Returning to Inkster, Georgia Dobbins contacted a local musician named William Garrett, who had an unfinished blues composition titled ' Please Mr. Upon auditioning for Motown executives including Brian Holland and Robert Bateman, they had a second audition with bigger staff including Smokey Robinson and the label president and founder, Berry Gordy, who while impressed with their vocal styles advised them to come back with their own composition. Though only the first three winners were offered a trip to audition for the fledgling Motown label, two of the girls' schoolteachers advised that they be allowed to audition too. In 1961, the quintet, now called the Marvels, entered a talent show contest on the behest of their teacher and ended up finishing in fourth place. The members struggled to come up with a name for their new act until one of the members jokingly took a stab at their own singing abilities, saying 'we can't sing yet.' Horton altered the saying to 'the Casinyets'.

Horton enlisted older glee club members Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, and a high school graduate Georgia Dobbins (– September 18, 2020) to join her. The group that would become the Marvelettes formed at Inkster High School in Inkster, Michigan, a suburb located west of Detroit, Michigan by fifteen-year-old glee club member Gladys Horton in the fall of 1960. On August 17, 2013, in Cleveland, Ohio, at Cleveland State University, the Marvelettes were inducted into the first class of the Official Rhythm & Blues Music Hall of Fame.

Postman' and 'Don't Mess with Bill' earned million-selling Gold singles from the RIAA. In 2005, two of the group's most successful recordings, ' Please Mr. The group has received several honors including induction into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame, as well as receiving the Pioneer Award from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation. The group ceased performing together in 1969 and, following the release of The Return of the Marvelettes in 1970, featuring only Wanda Rogers, disbanded for good, with both Rogers and Katherine Anderson leaving the music business. They struggled with problems of poor promotion from Motown, health issues and substance abuse with Cowart the first to leave in 1963, followed by Georgeanna Tillman in 1965, and Gladys Horton in 1967. Nevertheless, they managed a major comeback in 1966 with ' Don't Mess with Bill', along with several other hits. Despite their early successes, the group was eclipsed in popularity by groups like the Supremes, with whom they shared an intense rivalry. Some of the group's early hits were written by band members and some of Motown's rising singer-songwriters such as Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye, who played drums on a majority of their early recordings. Postman', one of the first number-one singles recorded by an all-female vocal group and the first by a Motown recording act.įounded in 1960 while the group's founding members performed together at their glee club at Inkster High School in Inkster, Michigan, they signed to Motown's Tamla label in 1961. 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. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who was replaced by Wanda Young prior to the group signing their first deal. Used by permission.The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. and Stone Agate Music (A Division of Jobet Music Co., Inc.) All rights reserved. Postman' became a number-one hit again in early 1975 when The Carpenters' cover of the song reached the top position of the Billboard Hot 100. The single achieved this position in late 1961 it hit number one on the R&B chart as well. Postman' is the debut single by The Marvelettes for the Tamla (Motown) label, notable as the first Motown song to reach the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart. Georgia Dobbins, William Garrett, Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland, Robert Batemanīrianbert (Brian Holland & Robert Bateman) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. This article needs additional citations for verification.

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