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The Andantes
The Andantes were an American female session group for the Motown record label during the 1960s. Composed of Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps, the group sang background vocals on numerous Motown recordings, including songs by Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, the Four Tops, Jimmy Ruffin, Edwin Starr, the Supremes, the Marvelettes, Marvin Gaye and the Isley Brothers, among others. It is estimated they appeared on 20,000 recordings. The Andantes provided back-up singing on Motown singles starting in 1962. The group was most prominently used on all of the Four Tops' Holland–Dozier–Holland-produced hits, including "Baby I Need Your Loving", "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)", "Reach Out I'll Be There", and more. Motown began to use the Andantes as background vocal substitutes for the vast majority of recordings for its girl groups beginning with the Marvelettes recordings in 1965, Martha & the Vandellas in 1966, and major p ...
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Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 census, making it the 27th-most populous city in the United States. The metropolitan area, known as Metro Detroit, is home to 4.3 million people, making it the second-largest in the Midwest after the Chicago metropolitan area, and the 14th-largest in the United States. Regarded as a major cultural center, Detroit is known for its contributions to music, art, architecture and design, in addition to its historical automotive background. ''Time'' named Detroit as one of the fifty World's Greatest Places of 2022 to explore. Detroit is a major port on the Detroit River, one of the four major straits that connect the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The City of Detroit anchors the second-largest regional economy in t ...
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AARP
AARP (formerly called the American Association of Retired Persons) is an interest group in the United States focusing on issues affecting those over the age of fifty. The organization said it had more than 38 million members in 2018. The magazine and bulletin it sends to its members are the two largest-circulation publications in the United States. AARP was founded in 1958 by Ethel Percy Andrus, a retired educator from California, and Leonard Davis, who later founded the Colonial Penn Group of insurance companies. It is an influential lobbying group in the United States. AARP sells paid memberships, and markets insurance and other services to its members. History According to the group's official history, AARP evolved from the National Retired Teachers Association (NRTA), which Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus had established in 1947 to promote her philosophy of productive aging, and to promote health insurance for retired teachers. In seeking group insurance coverage for retired teach ...
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Too Hurt To Cry, Too Much In Love To Say Goodbye
"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.The Complete Motown Singles Vol. 3: 1963 iner notes New York: Hip-O Select/Motown/Universal Records Credited to the Darnells, the performers on both sides of the single were in fact the Andantes (both sides), Holland–Dozier–Holland (B-side only), Mary Wilson of the Supremes (B-side), and members of the Marvelettes (A-side only), the Four Tops, and the Temptations (both on the B-side). 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. The song on the A-Side has the narrator the audience of the emotional pain she experiences after seeing her lover kissing and holding another girl across the room (and he didn't notice she was there). The A-Side is now offici ...
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Cindy Birdsong
Cynthia Ann Birdsong (born December 15, 1939) is an American singer who became famous as a member of The Supremes in 1967, when she replaced co-founding member Florence Ballard. Birdsong had previously been a member of Patti LaBelle & The Bluebells. Biography Early life Birdsong was born in Mount Holly, New Jersey on December 15, 1939, to parents Lloyd Birdsong, Sr. and Annie Birdsong. After living in Philadelphia for a duration of her childhood, the family returned to New Jersey, settling in Camden. Birdsong set her sights on becoming a nurse and attending college in Pennsylvania. When Cindy returned to Philadelphia she was contacted by a longtime friend, Patsy Holt, in 1960 to replace Sundray Tucker in Holt's singing group The Ordettes. At twenty years of age, Birdsong was the oldest member of the group with the remainder of the group still in their mid-teens. Patti LaBelle and The Bluebells In 1961, after a year performing in jubilees, sock hops and school functions, the O ...
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Mary Wilson (singer)
Mary Wilson (March 6, 1944 – February 8, 2021) was an American singer. She gained worldwide recognition as a founding member of The Supremes, the most successful Motown act of the 1960s and the best-charting female group in U.S. chart history, as well as one of the List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling girl groups of all-time. The trio reached number one on Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard''s Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 with 12 of their singles, ten of which feature Wilson on backing vocalist, backing vocals. Wilson remained with the group following the departures of the other three original members Barbara Martin (singer), Barbara Martin (in 1962), Florence Ballard (in 1967), and Diana Ross (in 1970), though the subsequent group disbanded following Wilson's own departure in 1977. Wilson later became a The New York Times Best Seller list, ''New York Times'' best-selling author in 1986 with the release of her first autobiography, ''Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme'', wh ...
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Martha & The Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves & The Vandellas) were an American vocal girl group formed in Detroit in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown. An act founded by friends Annette Beard, Rosalind Ashford and Gloria Williams, the group eventually included Martha Reeves, who moved up in ranks as lead vocalist of the group after Williams' departure in 1962. The group signed with and eventually recorded all of their singles for Motown's Gordy imprint. The group's string of hits included "Come and Get These Memories", "Heat Wave", "Quicksand", " Nowhere to Run", "Jimmy Mack", "I'm Ready for Love", "Bless You" and "Dancing in the Street", the latter song becoming their signature single. During their nine-year run on the charts from 1963 to 1972, Martha and the Vandellas charted over twenty-six hits and recorded in the styles of doo-wop, R&B, pop, blues, rock and roll and soul. Ten Vandellas songs reached the top ten of the ''Billboard ...
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Reach Out I'll Be There
"Reach Out I'll Be There" (also formatted as "Reach Out (I'll Be There)") is a song recorded by the Four Tops from their fourth studio album '' Reach Out'' (1967). Written and produced by Motown's main production team, Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is one of the most widely-known Motown hits of the 1960s and is today considered the Four Tops' signature song. It was the number one song on the Rhythm & Blues chart for two weeks and on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for two weeks, in October 15–22, 1966. The track also reached number one in the UK Singles Chart, becoming Motown's second UK chart-topper after The Supremes' 1964 release "Baby Love". It reached number one on October 27, 1966, and stayed there for three weeks. ''Rolling Stone'' later ranked “Reach Out” number 206 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". ''Billboard'' ranked the record as the number four song for 1966. In 2022, the single was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in th ...
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I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)
"I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch)" is a 1965 hit song recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, "I Can't Help Myself" is one of the most well-known Motown recordings of the 1960s and among the decade's biggest hits. The single topped the ''Billboards R&B chart for nine weeks (being named the biggest R&B single of the year by ''Billboard'') and also peaked at number one on the Hot 100 for two non-consecutive weeks, from June 12 to June 19 and from June 26 to July 3 in 1965. It replaced "Back in My Arms Again" by labelmates The Supremes. It was first unseated at number one by "Mr. Tambourine Man" by The Byrds, then regained the top spot before being replaced by the Rolling Stones blockbuster "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction". ''Billboard'' ranked the record as the second biggest single of 1965. "I Can't Help Myself" was the Four Tops' first Top 40 single in the UK, peaking at 23 in the ...
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Baby I Need Your Loving
"Baby I Need Your Loving" is a 1964 hit single recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song was the group's first Motown single and their first pop Top 20 hit, making it to number 11 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number four in Canada in the fall of 1964. It was also their first million-selling hit single. ''Cash Box'' described it as "an intriguing rock-a-cha-cha beat pleader...that he Four Topscarve out with solid sales authority." ''Rolling Stone'' ranked the Four Tops' original version of the song at No. 400 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. Personnel * Lead vocals by Levi Stubbs. * Background vocals by Renaldo "Obie" Benson, Lawrence Payton, Abdul "Duke" Fakir, and the Andantes: Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps. * Instrumentation by the Funk Brothers and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (strings). **Piano by Earl Van Dyke **Bass by James Jam ...
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Holland–Dozier–Holland
Holland–Dozier–Holland was a songwriting and production team consisting of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. The trio wrote, arranged and produced many songs that helped define the Motown sound in the 1960s. During their tenure at Motown Records from 1962 to 1967, Dozier and Brian Holland were the composers and producers for each song, and Eddie Holland wrote the lyrics and arranged the vocals. Their most celebrated productions were singles for the Four Tops and the Supremes, including 10 of the Supremes' 12 US No. 1 singles, including "Baby Love", "Stop! In the Name of Love", and "You Keep Me Hangin' On". From 1969 to 1972, due to a legal dispute with Motown, they did not write material under their own names, but instead used the collective pseudonym "Edythe Wayne". When the trio left Motown, they continued to work as a production team (with Eddie Holland being added to the producer credits), and as a songwriting team, until about 1974. The trio ...
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The Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers ( ) are an American musical group originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, that began as a vocal trio consisting of brothers O'Kelly Isley Jr., Rudolph Isley and Ronald Isley in the 1950s. With a career spanning over seven decades, the group has enjoyed one of the "longest, most influential, and most diverse careers in the pantheon of popular music". Together with a fourth brother, Vernon, the group performed gospel music until Vernon's death a few years after its formation. After moving to New York City in the late 1950s, the group had their first successes during these early years, and rose to prominence in 1959 with their fourth single, " Shout", written by the three brothers, which became their first single to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and sold over a million copies. In the 1960s, the group recorded songs for a variety of labels, including the top 20 single "Twist and Shout" and the Motown single "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)", before recor ...
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Edwin Starr
Charles Edwin Hatcher (January 21, 1942 – April 2, 2003), known by his stage name Edwin Starr, was an American singer and songwriter. Starr was famous for his Norman Whitfield-produced Motown singles of the 1970s, most notably the number-one hit "War". Born in Nashville and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, he later lived in Detroit while singing for Ric-Tic and Motown Records. He was backed by the band that became known as "Black Merda". Hawkins and Veasey of the group played on most of his early hits on the Ric Tic Label. Starr's songs " Twenty-Five Miles" and "Stop the War Now" were also major successes, in 1969 and 1971 respectively. In the 1970s Starr's base shifted to the United Kingdom, where he continued to produce music, and resided until his death. Early life Charles Edwin Hatcher was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on January 21, 1942. He and his cousins, soul singers Roger and Willie Hatcher, moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where they were raised. In 1957, Hatcher formed ...
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