"by radio station WJLB. When the Satintones disbanded in 1961, after several record releases on Motown but without a hit, Bateman formed a writing and production partnership with Brian Holland, being credited as ""Brianbert"". They worked with Georgia Dobbins of the Marvelettes to rewrite ""Please Mr. Postman"", a song that had been partly written by Dobbins' friend William Garrett. Bateman and Holland then produced the Marvelettes' recording of the song, which became the first Motown song to reach the number one position on the ""Billboard"" Hot 100 pop singles chart, and was later also recorded successfully by the Beatles and"
"to form a group with fellow high schoolers Gladys Horton, Georgia Dobbins and her friends Juanita Cowart and Georgeanna Tillman. The group named themselves the Casinyets and began performing at local high-schools and basement parties before finally landing an important audition at Motown where, already changing their name to the Marvels, they performed a rendition of a song that Dobbins had co-written called ""Please Mr. Postman"". It became Motown's first No. 1 pop hit. Fellow Inkster High class mate Wanda Young replaced Dobbins and the group recorded ""Please Mr. Postman"" in 1961 signing to Motown as the Marvelettes. Anderson was"
"to Motown's Tamla subsidiary but not before changing their name to the Marvelettes after Motown CEO Berry Gordy claimed their original name was harder to pronounce. ""Please Mr. Postman"" became Motown's first number-one hit on the pop charts and their second million-seller. Tillman would sing on a total of thirteen Marvelettes singles including the follow-up hits ""Twistin' Postman"", ""Playboy"", ""Beechwood 4-5789"" and ""Too Many Fish in the Sea"". In 1962, original member Juanita Cowart sang for the Marvelettes until the end of 1963. Continuing on as a quartet, Tillman soon began to have health problems and by 1963 was diagnosed"
"spot Horton was not comfortable with in the beginning. The group changed their name to the Marvelettes shortly after Motown signed the act and released ""Please Mr. Postman"" in the summer of 1961 when Horton was reportedly just fifteen years old. The single eventually hit No. 1 on the ""Billboard"" Hot 100 – becoming Motown's first No. 1 Pop hit – and turning the group into instant Motown stars. Horton would later sing lead on Marvelettes' classics such as ""Playboy"", ""Beechwood 4-5789"" and ""Too Many Fish in the Sea"". Horton's position as lead vocalist ended in 1965 with Wanda Young,"
"""Billboard"" pop charts on January 16, 1961 (No. 1 pop, Cash Box), which established Motown as an independent company worthy of notice. Later in 1961, the Marvelettes' ""Please Mr. Postman"" made it to the top of both charts. Gordy's gift for identifying and bringing together musical talent, along with the careful management of his artists' public image, made Motown initially a major national and then international success. Over the next decade, he signed such artists as the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Jimmy Ruffin, the Contours, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Commodores, the Velvelettes, Martha and"
"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 Motown's first #1 Pop single in late 1961—it also held the top slot for seven weeks on ""Billboard""'s R&B chart. Young sang lead on the B-side of the single on a ballad, ""So Long, Baby"". While Young did occasionally sing leads on Marvelettes' album cuts, Horton was the main vocalist of the group for singles. Young sang co-lead on Marvelettes' songs, including singles ""Locking Up My Heart"" and ""Too"
"hit. Until then, the Supremes was a regional R&B favorite, with their most successful single being ""A Breathtaking Guy"", which peaked at number 75 on the Hot 100. The group's competitors inside Motown included The Marvelettes, Motown's first successful female group, but also with Martha and the Vandellas, whose early hits included ""(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave"" and ""Quicksand"". Struggling to find producers who could give the Supremes a successful hit after both he and Smokey Robinson had failed, Motown CEO Berry Gordy decided to have the team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, who would end up being the dominant songwriting and"
"success. Early releases by The Temptations and The Supremes also failed to gain national attention. Finally, however, after the release of The Marvelettes' ""Please Mr. Postman"", which had a younger R&B sound that also attracted pop audiences and became Motown's first number-one pop single, Gordy decided to have its artists produce a much younger R&B sound. Though Marvin Gaye initially didn't want to go along with it, after seeing the success the Marvelettes had had with a song he co-wrote for them, ""Beechwood 4-5789"" and the emerging pop success of Mary Wells, Gaye changed his mind and began composing songs"
"The World. Iola, Wisc. Krause Publications. pp. 276. . ^ Clemente, John (2013). Girl Groups—Fabulous Females Who Rocked The World. Bloomington, IN Authorhouse Publications. pp. 623. (sc); (e). The Marvelettes The Marvelettes was an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early- to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson (now Schaffner), Georgeanna Tillman (later Gordon), Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who was replaced by Wanda Young (now Rogers) prior to the group signing their first deal. They were the first major successful act of Motown Records after the Miracles and its first significantly"
"success could be capitalized. All of the tracks from the album can be found on the Hip-O Select deluxe compilation CD ""Forever: The Complete Motown Albums"". ""Superscript identifies lead singer: (a) Gladys Horton, or (b) Wanda Young"" Please Mr. Postman (album) Please Mr. Postman is the 1961 studio debut album from Motown girl group The Marvelettes and the sixth album ever released by the company. The focal track is the number-one hit single, ""Please Mr. Postman"". The album notably features cover versions of label mates The Miracles' ""Way Over There and ""I Want a Guy"", which was the debut single"
"topping the ""Billboard"" pop charts in the fall of 1961, and Gordy returned the favor by releasing the Gorman solo single ""The Day Will Come"" on Motown's Miracle Records subsidiary. Holland and Gorman also continued their songwriting partnership, with collaboration with Berry Gordy for The Supremes' first single ""I Want a Guy"". Then, Holland and Gorman expanded to a triumvirate with the addition of Lamont Dozier to make it Holland–Dozier–Gorman. After a series of Motown productions including Mary Wells' ""Old Love"", Smokey Robinson & the Miracles ""Mr. Misery (Let Me Be)"", The Contours' ""Pa, I Need a Car"", the Marvelettes'"
"Motown) reissue of the song became a hit, making #34 on the UK Singles Charts in August of that year. Despite the newfound success, The Velvelettes did not reunite until the 1980s; they would go on to record (with all four original members) for Ian Levine's Motorcity Records as well. Their next single was a rerecorded version of their hit ""Needle In A Haystack"", released on Levine's Nightmare label some 21 years after this song. Diana Ross, who had been the lead singer of The Supremes, left the group for a solo career in early 1970. She recorded ""These Things"
"Gladys Horton Gladys Catherine Horton (May 30, 1945 – January 26, 2011) (various sources cite her year of birth as 1944) was an American R&B and pop singer, famous for being the founder and lead singer of the popular Motown all-female vocal group The Marvelettes. Born in Gainesville, Florida, she was raised in the western Detroit suburb of Inkster by foster parents. By the time of her high school years at Inkster High School on Middlebelt Road, Gladys had taken a strong interest in singing, joining the high school glee club. In 1960 Horton formed a group with her former"
"Please Mr. Postman (album) Please Mr. Postman is the 1961 studio debut album from Motown girl group The Marvelettes and the sixth album ever released by the company. The focal track is the number-one hit single, ""Please Mr. Postman"". The album notably features cover versions of label mates The Miracles' ""Way Over There and ""I Want a Guy"", which was the debut single for fellow Motown girl group The Supremes the same year, and their cover had served as the b-side to ""Twistin' Postman"" the less successful follow-up to ""Please Mr. Postman."" Although the original version by The Supremes flopped,"
"in December 2012. The trio came together at Motown in the early 1960s. Eddie Holland had been working with Motown founder Berry Gordy prior to that label being formed; his 1958 Mercury single ""You"" was one of Gordy's earliest productions. Later, Eddie Holland had a career as a Motown recording artist, scoring a US Top 30 hit in 1961 with ""Jamie"". Eddie's brother Brian Holland was a Motown staff songwriter who also tasted success in 1961, being a co-composer of the Marvelettes' US No. 1 ""Please Mr. Postman"". Dozier had been a recording artist for several labels in the late"
"in record promotion with Motown in the early years of the company. His first project there was the company's first Billboard Hot 100 number one record, ""Please Mr. Postman"" by The Marvelettes in 1961. He would go on to promote songs by the likes of The Supremes, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations and Marvin Gaye. He suggested the name of The Beach Boys when a Los Angeles group called The Pendletones had just recorded a song called ""Surfin'"". He also helped Frank Sinatra record his #4 hit, ""That's Life"" in 1966. He struck a deal with"
"Hot 100 dated 4 May 1963 showed ""Locking Up My Heart"" stalled at #44 as ""Forever"" debuted at #100; subsequently ""Locking Up My Heart"" would abruptly drop from the chart while ""Forever""'s popularity would fail to coalesce into major hit impact with the track peaking at #78. Both sides of the single ranked in the R&B Top 30 where ""Locking Up My Heart"" (#25) was succeeded by ""Forever""(#24). Locking Up My Heart ""Locking Up My Heart"" is a 1963 single released by Motown girl group The Marvelettes on the Tamla record label. The first charting single written and produced by"
"to marry. They have a son, Darrin Darnell. Tillman continued to work for Motown from 1965 until 1972 as a secretary. Following Motown's official move to Los Angeles, circa 1972, Tillman moved back to her mother's house in her hometown of Inkster, where she remained until her death from lupus and sickle cell anemia, on January 6, 1980, one month before her 36th birthday. Her body is interred in Belleville, Michigan. Georgeanna Tillman Georgeanna Marie Tillman (February 6, 1944 – January 6, 1980) was an American singer and an original member of the Motown girl group The Marvelettes. Born and"
"""Goldmine"" magazine from a 1984 article. In 2007, the Marvelettes were voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame. 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 much-covered 1961 million-selling # 1 hit tune ""Please Mr"
"Motown in March 1969, Taylor became the group's first producer. He supervised the bulk of their first album, ""Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5"", recording the Jacksons on a number of soul covers, including The Miracles' ""Who's Lovin' You"". Berry Gordy would later move the group to California and take personal control of their sound. Although Taylor would briefly join the Jacksons in California, he did not receive credit for working on the group's early singles such as ""I Want You Back"" and ""ABC"" alongside Gordy's team known as The Corporation. In addition to those, he produced most of their"
"to record music for Motown. ""Rolling Stone"" later described the young Michael as ""a prodigy"" with ""overwhelming musical gifts"" who ""quickly emerged as the main draw and lead singer."" The group set a chart record when its first four singles—""I Want You Back"" (1969), ""ABC"" (1970), ""The Love You Save"" (1970), and ""I'll Be There"" (1970)—peaked at number one on the ""Billboard"" Hot 100. In May 1971, the Jackson family moved into a large home on two-acre estate in Encino, California. During this period, Michael evolved from child performer into a teen idol. As Jackson began to emerge as a"
"retiring. In addition, her first ever single, back in 1979, was a disco cover of ""When You're Young and in Love"", which was most famously recorded by Motown female group the Marvelettes in 1967. Additionally, the debut single of Shalamar, the group originally created as a disco-driven vehicle by ""Soul Train"" creator Don Cornelius, was ""Uptown Festival"" (1977), a medley of 10 classic Motown songs sung over a 1970s disco beat. As disco's popularity sharply declined in the United States, abandoned by major U.S. record labels and producers, European disco continued evolving within the broad mainstream pop music scene. European"
"Motown's Mystery Girl Group"" by Marc Taylor makes it clear that the Marvelettes did turn it down. 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 reached the top forty with the Norman Whitfield production, ""Too Many Fish in the Sea"", reaching #25 with the recording. By now, Motown had begun"
"issuing the unsuccessful ""Generation, Light Up the Sky"" as the band's first single. Finally deferring to the band's wishes in February 1970, Motown released a three-minute edit of the song as a single, which became a hit. ""Get Ready"" hit No. 2 on the Cash Box Top 100 and peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100, a far better performance than the original. It took up the entire second side of their Platinum-selling Motown album, also titled ""Get Ready"". The Rare Earth version of the song also peaked at number twenty on the R&B chart. Today, ""Get Ready"" is"
"Motown Records purchased Golden Records/Ric-Tic from Wingate, the Flaming Ember chose not to sign with Motown. The band dropped the ""s"" from its name and scored a pop and rhythm and blues hit with ""Mind, Body and Soul"" in 1969 (#26 on the US Billboard pop singles chart), their signature song (and heartland rock antecedent) ""Westbound #9"" (#24 US pop, #15 US ""Billboard"" R&B chart), and ""I'm Not My Brother's Keeper"" (#34 pop, #12 R&B), all released between late 1969 and late 1970. The group's follow-up efforts such as 1971's ""Stop the World and Let Me Off"" were not as"
"song as a single in the United States, using a new mix of the song made in February 1970 (whereas the UK release had used the original 1967 stereo mix from the ""Make It Happen"" LP), where it became a #1 hit on both the pop and R&B charts within two months of its release. Despite the fact that the Miracles had been one of Motown's premier acts in the early and mid-1960s and its first successful group act, ""The Tears of a Clown"" was their first and only #1 hit while Smokey Robinson was lead singer. (The Miracles hit"
"since Motown already had its in-house backing group, The Andantes. The Velvelettes got their break chartwise in the spring of 1964 thanks to young producer Norman Whitfield, who produced ""Needle In A Haystack"" as a single for the group, on Motown's VIP Records imprint. ""Needle In A Haystack"" peaked at number 45 on the ""Billboard"" Hot 100 in mid 1964. The group recorded its follow-up, ""He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'"", with Whitfield again producing, and spent time on various Motown-sponsored tours as a support act. In September 1964, after recording ""Dancing In The Street"" earlier in June, Betty Kelley officially"
"Locking Up My Heart ""Locking Up My Heart"" is a 1963 single released by Motown girl group The Marvelettes on the Tamla record label. The first charting single written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, ""Locking Up My Heart"" was also the first single to feature Wanda Young as lead vocalist on the A-side, albeit in a split lead vocal with main lead vocalist Gladys Horton. The track was recorded 8 January 1963 in Studio A Hitsville USA and released 15 February 1963; the B-side: ""Forever"", was a cut from the 1962 ""Playboy"" album, written and produced by"
"providing hand claps and singing backup for Motown artists such as Marvin Gaye and the Temptations. During these years, all three members took turns singing lead: Wilson favored soft ballads, Ballard favored soulful, hard-driving songs, and Ross favored mainstream pop songs. Most of their early material was written and produced by Berry Gordy or Smokey Robinson. In December 1963, the single ""When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes"" peaked at number 23 on the ""Billboard"" Hot 100. ""Lovelight"" was the first of many Supremes songs written by the Motown songwriting and production team known as Holland–Dozier–Holland. In late 1963,"
"his first hit. Also, Smokey Robinson and the other Miracles composed songs such as ""The Way You Do the Things You Do"" and ""My Girl"" while on the road, which later became hits for The Temptations. The Miracles, Motown's first star act (and first million-selling group), always closed the show. After becoming a major force in the music industry during the mid-1960s, Motown continued to organize group tours under the Motortown Revue name. Later tours from the mid-1960s on covered the entire United States, and the rest of the world as well. A four-CD box set compiling the four issued"
"release on V.I.P. (V.I.P. 25034), the song was instead released on Motown's Soul imprint (as S 35025), in August 1966. It became a minor R&B hit in America, peaking at #43 on the US R&B Charts in late 1966. It nearly made it onto the ""Billboard"" Hot 100 as well, bubbling under at #102. A Velvelettes album project was also started, ""The Velvelettes"", and scheduled for release as V.I.P. 401. The LP was scrapped and the group disbanded shortly after. ""These Things Will Keep Me Loving You"" proved to be their last Motown single. In 1971, however, a British (Tamla"
"Motown's Gordy imprint. The group's string of hits included ""Come and Get These Memories"", ""Heat Wave"", ""Quicksand"", ""Nowhere to Run"", ""Jimmy Mack"", ""Bless You"" and ""Dancing in the Street"", the latter song becoming their signature single. During their nine-year run on the charts from 1963 to 1972, Martha and the Vandellas charted over twenty-six hits and recorded in the styles of doo-wop, R&B, pop, blues, rock and roll and soul. Ten Vandellas songs reached the top ten of the ""Billboard"" R&B singles chart, including two R&B number ones, and six Top Ten Pop Hits on the ""Billboard Hot 100"". Teenagers"
"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 primary female 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. Regarding the aforementioned 'Where Did Our Love Go', page 97 of the book ""The Original Marvelettes:"