The Original Marvelettes: Motown's Mystery Girl Group
Before the Supremes or Temptations scaled the pop charts, the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" became Motown's very first chart topper, in 1961. (Released on Motown's Tamla label, it was the company's, not the Motown label's, first number-one hit.) By the time the Marvelettes duplicated that success with "Don't Mess with Bill" in 1965, they had been supplanted in the distaff portion of the Motown pantheon, first by the gritty Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, then by Diana Ross and the Supremes. In all, the Marvelettes had 10 top-40 hits and survived the mid-1960s British invasion of American pop charts while such classic girl groups as the Shirelles didn't. Veteran R & B and soul scene observer Taylor tells the group's story amid the overall Motown story. The Marvelettes were an early and important Motown asset, but label boss Berry Gordy put their career on the back burner when he decided to concentrate his efforts on first Reeves and then Ross. That's Gordy for you, and this is vintage pop music history, entertaining and informative.Mike TribbyCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved