Girl Group Chronicles: Marvelettes

The Motown Record Corporation, founded by Berry Gordy, made stars of many musical acts in the sixties. The Supremes, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye achieved tremendous success and fame, but none of these famous personalities gave Gordy his breakthrough hit. Motown's first number one single was by a group of five girls from Inkster, Michigan. That group was the Marvelettes.

Gladys Horton was an orphan who had moved from foster home to foster home. In an interview with Fred Bronson she claimed that "her childhood reminds her of the fictional heroine Pippi Longstocking." She sang in her churches choir, and her love of music led her to the glee club at her high school. When she heard an announcement for a school talent competition she asked several girls to come over to her house to form a group. Georgia Dobbins, Juanita Cowart, Georgeanna Tillman and Katherine Anderson formed the Casinyets with Gladys. Casinyet was a contraction for can't sing yet. According to Gladys, the girls didn't think they could sing, but they went on to perform "Come to Me", a song written by group member Dobbins. They placed fourth. But Mrs. Sharpley, one of their teachers, asked if they could go along with the other three winners for an audition at Motown.

The Casinyets went to Motown in April of 1961. They sang several songs by popular girl groups of the day, including the Chantels' "Maybe" and the Shirelles' "I Met Him on a Sunday". Robert Bateman who was giving the audition said that he liked their sound but wanted to here something more original. Georgia Dobbins knew a friend who was a composer. She told Bateman that she would find a song and that they would audition again. The five girls met at Georgeanna's house a few days later. Georgia began flipping through William Garrett's portfolio looking for a song that would lead to a contract with Motown. Gladys's looked over her shoulder and saw her looking "Please Mr. Postman." "Oh yeah, that is a cute title," she said. When Garrett performed for them, they found out that it was a blues song. Georgia said that they needed something a little more lively and fresh. Overnight, she wrote completely new lyrics and a new melody saving only the title.

The girls felt confident that they would be accepted at Motown. But Georgia told the group that she would be leaving the group to take care of her ailing mother. She asked Gladys's to sing lead. Horton protested saying she knew nothing about singing lead. But Georgia took time to teach her. The four girls now went about finding a new member. Wanda Young had already graduated from Inkster High and was about to leave for nursing college. With Wanda in the group the quintet was complete. The new Casinyets returned to Motown in May of 1961. Motown liked the song so much, that they took the group right to the studio. Marvin Gaye, who would achieve fame later in the decade with "I Heard it Through the Grape Vine." While the equipment was being set up the group was in the basement practicing. Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson, of the Supremes, stopped by to check out the competition. Florence told Gladys's that she had a beautiful voice, but that she should put some soul into the song by putting some "oh yeah's" in. They continued to practice and talk and a friendship was formed. After the recording Diane Ross (the name later changed to Diana) walked in and said, "What are you girls doing, coming in here and getting a hit before me." The Supremes were the first girl group signed to Motown, but their first two singles had failed to chart and they did not want another group pushing them out of the way and getting more attention.

Motown's first national hit had been "Shop Around" by the Miracles in early 1961. It had reached number two on the pop charts. Berry Gordy, owner of Motown was looking for a song to be a successful follow up, but had yet to find one. Berry thought that "Please Mr. Postman" would be that song. It was released the same month that Gladys's turned sixteen. The song's haphazard progress on the charts lead to it setting a record for the single taking the longest time to reach the top on the Billboard Hot 100. It began to rise slowly, reaching 79, but fell to 81 the following week. It took a giant jump to number 30, then fell to 33. Finally it surged again to number 19 and began it's climb to the top of the charts. It reached number one on December 11, 1961, where it stayed for one week. It became the first number one pop hit for Motown, and it also reached number one on the R&B charts. The single was backed with "So Long Baby" on which Wanda Young sang lead. The vocals were always shared within the group with Gladys's singing most of the early hits and Wanda singing most of the songs in the later half of the decade.

The vain follow-up to "Please Mr. Postman" was "Twistin' Postman", an unsuccessful attempt to repeat the winning formula. The song only reached number 34 on the pop charts, but managed to rise to number 13 on the R&B charts. The R&B charts seemed to be where the group achieved its greatest success. The Marvelettes had better success in 1962 with the top ten song "Playboy." This was the last song that featured Juanita Cowart. It had been written by Georgia Dobbins especially for the group. A further top twenty hit came later in the year with "Beachwood 4-5789", a chirpy song about a girl giving her phone number to a boy who had just lost his girl friend. It was written by Marvin Gaye and the backing track had already been recorded. All the girls had to do was place their vocals on the track to complete it. The Marvelettes' previous singles had seen them backed with a live band, but the excitement was not lost on this release.

Supremes fans are very familiar with the writing\producing team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland, but before they wrote and produced ten number one singles for that group, they were assigned to the Marvelettes. The first single to bear the name of the production team was "Locking up my Heart," released in early 1963. The song went to 44 on the pop charts and 25 on the R&B chart. The single may have been able to reach higher on the charts but it suffered from split air-play. Some D.J's preferred the "B"-side, "Forever." That song also managed to chart at number 70 on the po charts and number 24 on the R&B chart.

During the rest of 1963 the group released "My Daddy Knows Best," "Tie A String Around Your Finger," "As Long As I Know He's Mine," and "Little Girl Blue." Unfortunately for the Marvelettes, these songs were less successful. The group's success had begun to evaporate just as Motown was becoming an international force in the music business. Martha and the Vandella's had assumed the position as Gordy's number one priority, and other acts were beginning to surpass the Marvelettes.

Nonetheless, Holland-Dozier-Holland continued to produce for the group. At the end of 1963 "Too Hurt to Cry, Too Much In Love to Say Goodbye" was released under the pseudonym "the Darnells." It mimicked the "wall of sound" that had been made popular by Phil Spector. Motown wanted to see if they could put another name on the group's record and it would still be successful. But soon, fans from all around the country were writing letters saying they knew it was by the Marvelettes. Gladys's voice was too familiar.

In 1964 the group was given the song "Where Did Our Love Go." Lamont Dozier had sung part of it for Gladys, but she was not fond of it. She couldn't picture the Marvelettes singing "baby, baby" over and over. She preferred the other song that Dozier had with him, "Too Many Fish in the Sea." It had a heavy beat and bongo's and Gladys thought that it would be more original. She wasn't told that if she refused "Where Did Our Love Go," that it would be given to the Supremes. When she found out she went to Diane and told her that they had turned it down. When Diana learned that the Supremes, who still hadn't had a hit, were getting the rejects from the Marvelettes, she put up a fight. "It was one headache after another, but {The Supremes} did and they were quite disappointed with the outcome," Dozier said sarcastically. The song went to number one later that summer. Meanwhile, "Too Many Fish in the Sea" only went to number 25 on the pop charts and 15 on the R&B.

Smokey Robinson of the Miracles was also a producer and writer for the company. He had been impressed by the group when they traveled with The MotorTown Revue, a tour of America with many Motown acts on the bill, along with his group. He recorded "Your My Remedy" with the Marvelettes and used Wanda as the lead singer on the single. "{Wanda} had this little voice that was sexy to me, a little country kind of sexy voice," Smokey reveals. "I knew if I could get a song for her it would be a smash." The song only reached number 48 on both charts, however. Despite this set back, Smokey continued to use the Marvelettes. "I'll Keep On Holding On" was released in 1965. It was able to creep up to number 34 pop and number 11 R&B, but it still wasn't the hit they were looking for. Shortly after this single was released Georgeanna Tillman left the group to marry Billy Gordon of the Contours, another Motown group.

Finally, in mid-1965, the group released a long awaited hit. "Don't Mess With Bill" was another Robinson song. Contrary to popular belief the Bill mentioned in the song is not William "Smokey" Robinson. "The reason I used that name is...it sang well," says Smokey. But the song was able to bring the Marvelettes into the top ten for the first time since 1962. The song reached number 7 on the pop charts and number 3 on the R&B chart. The renewed interest in the Marvelettes could not have come at a better time. Other acts in Motown had established themselves as international stars and were Berry Gordy's top priority. The Marvelettes had been relegated to the second string of artists for some time, and they were given songs that had been turned down by other artists. This success of the single gave the group the boost that they needed.

The follow-up to "Don't Mess With Bill," was a soul inspired song named "The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game." Some of the Motown executives thought the song was too jazzy for Pop radio stations, but Smokey had faith in the record and pushed it. The song made it to number 13 on the pop charts and number 2 on the R&B chart, there highest entry on that chart since "Please Mr. Postman."

Their next release was a cover version of a Van McCoy song: "When Your Young And In Love." Van McCoy was only 18 years old in 1962 when he went to work as a staff writer for Leiber and Stoller, who had produced many memorable hits for Elvis Presley in the 50's. Aside from writing "When Your Young And In Love" for Ruby and the Romantics, he penned the classics: "Stop The Music" for the Shirelles, "Giving Up" for Gladys Knight and the Pips and "Baby I'm Yours" for Barbara Lewis. McCoy also had a successful recording career. He went to the number one position on the Billboard Hot one hundred in July 1975 with "The Hustle." The song won a Grammy award for the Best Pop Instrumental. McCoy then moved to Motown later that year to produce for David Ruffin, formerly of the Temptations. Six Months before his thirty-sixth birthday he died of a heart attack in Englewood, New Jersey.

The Marvelettes version was recorded in early 1967. It was produced by James Dean and William Weatherspoon for the album The Marvelettes. The new version peaked at number 23 on the pop charts and number 9 on the R&B charts. It continued the successful streak were having as of late. The Marvelettes version also inspired an a cappella hit by the Flying Pickets.

"My Baby Must Be A Magician" was the Marvelettes last Top Twenty hit, and arguably the most ambitious girl group release ever! The deep-voiced spoken entry by Melvin Franklin is an erie introduction to a very unique song. Smokey's lyrics compare a girl's boyfriend to a magician because he's got "the magic touch."  It went to number 17 on the pop charts and number 8 on the R&B chart in 1968.

The Marvelettes followed this song with several more execellent singles during the rest of 1968, but none of these songs made it into the pop top forty. They also released some albums which became very successful, but by this time the Marvelettes second wave of popularity was, sadly, for the most part over.

In late 1968 Gladys Horton decided to leave the group and to devote more time to her family. She was replaced by Anne Bogan, who, along with Wanda, sung lead on that last few Marvelette songs of the decade.

The Marvelettes finally decided to call it quits in 1969. But one year later an album called The Return of the Marvelettes could be found on the record shelves. The front cover displayed three women riding on horse-back. Wanda's face was clearly visible, but the other two figures were blurred.  It was later discovered that a two-thirds of a group called the Delicates (later part of the Undisputed Truth) were Wanda's back-up on the photo.  The album was recorded by Wanda and the Andantes, Motown's resident back-up group. It was used to fill their recording requirements. The first single to be released was "Marionette," which was originally written for Barbara McNair in the mid-sixties. It was followed by "A Breath Taking Guy," which had already been recorded by the Supremes on their debut album in 1963. But niether of these songs charted and the group officially disbanded. Motown exploited their name during the early seventies by having several group pose as the Marvelettes for touring purposes.

Gladys has made several attempts to reform the group during the remainder of the seventies and the eighties but Juanita had no interest in returning, Georgeanna died of sickle cell anemia on January 6, 1980, Katherine was involved with the Girl Scouts and other organizations and Wanda did not want to leave Detroit. Finally Wanda and Gladys got together in 1990 to recorded the album The Marvelettes...Now with supporting vocals given by Echo Johnson and Jean McLain. The latter were replaced by Jackie and Regina Holleman for subsequent recordings.  Songs like "Holding On With Both Hands," proved the group could rock better than ever!

The importance of this and other girl groups can not be overlooked. The Girl Group Era allowed for the first time, women to stand along side men in the music industry. The Marvelettes' repitoire consists of some of the greatest soul classic ever. And one cannot forget, that they gave Motown its first number one hit. The Marvelettes may be often immitated, but they can never be duplicated.

[Editor’s note: most information in this article was dervied from the liner notes of The Marvelettes Deliver The Singles 1961-1971, written by Fred Bronson]