Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s.
Signing with Motown at the age of just 17, Wells's best-known hit singles include "The One Who Really Loves You", "Two Lovers" and "You Beat Me to the Punch". Her signature hit, "My Guy" (1964), was her biggest international hit single and her only number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. During Wells's Motown tenure, she was nicknamed "the Queen of Motown".
Wells's early success with Motown led to her becoming part of the charge in black music onto radio stations and record shelves of mainstream America, "bridging the color lines in music at the time".
Wells left Motown shortly after "My Guy" peaked at number one and she subsequently struggled with releases through big and small labels until her death from cancer in June 1992. Wells was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and was later inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame.
Life and career
1943–1961: Early life and career
Mary Esther Wells was born near Detroit's Wayne State University on May 13, 1943, to Geneva Campbell Wells, a mother who worked as a domestic, and Arthur Wells, an absentee father. One of three children, she contracted spinal meningitis at the age of two and struggled with partial blindness, deafness in one ear and temporary paralysis. At age 10, Wells contracted tuberculosis. During her early years, Wells lived in Black Bottom and struggled with poverty. By age 12, she was helping her mother with house cleaning work.
Wells used singing as her comfort from her pain, first singing in a Detroit Baptist church at the age of ten. By her teen years, she participated in talent shows. But Wells initially had no plans to be a professional singer until Detroit-based artists Little Willie John, Jackie Wilson and The Miracles began having mainstream hits. By the late 1950s, R&B and doo-wop groups formed all over the city and Wells unsuccessfully tried joining several groups. Wells eventually was discovered by Johnnie Mae Matthews in 1960, who signed her to her Northern Records label. Despite the promise of producing her, Wells left after Matthews failed to book a session due to Matthews's attention on the Distants, led by future Temptations founder Otis Williams.
Following her graduation from Northwestern High School in June 1960, Wells sought to be a songwriter and penned a song titled "Bye Bye Baby" in the hopes of her idol Jackie Wilson singing it. With the help of Robert Bateman, who was working with Wilson's former songwriter and Tamla Records founder Berry Gordy, Wells spotted Gordy at Detroit's 20 Grand nightclub the following month, where he was busy with his acts Marv Johnson and the Miracles and eventually presented the song to a weary Gordy who ordered her to sing the song, to which Wells did.
Impressed by Wells's performance, he offered Wells a record deal with his recently formed Motown imprint, a subsidiary of his first label, Tamla. Wells signed the following day on July 8 with her mother present and recorded 22 takes of "Bye Bye Baby" at United Sound Systems. But her next single, the ballad "Strange Love", failed to make either chart. In November 1961, Wells's debut album, Bye Bye Baby I Don't Want to Take a Chance, also failed to chart.
1962–1964: Commercial success
Gordy assigned Smokey Robinson to compose Wells's next single. Inspired by the calypso pop of Harry Belafonte, as well as the growing girl group craze of that period, Robinson composed the pop song "The One Who Really Loves You", which Wells sung under a softer, sweeter tone. Released in February 1962, the song was an immediate hit, reaching number two on the R&B Sides chart and number eight on the Hot 100.
In late 1962, the Robinson-composed "Two Lovers" was released as the next single and became her third consecutive top ten single on the Hot 100, peaking at number seven and became her second R&B number one. "Two Lovers" became her first million-selling single and Wells was awarded a gold disc. In October 1962, Wells was the major headliner of the first Motortown Revue, where her energetic performances were often the highlight of the Revue.
Throughout 1963, Wells continued to enjoy success. Her third studio album, Two Lovers and Other Great Hits, became her first charted album, peaking at number 49 on the Billboard Top LPs chart. Wells's next hit, "Laughing Boy", broke her top ten streak, peaking at number 15 on the Hot 100. After the follow-up, "Your Old Standby", barely cracked the top 40, Wells began working with Holland-Dozier-Holland, resulting in the rock-inflected hit "You Lost the Sweetest Boy" while enjoying a double sided hit with the song and the Robinson-penned "What's Easy for Two Is Hard for One".
In March 1964, Motown released the Robinson-composed "My Guy" and in May, the song became Wells's first and only number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, replacing Louis Armstrong's "Hello, Dolly!" at the top spot, staying there for two weeks. Both singles were notable for breaking the Beatles' uninterrupted fourteen-week streak inside the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. "My Guy" became Wells's second million-seller. After a stressful period in which Wells and the label battled over multiple issues after her records failed to chart successfully, the singer asked to be let go in 1965 and left with a small settlement. Though a re-issue, Wells promoted the single heavily and appeared on the British TV show Top of the Pops for the first time.
Wells occasionally toured during that time but wouldn't record again until signing with Epic Records in 1981 after Larkin Arnold viewed one of her concerts, leading to the release of the album, In and Out of Love, which produced the top 20 club hit, "Gigolo", in 1982. Following the release of the album, Easy Touch, on the CBS subsidiary 51 West, she left the label and after appearing on the Emmy Award-winning special, Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, singing "My Guy", Wells settled on touring the oldies circuit. On the April 21, 1984, edition of American Top 40, Casey Kasem reported that Wells was attempting to establish a hot dog chain. In 1990, Wells made her final recording for Ian Levine's Motorcity Records. That same year, a benefit concert was held by fellow Detroit native Anita Baker. Wells was also given a tribute by friends such as Stevie Wonder and Little Richard on The Joan Rivers Show.
In 1991, Wells brought a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against Motown for royalties she felt she had not received upon leaving Motown Records in 1964 and for loss of royalties for not promoting her songs as the company should have. Motown eventually settled the lawsuit by giving her a six-figure sum. That same year, she testified before the United States Congress to encourage government funding for cancer research: