Tammi Terrell - WikiHQ

Thomasina Winifred Montgomery (April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970), professionally known as Tammi Terrell, was an American singer-songwriter, widely known as a star singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, notably for a series of duets with singer Marvin Gaye.

Terrell began her career as a teenager, first recording for Scepter/Wand Records, before spending nearly nine months as a member of James Brown's Revue, recording for Brown's Try Me label. After attending college, Terrell recorded briefly for Checker Records before signing with Motown in 1965. With Gaye, she scored seven Top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", which was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By".

Terrell's career was interrupted when she collapsed into Gaye's arms as the two performed at a concert at Hampden–Sydney College on October 14, 1967. Terrell was later diagnosed with a brain tumor and had eight unsuccessful surgeries before dying on March 16, 1970, at age 24.

Early life

Thomasina Winifred Montgomery was born on April 29, 1945, in Philadelphia to Jennie (née Graham), and Thomas Montgomery. Jennie was an actress while Thomas was a barbershop owner and local politician. According to her sister, Ludie, Jennie was mentally ill. When Terrell was born, the parents settled on the name Thomasina, nicknaming her "Tommie". Around this time, she began having migraine headaches.

Career

Early recordings

In 1960, Terrell signed under the Wand subsidiary of Scepter Records after being discovered by Luther Dixon. She recorded the ballad "If You See Bill" under the name Tammy Montgomery and did demos for the Shirelles. After another single, Terrell left the label. Having been introduced to James Brown, she signed a contract with him and began singing backup for his Revue concert tours. In 1961, Terrell created the group the Sherrys. In late 1962, Terrell was kicked out due to multiple disputes and after suffering violent abuse at the hands of Brown. Eventually, they went their separate ways, with the Sherrys moving on without Terrell. In 1963, she recorded the song "I Cried". Released on Brown's Try Me Records, it became her first charting single, reaching No. 99 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Terrell later signed with Checker Records and released the Bert Berns-produced "If I Would Marry You", a duet with Jimmy Radcliffe, which Terrell co-composed. Following this relative failure, Terrell announced a semi-retirement from the music business. Terrell enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in pre-med, staying at the school for two years. Motown remixed the vocals and edited out the background vocals, giving just Gaye and Terrell vocal dominance. The song became a crossover pop hit in the summer of 1967, reaching No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 3 on the R&B charts and making Terrell a star. Their follow-up, "Your Precious Love", became an even bigger hit, reaching No. 5 on the pop chart and No. 2 on the R&B chart. At the end of 1967, the duo scored another top-ten single with "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You", which peaked at No. 10 on the pop chart and No. 2 on the R&B chart. The song's B-side, the Marvin Gaye composition "If This World Were Mine", became a modest hit on both charts, No. 68 pop, No. 27 R&B. Gaye later cited the song as "one of Tammi's favorites". All four songs were included on Gaye and Terrell's first duet album, United, released in the late summer of 1967.

Throughout 1967, Gaye and Terrell began performing together, and Terrell became a vocal and performance inspiration for the shy and laid-back Gaye, who hated live performing. The duo also performed together on television shows to their hits. They were voted the No. 1 R&B duo in Cash Box magazine's Annual Year-End Survey in 1970. In 1967 the Funk Brothers supported Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell's live show as backing band.

Cancer diagnosis

While Terrell was being established as a star, the migraines and headaches she had suffered from since childhood were becoming more constant. While Terrell complained of pain, she insisted to people close to her that she was well enough to perform. However, on October 14, 1967, while performing "Your Precious Love" with Gaye at Hampden–Sydney College, just outside the town of Farmville, Virginia, Terrell collapsed into Gaye's arms onstage. Shortly after returning from Virginia, doctors diagnosed a malignant tumor on the right side of Terrell's brain. She underwent brain surgery at Graduate Hospital in Philadelphia on January 13, 1968.

After recovering from her first surgery, Terrell returned to Hitsville studios in Detroit and recorded "You're All I Need to Get By". Both that song and "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" reached No. 1 on the R&B charts. Despite Terrell's optimism, her tumor worsened, requiring more surgeries. By 1969, Terrell had retired from live performances as doctors had ordered her not to perform due to her tumors. In early 1969, Motown issued Terrell's first and only solo album, Irresistible. She was too ill to promote the recordings. The album had no new repertoire, and all tracks had been recorded earlier and shelved for some time.

Marvin Gaye and Valerie Simpson gave different stories on how the production of Terrell's and Gaye's third and final album together, Easy, went about. According to reports, Terrell had become so ill due to her operations that she could not record, and Motown opted to have Simpson sub in for Terrell. This report was repeated in the book Marvin Gaye: What's Going On and the Last Days of the Motown Sound. Gaye would later say the move was "another moneymaking scheme on B.G.'s [<nowiki/>Berry Gordy's] part."

Simpson, on the other hand, stated that the ailing Terrell was brought into the studio when she was strong enough to record over Simpson's guide vocals, insisting Terrell had sung on the album. Easy produced the singles "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By", "What You Gave Me", "California Soul", and the U.K. top-10 hit "The Onion Song". Late in 1969, Terrell made her final public appearance at the Apollo Theater, where Marvin Gaye performed.

During the Motortown Revue in 1966, Terrell embarked on a torrid romance with The Temptations lead singer David Ruffin. That year, Terrell accepted Ruffin's surprise marriage proposal. After Terrell announced their engagement onstage during an appearance together, she discovered that he was already married. It was rumored that Ruffin also hit Terrell in the head with a hammer, which further complicated her unknown condition. This rumor was disputed in Terrell's Unsung episode.

At the time of Terrell's death, she was engaged to Ernie Garrett, Terrell's funeral was held at the Janes Methodist Church in Philadelphia.

At the funeral, Gaye delivered a eulogy while "You're All I Need to Get By" was playing. According to Terrell's fiancé Ernie Garrett, who knew Gaye, Terrell's mother angrily barred everyone at Motown from the funeral, except for Gaye, who she felt was Terrell's closest friend. She blamed most of the label for failing to protect Terrell from David Ruffin during their relationship. Terrell was interred at Mount Lawn Cemetery in Sharon Hill, Pennsylvania.

Gaye reportedly never fully got over Terrell's death, according to several biographers who have stated that Terrell's death led him to depression and drug abuse. Additionally, Gaye's classic album What's Going On, a reflective, low-key work that dealt with mature themes, released in 1971, was in part a reaction to Terrell's death.

Awards and nominations

Terrell and Marvin Gaye were nominated for Best Rhythm & Blues Group Performance, Vocal or Instrumental for their song "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" at the 10th Annual Grammy Awards in 1968. The song was later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999.

! style="width:35px;"| US R&B

|| 1970

| style="text-align:left;"| Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's Greatest Hits

| 171

| 17

| 60

|| Tamla

|| 1980

| style="text-align:left;"| Superstar Series Volume 2 (with Marvin Gaye)

| —

| rowspan="2"| Motown

|| 2000

| style="text-align: left;"| 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

| —

| rowspan="2"| 2001

| style="text-align:left;"| The Essential Collection

| —

|| Spectrum

| style="text-align:left;"| The Complete Duets (with Marvin Gaye)

| —

|| Motown

|| 2010

| style="text-align:left;"| Come On and See Me: The Complete Solo Collection

| —

|| Hip-O Select

|| 2011

| style="text-align:left;"| Icon: Love Songs (with Marvin Gaye)

| —

|| Motown

| style="text-align: center;" colspan="6"| "—" denotes recordings that did not chart or were not released.

Singles

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"

! rowspan="2"| Year

! rowspan="2"| Title

! colspan="5"| Peak chart positions

! rowspan="2" |Certifications

! rowspan="2" | Album

|- style="font-size:smaller;"

! style="width:35px;"| US

! style="width:35px;"| CAN

! style="width:35px;"| UK

GER: Gold
NZ: 5× Platinum
UK: 4× Platinum

| rowspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | United

| style="text-align:left;"| "Your Precious Love" (with Marvin Gaye)

| 5

| 2

| 92

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You" (with Marvin Gaye)

| 10

| 2

| 72

| —

| 41

| rowspan="5"|1968

| style="text-align:left;"| "If This World Were Mine" (with Marvin Gaye)

| 68

| 27

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" (with Marvin Gaye)

| 8

| 1

| —

| 9

| 34

| rowspan="3" style="text-align:left;" | You're All I Need

| style="text-align:left;"| "You're All I Need to Get By" (with Marvin Gaye)

| 7

| 1

| —

| 10

| 19

| style="text-align:left;"| "Keep On Lovin' Me Honey" (with Marvin Gaye)

| 24

| 11

| —

| 27

| —

| style="text-align:left;"| "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)"

| 67

| 31

| —

| 89

| —

| style="text-align:left;" | Irresistible

| rowspan="4"|1969

| style="text-align:left;"| "You Ain't Livin' till You're Lovin'" (with Marvin Gaye)

| —

| 21

| style="text-align:left;" | You're All I Need

| style="text-align: left;"| "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By" (with Marvin Gaye)

| 30

| 11

| —

| 65

| 26

| rowspan="4" style="text-align:left;" | Easy

| style="text-align:left;"| "What You Gave Me" (with Marvin Gaye)