Background
Terrell had been ill,suffering from complications caused by a brain tumor,since the fall of 1967. Marvin Gaye later claimed that as a result,most of the female vocals on this album were performed by Valerie Simpson,who served as co-songwriter and co-producer for the LP with her boyfriend and future husband Nickolas Ashford. [1]
Simpson is quoted in Ludie Montgomery's biography of Terrell,My Sister Tommie,as not having subbed Terrell for vocals. Simpson again explicitly denied having done so in the liner notes to The Complete Motown Singles series. [2] On the docuseries Unsung about Terrell,Simpson admitted she sang with Gaye during sessions saying,"I sang things with Marvin because Tammi was not available. And,then we would bring Tammi in to go over her parts. Those are Tammi Terrell vocals because we know that we went back in with Tammi and got what we needed."
Gaye at the time criticized Motown for the album thinking they were taking advantage of Terrell's health. Motown assured him proceeds from the album would go to Terrell's family for insurance of her health. At the time the album was released,Terrell was on her seventh operation to cure the brain tumor that would eventually kill her after the eighth operation. The album was released on compact disc in 1992,and again in 2001 as part of The Complete Duets .
Thomasina Winifred Montgomery, 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.
Ashford & Simpson were an American husband-and-wife songwriting, production and recording duo composed of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson.
"Ain't No Mountain High Enough" is a song written by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson in 1966 for the Tamla label, a division of Motown. The composition was first successful as a 1967 hit single recorded by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, and became a hit again in 1970 when recorded by former Supremes frontwoman Diana Ross. The song became Ross's first solo number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
"Your Precious Love" is a popular song that was a 1967 hit for Motown singers Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. The song was written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, and produced by Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol. The doo-wop styled recording features background vocals by Fuqua, Gaye, Terrell and Bristol, and instrumentals by The Funk Brothers with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. The song peaked at #5 on Billboard Pop Singles chart, #2 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, and the top 40 on Billboard's Easy Listening survey. The song was later sampled by Gerald Levert on the song, "Your Smile", on his 2002 album, The G Spot.
"You're All I Need to Get By" is a song recorded by the American R&B/soul duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and released on Motown Records' Tamla label in 1968. It was the basis for the 1995 single "I'll Be There for You/You're All I Need to Get By" from Method Man and Mary J. Blige.
United is a studio album by the soul musicians Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, released August 29, 1967 on the Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol produced all of the tracks on the album, with the exception of "You Got What It Takes" and "Oh How I'd Miss You". Fuqua and Bristol produced "Hold Me Oh My Darling" and "Two Can Have a Party" as Terrell solo tracks in 1965 and 1966, and had Gaye overdub his vocals to them in order to create duet versions of the songs.
You're All I Need is the second studio album by soul musicians Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, released in August 1968 on Motown-subsidiary label Tamla Records. Highlighted by three hit singles written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, You're All I Need was recorded throughout 1966 and 1967 and features two Top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits, "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By". It peaked at #60 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Album Chart. You're All I Need was the two singers' final collaboration effort, as Terrell would become ill following recording, before succumbing to a brain tumor in 1970.
Diana Ross is the debut solo studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on June 19, 1970 by Motown Records. The ultimate test to see if the former Supremes frontwoman could make it as a solo act, the album was overseen by the songwriting-producing team of Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, who had Ross re-record several of the songs the duo had recorded on other Motown acts. Johnny Bristol, producer of her final single with The Supremes, contributed on The Velvelettes cover "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You."
Diana & Marvin is a duets album by American soul musicians Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye, released October 26, 1973 on Motown. Recording sessions for the album took place between 1971 and 1973 at Motown Recording Studios in Hollywood, California. Gaye and Ross were widely recognized at the time as two of the top pop music performers.
Love Child is the fifteenth studio album released by Diana Ross & the Supremes for the Motown label in 1968. The LP was the group's first studio LP not to include any songs written or produced by any member of the Holland–Dozier–Holland production team, who had previously overseen most of the Supremes' releases.
Irresistible was the only solo album for Tammi Terrell, which was released in January 1969 by Motown Records. Due to complications with a malignant brain tumor in 1968 which caused her death in March 1970, Terrell did not record a subsequent solo album. This album compiles solo recordings Terrell made for Motown between 1965 and 1968. Two of the tracks included on this album were dubbed with vocals from Terrell's frequent singing partner Marvin Gaye to create album tracks for the duo's joint albums. These tracks were "Hold Me Oh My Darling" and "I Can't Believe You Love Me". A re-recorded version of "Come On and See Me" appears on the 1968 Gaye/Terrell album You're All I Need. "This Old Heart of Mine " is a remake of the 1966 Isley Brothers' hit by the same name.
Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's Greatest Hits is a 1970 compilation album released by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell on Motown's Tamla label. It is a collection of the duo's recording material, penned and produced by the songwriting-producing team of Ashford & Simpson except for two tracks. The album was released shortly after the death of Terrell, who died of a brain tumor at the age of 24.
The Complete Duets is a two-disc compilation album of duet recordings by Motown Records artists Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell, recorded between 1965 and 1969. The set compiles all of the tracks from the duo's three albums - United,You're All I Need and Easy - as well as several of Tammi Terrell's solo recordings and other previously unissued material.
The Essential Collection is a compilation album for Motown soul singer Tammi Terrell, released by Universal Music Group's Spectrum Music in the United Kingdom in 2001. The compilation includes Terrell's only solo album, Irresistible in its entirety, several B-sides and unreleased tracks, and Terrell's most famous duet recording with singing partner Marvin Gaye, "Ain't No Mountain High Enough".
"Keep On Lovin' Me Honey" is a 1968 hit written and produced by Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson, and issued as a single on Motown Records' Tamla label by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell. It was the third release from the duo's You're All I Need album. Billboard described the single as a "potent, driving rocker" that "will put [Gaye and Terrell] rapidly at the top." Cash Box said that it "blazes its way with terrific rhythmic impact and super-powered vocal splendor."
"Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By" is a duet released in 1969 on the Tamla label by singers Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.
"California Soul" is a funk-soul tune written by Ashford & Simpson, issued originally as the B-side of the Messengers' single "Window Shopping" in 1967 under the Motown group of labels.
"What You Gave Me" is a hit duet written and produced by Ashford & Simpson and issued as a single originally by the vocal duo of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell in 1969 on the Tamla label.
"You Ain't Livin' till You're Lovin'" is a 1968 single released on the Tamla-Motown label by Motown vocal duo Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.
What's Going On Live is a live album recorded in 1972 by American soul singer Marvin Gaye and released posthumously in 2019 by Motown. The album documents a live performance of his album What's Going On and has received mixed feedback from critics.
