Georgeanna Tillman cause of death systemic lupus erythematosus
Later years
In January 1980, former Marvelette and original member Georgeanna Tillman died from complications of lupus, in her mother's house in Inkster, at the age of 36. Shortly afterwards, several of the former members filed suit against Motown, complaining of not receiving any royalties from their work. In 1989, Gladys Horton tried to reunite the original Marvelettes after being offered a contract with Motorcity Records. Wanda Young was the only other Marvelette to agree to sing on the recording. Following this, Horton continued to perform, sometimes as "Gladys Horton of the Marvelettes". Due to a legal disagreement with Larry Marshak, who bought the Marvelettes' name from Motown after the label lost rights to the name, Horton would fight for years to retain ownership of the name. Marshak had several groups billing themselves as "the Marvelettes", but the women who portrayed themselves as the Marvelettes were much younger than the original line-up, and had not recorded on any of the Marvelettes' original Motown hits.By 2006, thanks to the efforts of former Supremes singer Mary Wilson, legislation had been launched in 33 states via the Truth In Music Act to prevent performers from using the name of a group that didn't have at least one original member, causing the groups who Marshak had hired as Marvelettes to bill themselves as "Tribute to the Marvelettes". Both Horton and Katherine Anderson began fighting to get back ownership of the name and were in their final stages of having the name returned to them when Horton died from a stroke at a California nursing home in January 2011. Following their exits from the Marvelettes, both Georgia Dobbins and Juanita Cowart remained in Inkster and settled into life outside the entertainment industry, with Cowart being active in her Inkster church choir. Katherine Anderson resides in Inkster and mentors several Detroit-area vocal groups. Ann Bogan, the latter-day member of the group, now lives in Cleveland, Ohio and became a part of the New Birth and their subgroup, Love, Peace & Happiness, before retiring to raise her children. All the surviving members of the group at that time, including Dobbins and Rogers, were interviewed for an episode of their lives on the TV-One show, Unsung.
Georgia Dobbins died of cardiac arrest on September 18, 2020, at age 78. Wanda Rogers was living in Westland, Michigan with her daughter until her death on December 15, 2021, also at age 78.
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