The Marvelettes

The Marvelettes were an American girl group formed in Inkster, Michigan in 1960, consisting of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who was replaced by Wanda Young prior to the group signing their first record deal. Achieving popularity in the early to mid-1960s, they were the first successful act of Motown Records after the Miracles and its first significantly successful female group after the release of the 1961 number-one single, "Please Mr. Postman", one of the first number-one singles recorded by an all-female vocal group and the first by a Motown recording act.

The group struggled with problems of poor promotion from Motown, health issues and substance abuse, with Cowart the first to leave in 1963, followed by Tillman in 1965, and Horton in 1967. Nevertheless, they managed a comeback in 1966 with "Don't Mess with Bill". In 1969, the group ceased performing and disbanded the next year, following the release of The Return of the Marvelettes featuring only Young (under her married name, Wanda Rogers). That year, both Rogers and Katherine Anderson retired from the music business.

History

Origins and initial success

The group that would become the Marvelettes formed at Inkster High School in Inkster, Michigan, a suburb located west of Detroit, Michigan by fifteen-year-old glee club member Gladys Horton in the fall of 1960. to join her. The members struggled to come up with a name for their new act until one of the members jokingly took a stab at their own singing abilities, saying "we can't sing yet." Horton altered the saying to "the Casinyets".

Prior to returning to Motown, Dobbins left the group due to her growing family and her father, who advised her not to continue her career in show business. Dobbins' departure left Horton in full charge of the group. To replace her, Horton asked another Inkster graduate, Wanda Young, to replace Dobbins. When the group returned and performed their composition, Gordy agreed to work with the group but under the advice that they change their name. Gordy renamed them the Marvelettes and signed the act to Motown's Tamla division in July 1961. The song then climbed to the top of the singles chart, reaching number one that December, making them the first Motown act to have a chart-topper on the Hot 100.

Departure of Georgeanna Tillman and renewed success

By 1964, the majority of American vocal groups—especially all female bands such as the Shirelles and the Ronettes—started struggling with finding a hit, after the arrival of British pop and rock acts. In the meantime, other Motown girl groups such as Martha and the Vandellas and the Supremes were starting to get promoted by Motown staff, with the Vandellas becoming the top girl group of 1963. The following year, the Supremes took their place as the label's top female vocalist group after a succession of hit recordings that year, culminating in the release of their second album, Where Did Our Love Go, which Motown was able to promote successfully. Some sources claim "Where Did Our Love Go" was turned down by the Marvelettes. Gladys recalls "When they played 'Where Did Our Love Go' they played 'Too Many Fish in the Sea'. We picked 'Too Many Fish in the Sea' because it had all the music and all the bongos. We were all together and said at the same time we didn't want 'Where Did Our Love Go'."

That year, the Marvelettes hit the top forty with the Norman Whitfield production, "Too Many Fish in the Sea", reaching number 25 on the Hot 100 with the recording. By now Motown had begun its charm school, hiring choreographer Cholly Atkins and etiquette expert Maxine Powell to refine the label's acts. Atkins began polishing the Marvelettes' dance moves, while Powell taught the group to be more graceful, telling them and every other Motown act that they would "perform in front of kings and queens". Meanwhile, two of the Marvelettes got married: Georgeanna Tillman to longtime boyfriend Billy Gordon of the Contours, and Wanda Young to longtime boyfriend Bobby Rogers of the Miracles, changing her name to Wanda Rogers. By the end of 1964, Georgeanna Tillman, a longtime sufferer of sickle cell anemia, was diagnosed with lupus. By early 1965, struggling to keep up with their stringent recording sessions and touring schedules and her illnesses, a doctor of Tillman's advised her to leave performing for good. Marshak had several groups billing themselves as "the Marvelettes", but the women who portrayed themselves as the Marvelettes were much younger than the original line-up, and had not recorded on any of the Marvelettes' original Motown hits. Both Horton and Katherine Anderson began fighting to get back ownership of the name and were in their final stages of having the name returned to them when Horton died from a stroke at a California nursing home in January 2011. Following their exits from the Marvelettes, both Georgia Dobbins and Juanita Cowart remained in Inkster and settled into life outside the entertainment industry, with Cowart being active in her Inkster church choir. Katherine Anderson lived in Inkster, mentoring several Detroit-area vocal groups. Georgia Dobbins died of cardiac arrest in Inkster on September 18, 2020, at age 78.

In 2009, as part of Motown's 50th Anniversary celebrations, a new limited-edition triple-CD set on the group entitled The Marvelettes: Forever – The Complete Motown Albums Vol. 1 was released. This featured the group's first six albums, some of which had never been released on CD. The Marvelettes: Forever More – The Complete Motown Albums Vol. 2, which included their later albums and bonus material, was released in 2011. Their often covered million selling number one hit "Please Mr Postman" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2011.

The Marvelettes were nominated for 2013 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They became eligible for induction in 1987. Although they did not garner enough votes for induction, they made the ballot a second time for induction in the year 2015.

On August 17, 2013 the Marvelettes were inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland and again in June 2017 in Detroit, Michigan.

Members

Gladys Horton - lead vocals (1960–1967; died 2011)
Georgia Dobbins Davis - lead vocals (1960–1961; died 2020)
Katherine Anderson - vocals (1960–1969; died 2023)
Georgeanna Tillman - vocals (1960–1965; died 1980)
Juanita L. Cowart Motley - vocals (1960–1963)
Wanda Young - lead vocals (1961–1971; died 2021)
Ann Victoria Bogan - lead vocals (1967–1969)

Discography

Albums

{|class="wikitable"

!rowspan="2"|Year

!rowspan="2"|Album

!colspan="4"|Peak chart positions

!width="35"|US Pop

!width="35"|US R&B

| rowspan="2"|1961 || "Please Mr. Postman" (Tamla 54046) b/w "So Long Baby" || style="text-align:center;"|1 || style="text-align:center;"|1 || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

US: Gold
UK: Gold

|Please Mr. Postman

| "Twistin' Postman" (54054) b/w "I Want a Guy" (from Please Mr. Postman) || style="text-align:center;"|34 || style="text-align:center;"|13 || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| ||The Marvelettes Smash Hits of '62

| rowspan="4"|1962 || "Playboy" (54060) b/w "All the Love I've Got" (from Please Mr. Postman) || style="text-align:center;"|7 || style="text-align:center;"|4 || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| || rowspan="3" |Playboy

| "Beechwood 4-5789" (54065) / || style="text-align:center;"|17 || style="text-align:center;"|7 || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| "Someday, Someway" (54065) || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|8 || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| "Strange I Know" (54072) b/w "Too Strong to be Strung Along" || style="text-align:center;"|49 || style="text-align:center;"|10 || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| || rowspan="2" |The Marvelous Marvelettes

| rowspan="5"|1963 || "Locking Up My Heart" (54077) / || style="text-align:center;"|44 || style="text-align:center;"|25 || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| "Forever" (54077) || style="text-align:center;"|78 || style="text-align:center;"|24 || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| ||Playboy

| "My Daddy Knows Best" (54082) b/w "Tie a String Around Your Finger" (Non-album track) || style="text-align:center;"|67 || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| ||The Marvelous Marvelettes

| "As Long as I Know He's Mine" (54088) b/w "Little Girl Blue" (Non-album track) || style="text-align:center;"|47 || style="text-align:center;"|3* || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| ||The Marvelettes' Greatest Hits

| "Too Hurt to Cry, Too Much in Love to Say Goodbye" (as The Darnells) (Gordy 7024) b/w "Come on Home" || style="text-align:center;"|117 || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| ||Non-album tracks

| rowspan="3"|1964 || "He's a Good Guy (Yes He Is)" (54091) b/w "Goddess of Love" (from Playboy) || style="text-align:center;"|55 || style="text-align:center;"|18* || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| ||Anthology

| "You're My Remedy" (54097) b/w "A Little Bit of Sympathy, A Little Bit of Love" (Non-album track) || style="text-align:center;"|48 || style="text-align:center;"|16* || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| || rowspan="2" |The Marvelettes' Greatest Hits

| "Too Many Fish in the Sea" (54105) b/w "A Need for Love" (Non-album track) || style="text-align:center;"|25 || style="text-align:center;"|5* || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| rowspan="2"|1965 || "I'll Keep Holding On" (54116) b/w "No Time for Tears" (Non-album track) || style="text-align:center;"|34 || style="text-align:center;"|11 || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| ||Anthology

| "Danger Heartbreak Dead Ahead" (54120) b/w "Your Cheating Ways" (Non-album track) || style="text-align:center;"|61 || style="text-align:center;"|11 || style="text-align:center;"|— || style="text-align:center;"|—

| || rowspan="2" |The Marvelettes' Greatest Hits

| rowspan="2"|1966 || "Don't Mess with Bill" (54126) b/w "Anything You Wanna Do" (Non-album track) || style="text-align:center;"|7 || style="text-align:center;"|3 || style="text-align:center;"|70 || style="text-align:center;"|—

US: Gold