Biography:

The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted 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 deal. 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.

Founded in 1960 while the group’s founding members performed together at their glee club at Inkster High School in Inkster, Michigan, they signed to Motown’s Tamla label in 1961. Some of the group’s early hits were written by band members and some of Motown’s rising singer-songwriters such as Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye, who played drums on a majority of their early recordings. Despite their early successes, the group was eclipsed in popularity by groups like the Supremes, with whom they shared an intense rivalry.

Nevertheless, they managed a major comeback in 1966 with “Don’t Mess with Bill“, along with several other hits. They struggled with problems of poor promotion from Motown, health issues and substance abuse with Cowart the first to leave in 1963, followed by Georgeanna Tillman in 1965, and Gladys Horton in 1967. The group ceased performing together in 1969 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 left the music business.

The group has received several honors including induction into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, as well as receiving the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. In 2005, two of the group’s most successful recordings, “Please Mr. Postman” and “Don’t Mess with Bill” earned million-selling Gold singles from the RIAA. On August 17, 2013, in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland State University, the Marvelettes were inducted into the first class of the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame.

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.^[2] Horton enlisted older glee club members Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, and a high school graduate Georgia Dobbins (May 5, 1942 – September 18, 2020)^[3] to join her.^[4] 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”.

In 1961, the quintet, now called the Marvels, entered a talent show contest on the behest of their teacher and ended up finishing in fourth place. Though only the first three winners were offered a trip to audition for the fledgling Motown label, two of the girls’ schoolteachers advised that they be allowed to audition too. Upon auditioning for Motown executives including Brian Holland and Robert Bateman, they had a second audition with bigger staff including Smokey Robinson and the label president and founder, Berry Gordy, who while impressed with their vocal styles advised them to come back with their own composition.^[2] Returning to Inkster, Georgia Dobbins contacted a local musician named William Garrett, who had an unfinished blues composition titled “Please Mr. Postman“; Garrett allowed Dobbins to use it as long as he received songwriting credit if the song became a hit. Despite having no previous songwriting experience, Dobbins took the song home and reshaped it overnight to reflect the teenage sound of doo-wop.^[5]

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.^[2] The following month, the group recorded “Please Mr. Postman”, which was polished by Brian Holland, Robert Bateman and Freddie Gorman, another songwriting partner of Holland (before Holland became part of the Holland–Dozier–Holland team), who moonlighted as a mailman, as well as the song “So Long Baby”, sung by Wanda.^[2] Tamla issued “Please Mr. Postman” on August 21, 1961.^[6] 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.^[2]

To follow up on this success, Motown had the group record “Twistin’ Postman” to take advantage of the twist dance craze and the re-release of Chubby Checker‘s “The Twist“.^[2] The song eventually peaked at number 34 on the pop chart in early 1962. Before the end of 1961, Tamla issued the first Marvelettes album, also named Please Mr. Postman, but it failed to chart.^[2] The group’s next single, “Playboy“,^[2] marked the second time one of their singles was written by a band member, this time by Gladys Horton. Like “Postman”, the song was retooled by other writers and upon its release in early 1962, reached number 7. A fourth hit, “Beechwood 4-5789“,^[2] co-written by Marvin Gaye, reached number 17. During 1962, two more albums would be issued by the band including Smash Hits of ’62 (later issued as The Marvelettes Sing) and Playboy. Following the success of “Beechwood”, R&B radio stations also frequently played the single’s flip side, “Someday, Someway”, which paid off sending the song to number 8 on the R&B chart; their first double-sided hit.

Due to their success, the group had to leave school in order to perform and despite the promise of tutors to help with their schooling, they were never granted any. Due to their young ages and Horton being an orphaned ward of the courts, they eventually were taken in by Esther Gordy Edwards, who bused them to Motortown Revue shows. After several successful Top 40 recordings, the group released the modest success, “Strange I Know”, which peaked at number 49. In early 1963, the group was shortened to a quartet when Juanita Cowart opted to leave,^[2] citing a mental breakdown caused by stress from performing on the road, and a mistake she made in describing the group’s background, during an appearance on American Bandstand. Carrying on as a quartet, the group issued one of Holland–Dozier–Holland‘s early compositions, “Locking Up My Heart“, which peaked at number 44. It was one of the first singles to feature Horton and Young in co-leads. The success of “Locking” was probably tested due to strong airplay by the song’s B-side, the Young-led ballad “Forever”, which also received a pop charting, peaking at number 78. Then Berry Gordy composed and produced the single, “My Daddy Knows Best”, but it was their lowest charting at the time, number 67.^[7]

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