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, 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.
Gladys Catherine Horton 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.
Wanda LaFaye Young, also known as Wanda Rogers, was an American singer, known for being a member and, after 1965, the lead singer of the popular Motown all-female singing group the Marvelettes.
"Don't Mess with Bill" is a million-selling Gold-certified 1966 single recorded by The Marvelettes for Motown Records' Tamla label. Written and produced by Smokey Robinson, "Don't Mess with Bill" features a lead vocal by Wanda Young. The single peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1966, and at number three on Billboard's R&B singles chart. "Don't Mess with Bill" was the Marvelettes' final Top 10 single.
"Beechwood 4-5789" is a song written by Marvin Gaye, William "Mickey" Stevenson and George Gordy. It was a 1962 hit single for the Motown girl group The Marvelettes on Motown's Tamla subsidiary record label. The song became a hit again when it was covered by the pop duo The Carpenters in 1982.
"A Breathtaking Guy" is a 1963 song written and produced by Smokey Robinson and released first by Motown singing group The Supremes (1963) and later by The Marvelettes (1972). The single was originally released under the title "A Breath Taking, First Sight Soul Shaking, One Night Love Making, Next Day Heartbreaking Guy" by The Supremes, but was shortened after its official release. All three Supremes members - Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson - sang the chorus with the original title together.
"When the Lovelight Starts Shining Through His Eyes" is a song written by Holland–Dozier–Holland and recorded in 1963 by Motown singing group The Supremes. It is notable as the Supremes' first Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 recording, following seven previous singles between January 1961 and September 1963 which failed to enter the Top 40. The single is also notable as the first Supremes single written and produced by Holland–Dozier–Holland, who had previously created hits for Martha and the Vandellas and Mary Wells.
"I Want a Guy" is a song written by Freddie Gorman, Berry Gordy and Brian Holland and was the debuting single for Motown girl group The Supremes in 1961. It was also recorded by The Marvelettes on their album Please Mr. Postman. Featuring Diana Ross in lead, the song was a doo-wop ballad similar to what the Supremes had been recording since forming as "The Primettes" two years earlier.
Georgeanna Marie Tillman was an American singer and an original member of the Motown girl group The Marvelettes.
"Playboy" is a song composed by Brian Holland, Robert Bateman, Mickey Stevenson and singer Gladys Horton, lead vocalist of the Motown singing group The Marvelettes, who recorded the song and released it as a single on Motown's Tamla imprint in 1962. The single, led by Horton, is about a man who fools around with a lot of women and the woman who narrates the story warns him to stay away from her due to the stories she heard of him "running around with every woman in town". Horton is helped out in the song by her Marvelettes cohorts Wanda Young, Georgeanna Tillman, Katherine Anderson & Juanita Cowart. This was released as the third single by the Marvelettes and was their second top ten pop hit reaching number seven on the charts while reaching number four on the R&B chart.
"Twistin' Postman" is a song recorded by Motown singing group The Marvelettes, who released it in 1961, and was the follow-up to their smash debut single, "Please Mr. Postman". Much like that song, it is led by original Marvelette Gladys Horton, and is partially based on the then-current Twist dance move. The song's subject is a sequel of the original "Postman" single and this time the narrator is finally happy that the postman has delivered a letter from the narrator's boyfriend. The song became a modest hit for the group reaching number thirteen on the R&B charts and number thirty-four on the pop singles chart in early 1962. A third single, "Playboy", would return the group to the top ten of the pop and R&B charts later that year.
"I'll Keep Holding On" is a song composed by Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Jo Hunter and recorded by Motown singing group The Marvelettes, who released the single on the Tamla imprint in 1965. Peaking at #34 on the Billboard Hot 100, the single returned the group to the top forty after a year recording songs that performed below the top forty. This was among the first A-side singles that longtime Marvelettes member Wanda Young sung lead on. Before 1965, the majority of the leads in Marvelettes songs had belonged to original member Gladys Horton. The single features a woman determined to win the love of an unknowingly conquest telling him that she'll convince him to love her "until my will to resist is gone". Her Marvelettes band mates Gladys Horton and Katherine Anderson egg her on with her ad-libbing "oh yeah/sho' nuff" in the bridge leading up to the chorus. The single was covered by British mod-pop act, The Action in 1966. It then returned across the Atlantic in 1998 to be released on Mink Rat or Rabbit by the Detroit Cobras.
Katherine Elaine Anderson Schaffner is an American singer, famed for her tenure in the Motown all-female singing group the Marvelettes. Though not known for any lead spots acquired by Gladys Horton, Wanda Young, or Ann Bogan, Schaffner's role was as notable as she was the only member to survive the group's several incarnations that occurred during the 1960s until breaking up in 1970.
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, The Marvelettes' cover became a regional hit.
Playboy is the third album by the Motown girl group The Marvelettes, released in 1962. It capitalized on their hit singles "Playboy" and "Beechwood 4-5789". It also includes the single "Someday, Someway" and "Forever", a heartfelt standard that would be released the following year as the B-side of the single "Locking Up My Heart" and join the A-side on the charts. Other compositions include "Goddess of Love", "Cry Over You", and "Mix It Up". George Gordy, William "Mickey" Stevenson and Marvin Gaye, who had produced "Beechwood 4-5789" all did some work on the Playboy LP as well.
Sophisticated Soul is the eighth album issued by Motown girl-group The Marvelettes. It is the first album to feature Ann Bogan who replaced Gladys Horton in 1967, and most of the lead vocals are by Wanda Young. Like many Motown albums produced in the late 1960s, Sophisticated Soul featured backing from The Andantes, Motown's premier backing group, on certain tracks, others feature Bogan and Katherine Anderson.
"Too Hurt to Cry, Too Much in Love to Say Goodbye" is a 1963 song and single written and composed by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland. Credited to the Darnells the performers on both sides of the single were in fact the Andantes, Holland–Dozier–Holland, Mary Wilson of the Supremes (B-side), and members of the Marvelettes, the Four Tops, and the Temptations. Nobody involved with the production on either side was pleased with the false credit. Whatever the reason it was done, it didn't work as the single only peaked at 17 on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 charts.
"(Like A) Nightmare" is a 1964 single recorded by The Andantes for the V.I.P. (Motown) label. Written and composed by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, it became the second and last official single by the session group from the company.
The Marvelous Marvelettes is the fourth studio album released by the Marvelettes for the Tamla label. It is the first album to not feature original Marvelette, Juanita Cowart, who left the group in early 1963. The group would remain a quartet for the next two years. Also featured on the album is Rosalind Ashford of Martha and the Vandellas, who filled in for Marvelette Wanda Young in the studio while the latter was on maternity leave, while Florence Ballard of The Supremes replaced her in live performances. The album features three singles: 'Strange I Know', 'Locking Up My Heart', and 'My Daddy Knows Best'.
Originally titled The Marvelettes Smash Hits of 1962, The Marvelettes Sing was rushed out in April of that year, not a month after most of it was recorded in a few fast sessions, to try extending the commercial life of the number 34 pop charting "Twistin' Postman". In keeping with the latter record and the tastes of the times, there is a certain emphasis on "Twist" sides here, including a rendition of Sam Cooke's "Twistin' the Night Away". The Marvelettes Sing also included their rendition of the Mary Wells number "The One Who Really Loves You", using the same backing track as Wells' record.
