 pop hit "867-5309"), and the rhythmic ballad "Someday, Someway" (#8 R&B).

Stumbling blocks

By this time, founding member Juanita Cowart was suffering the ravages of depression. After a goof on American Bandstand in 1962, Cowart finally left the group. Motown press releases called it a "nervous breakdown." Not wanting to rest on their laurels, the group forged ahead, recording 'The Marvelous Marvelettes,' their third album. Despite their early successes, 1963 and their third album brought some measure of disappointment. Of the four singles released from the album, the album's second single, "Locking Up My Heart", fared the best, featuring Gladys as the main lead and Wanda on the latter portion on the tune singing falsetto. It peaked at #25 at R&B and #44 at Pop. The single could have done better chart wise, but suffered from split airplay as the excellent track "Forever" ,(a very popular R&B turntable hit), which featured Wanda Rogers, was its "B" side. Its first single, "Strange, I Know", broke the top ten at R&B, but only peaked at #49 at Pop. The single "My Daddy Knows Best", produced by Berry Gordy, was a relative flop.

By 1964, The Marvelettes faced major competition, not only from Motown upstarts like The Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas, but from bands from the British Invasion and surf-pop movements. They refused to record a song titled "Where Did Our Love Go?" written by the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team. Instead, The Marvelettes chose to record Norman Whitfield and Eddie Holland's "Too Many Fish In The Sea" which resulted in a minor hit. Meanwhile, Holland-Dozier-Holland took "Where Did Our Love Go?" to The Supremes, who made the song a #1 pop and R&B hit ... and the rest is history. By 1965, Georgeanna Tillman was battling lupus. As her health problems worsened, her doctor advised her to stop touring and she left the group for good. She remained at Motown for a while as a secretary. Georgeanna Tillman married Billy Gordon (of The Contours) in 1963. She left the group in 1965 due to illness. She died in 1980 from the complications of sickle cell anemia. The Marvelettes continued on as a trio.

For the two years following "The Marvelous Marvelettes," the group held on with a series of terrific, underappreciated poorly selling singles, a hastily assembled album of their live performances ("Recorded Live On Stage") and a greatest hits compilation to stay afloat. "The Marvelettes Greatest Hits" and the follow-up LP, simply titled "The Marvelettes," were relatively successful. The first three singles from the album, "As Long As I Know He's Mine," "He's A Good Guy (Yes He Is)," and "You're My Remedy" were flops, the most successful peaking at #47 at Pop. They peaked at #3, #18 and #16 respectively on the Cash Box R&B chart (Billboard Magazine had temporaily suspended its' R&B chart).

The "Comeback"

The group's first notable hit in nearly two years came at the end of 1964 with the Holland-Whitfield composition "Too Many Fish in the Sea," which became a Motown classic, reaching #15 at R&B and #25 at Pop on the Billboard charts. It reached #5 on the Cash Box R&B chart. On the heels of new-found success, three more songs were released from their compilation LP, both penned by songwriters Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter and featuring Wanda in the lead: "I'll Keep Holding On" and "Danger! Heartbreak Dead Ahead" returned them to the hearts of the rhythm and blues audience, both peaking at #11 at R&B.

The final single from the Marvelettes' Greatest Hits compilation was a Smokey Robinson composition and marked the beginning of a long partnership with the songwriter and lead of The Miracles. "Don't Mess With Bill," a spirited anthem about cheating, brought the group major success and a gold record award 30 years later; it peaked at #3 at R&B, and #7 at Pop.

They continued their partnership with Robinson on their fifth album, "The Marvelettes," released in 1967, and spawned the massively popular "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game," which just missed the top of the R&B charts, peaking at #2, and hit #13 at Pop. They followed with a remake of Ruby & the Romantics' "When You're Young and in Love," written by Van McCoy, peaking at #9 at R&B, #23 at Pop and #13 in the UK.

Danger: Dead End Ahead

In 1967, after a comeback of sorts, lead singer Gladys Horton left the group to get married, and was replaced by Anne Bogan. Their next album was named "Sophisticated Soul" after the new style under Wanda's lead and their reformed appearance. Singles released from the album included "You're the One" (#20 R&B / #48 Pop), "My Baby Must Be a Magician" (#8 R&B / #17 Pop, featuring an exceptional introduction by Melvin Franklin of The Temptations, "Destination: Anywhere" (#28 R&B / #63 Pop), (written by Ashford & Simpson) and "Here I Am Baby" (#14 R&B / #44 Pop).

Unfortunately, Motown had long since shifted support to more popular groups, including Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, and The Four Tops, as well as new groups like The Jackson 5 and solo hitmakers like Marvin Gaye. By 1969's "In Full Bloom" album, Motown had provided mediocre publicity and a smaller budget for the group's project. The album's only single, a remake of Baby Washington's "That's How Heartaches Are Made," peaked at #97 at Pop, and failed at R&B radio. Another effort earlier that year with Bogan singing lead, "I'm Gonna Hold On As Long As I Can", stopped at #76.

When Motown moved its base of operation from Detroit to Los Angeles, the group decided not to make the move. They disbanded shortly thereafter in 1970, and Smokey decided to cut a solo album with Wanda Rogers featuring The Andantes (Motown's in-house backing group), consisting mainly of older Motown songs that had been overlooked. However, Motown thought it would have more commercial appeal if it was released under the title The Return of The Marvelettes. Unfortunately, it couldn't have come at a worse time: Wanda was awaiting the birth of her third child (with husband Miracle Bobby Rogers), Motown was in the process of moving to Los Angeles, and Diana Ross was getting her initial push as a solo artist after leaving The Supremes. Although it failed to chart or receive any airplay, Motown issued two singles from the album. Neither of them charted, and the last, "A Breathtaking Guy," was released in 1972. Meanwhile, Anne Bogan went on to lead an RCA trio known as Love, Peace & Happiness, which itself was part of the larger group New Birth. Though her two partners, Leslie and Melvin Wilson, went on to greater fame as two of New Birth's main singers, she left right after they hit big with their hit cover of The Valentinos' "I Can Understand It."

Summary

Despite early success, many feel The Marvelettes never achieved their full potential at Motown. Some, like Gladys Horton, the founder of the group, blame Motown's lack of proper promotion and forcing the other Motown girl groups to take a back seat to their label mates, The Supremes. However, the group is revered for being one of the first hitmakers at Motown Records, paving the way for the successful groups that followed and giving Motown their first Number one record. The Marvelettes remained consistently exciting throughout the '60s. They were one of the greats. Unfortunately, none of the original members is able to tour under the name "Marvelettes" in the United States due to the decision by Motown, which sold the name "Marvelettes" to a promoter, the controversial Larry Marshak, who only hires non-members to perform. These women are much younger than the original lineup. Because of the efforts of people like Mary Wilson of The Supremes, legislation was launched in 2006 to prevent artists from using the name of a group that does not have at least one original member, Gladys Horton, the only original Marvelette still performing, may finally be able to use the name again. She appeared with two background singers in 2006 on PBS's My Music Salute to Early Motown. In-depth history of the group can be found in Marc Taylor's book, The Original Marvelettes and the Goldmine article on the group from its June 8, 1984, issue. A video of the group in its heyday exists showing a Motortown Revue they recorded live at the Apollo Theatre in New York around 1963, along with Mary Wells, backed by The Temptations, Martha & The Vandellas, The Supremes, The Contours, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye and "Little" Stevie Wonder.

2009 is Motown Records 50th Anniversary. As part of the celebrations they released a new limited edition 3 CD set on the group entitled "The Marvelettes: Forever - The Complete Motown Albums Vol 1". This featured the groups first 6 albums some of which have never been released on CD before. Vol 2 is scheduled for release in 2010.

Despite the induction of several Motown artists, The Marvelettes, Motown's first successful female group who gave the label its first #1 Billboard Pop Hit, still have not been inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame .

Discography

Albums

• Please Mr. Postman (1961)
• The Marvelettes Sing aka Smash Hits of '62 (1962)
• Playboy (1962)
• The Marvelous Marvelettes (1963)
• The Marvelettes Recorded Live On Stage(1963)
• The Marvelettes Greatest Hits (1966) (#84 US pop; #4 US R&B)
• The Marvelettes (Pink Album) (1967) (#129 US pop; #13 US R&B)
• Sophisticated Soul (1968) (#41 US R&B)
• In Full Bloom (1969)
• The Return of the Marvelettes (1970) (#50 US R&B)
• The Marvelettes Anthology(1975)
• Best of The Marvelettes(1975)

Singles

Year	Song title	U.S. Pop	U.S. R&B	UK Singles Chart
1961	"Please Mr. Postman" (Tamla 54046)	1	1	-
1962	"Twistin' Postman" (54054)	34	13	-
	"Playboy" (54060)	7	4	-
	"Beechwood 4-5789" (54065)	17	7	-
	"Someday, Someway" (54065)	-	8	-
1963	"Strange I Know" (54072)	49	10	-
	"Locking Up My Heart" (54077)	44	25	-
	"Forever" (54077)	44	24	-
	"As Long As I Know He's Mine" (54088)	47	**	-
	"My Daddy Knows Best" (54082)	67	**	-
	"Too Hurt To Cry, Too Much In Love To Say Goodbye" (as The Darnells) (Gordy 7024)	117	**	-
1964	"He's A Good Guy (Yes He Is)" (54091)	55	-	-
	"You're My Remedy" (54097)	48	**	-
	"Too Many Fish in the Sea" (54105)	25	15	-
1965	"I'll Keep Holding On" (54115)	34	11	-
	"Danger! Heartbreak Dead Ahead" (54120)	61	11	-
1966	"Don't Mess With Bill" (54126)	7	3	-
	"You're the One" (54131)	48	20	-
1967	"The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game" (54143)	13	2	-
	"When You're Young and in Love" (54150)	23	9	13
1968	"My Baby Must Be a Magician" (with Melvin Franklin, guest vocal) (54158)	17	8	-
	"Here I Am Baby" (54166)	44	14	-
	"Destination: Anywhere" (54171)	63	28	-
	"What's Easy For Two Is Hard For One" (flip of "Destination: Anywhere") (54171)	114	-	-
1969	"I'm Gonna Hold On As Long As I Can" (54177)	76	-	-
	"That's How Heartaches Are Made" (54186)	97	-	-
1970	"Marionette"	-	-	-
1972	"A Breath-Taking Guy"	-	-	-

(** there was no Billboard R&B chart during this time.)

Tamla Motown UK Releases

Including catalogue numbers

• TML11008 The Marvelous Marvelettes LP
• STML/TML11052 The Marvelettes LP
• STML/TML11090 Sophisticated Soul LP
• STML/TML11145 In Full Bloom LP
• STML11258 The Best of the Marvelettes LP
• TMG518 I'll Keep Holding On / No Time For Tears 7"
• TMG535 Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead / Your Cheating Ways 7"
• TMG546 Don't Mess with Bill / Anything You Wanna Do 7"
• TMG562 You're the One / Paper Boy 7"
• TMG594 The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game / I Think I Can Change You 7"
• TMG609 When You're Young and in Love / The Day You Take One (You Have to Take the Other) 7"
• TMG639 My Baby Must Be a Magician / I Need Someone 7"
• TMG659 Here I Am Baby / Keep Off No Trespassing 7"
• TMG701 Reachin' for Something I Can't Have / Destination Anywhere 7"
• TMG860 Reachin' for Something I Can't Have / Here I Am Baby 7"
• TMG939 When You're Young and in Love / The Day You Take One (You Have to Take the Other) 7"
• TME2003 The Marvelettes EP

Awards & Recognition

• 1995: The Rhythm & Blues Pioneer Award (Rhythm & Blues Foundation).
• 2004: Inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
• 2005: RIAA-certified gold records for "Please Mr. Postman" and "Don't Mess with Bill".

External links

• The Marvelettes interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul'
• 'The Marvelettes' Vocal Group Hall of Fame Page