"Bless You" is a 1971 hit single by

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

girl group

Martha and 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 ...

(credited as Martha Reeves & the Vandellas) and was the group's last significant hit before disbanding in 1972.

Overview

After a period of inactivity because of

Martha Reeves Martha Rose Reeves (born July 18, 1941) is an American R&B and pop singer. She is the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas which scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Come and Get These Memories", " Nowhere to R ...

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

, the singer returned to the studio with the new version of The Vandellas, who had gone through different member lineups. By now, the lineup of The Vandellas included Reeves' kid sister

Lois Reeves Sandra Delores Reeves (born April 12, 1948), better known as Lois Reeves, is an American singer, most notable for being the younger sister of Motown legend Martha Reeves, for having replaced popular Martha and the Vandellas member Betty Kelly a ...

and a former member of

The Velvelettes The Velvelettes were an American singing girl group, signed to Motown in the 1960s. Their biggest chart success occurred in 1964, when Norman Whitfield produced "Needle in a Haystack", which peaked at number 45 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, an ...

named

Sandra Tilley Sandra L. Tilley (May 6, 1945 or 1946 – September 9, 1983)was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and Soul music, soul singing, singer, best known for being a member of Motown Records, Motown girl group the Velvelettes; and later joining Marth ...

. The group had sporadically recorded and performed together before 1970 when they issued the ''Natural Resources'' album. For their next project, Motown decided to recruit the hotly new hit-making producers for the label: The Corporation, to help them with producing their new album. Among the first singles they worked on was a

Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

-styled

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

y dance record titled "Bless You". Featuring Martha and the Vandellas members, it also included additional harmony singing parts by

The Blackberries The Blackberries were a female vocal trio composed of experienced backing vocalists. They backed various artists, including Pacific Gas & Electric, Humble Pie, Ringo Starr, and Pink Floyd. The Blackberries recorded for Motown's West Coast subsid ...

Release

Released in the fall of 1971, "Bless You" briefly brought the group back to modest success on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 where it reached number fifty-three on the chart, becoming their highest-charted single in two years and their highest-charted single on the pop chart during their brief seventies period together. The single also crossed over successfully to the R&B chart where it peaked at number twenty-nine and hit the top forty in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

where it peaked at number thirty-three and was a top twenty hit in Canada. The single became the group's last major hit. Over a year later, the group would disband, and Martha Reeves would pursue a solo career.

Personnel

*Produced, written, composed and arranged by The Corporation *Lead vocals by

*Background vocals by Sandra "Lois" Reeves,

and

*Instrumentation by assorted Los Angeles musicians

References

1971 singles Martha and the Vandellas songs Songs written by Berry Gordy Songs written by Freddie Perren Songs written by Deke Richards Motown singles 1971 songs Songs written by Alphonzo Mizell {{1970s-single-stub