caption associated_acts death_date death_place years_active birth_place label name background birth_date genre image article_title birth_name occupation
tammi terrell in april 1968 james brown , marvin gaye , ashford & simpson 16 march 1970 philadelphia , pennsylvania , u.s. 1959 -- 1969 philadelphia , pennsylvania , u.s. scepter/wand try me checker motown tamla tammi terrell solo_singer 29 april 1945 r & b , soul , pop tammi_duet_with_marvin gaye.jpg tammi terrell
 thomasina winifred montgomery singer , songwriter
tammi terrell

tammi terrell -lrb- born thomasina winifred montgomery ; april 29 , 1945 -- march 16 , 1970 -rrb- was an american recording artist , best known as a star singer for motown records during the 1960s , most notably for a series of duets with singer marvin gaye .
terrell 's career began as a teenager , first recording for scepter/wand records , before spending nearly two years as a member of james brown 's revue , recording for brown 's try me label .
after a period attending college , terrell recorded briefly for checker records , before signing with motown in 1965 .
with gaye , terrell scored seven top 40 singles on the `` billboard '' hot 100 , including `` ai n't no mountain high enough '' , `` ai n't nothing like the real thing '' and `` you 're all i need to get by '' .
terrell 's career was interrupted when she collapsed into gaye 's arms as the two performed at a concert at hampden -- sydney college on october 14 , 1967 , with terrell later being diagnosed with a brain tumor .
she had eight unsuccessful operations before succumbing to the illness on march 16 , 1970 at the age of 24 .
in may 2015 , it was announced that american actress and singer kat graham will star as the late artist in an upcoming untitled biopic .
