"Locking Up My Heart" is a 1963 single released by Motown girl group

The Marvelettes The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who wa ...

on the

Tamla 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 ...

record label. The first charting single written and produced by Motown's main production team

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. Du ...

,¹ "Locking Up My Heart" was also the first single to feature

Wanda Young Wanda LaFaye Young (August 9, 1943 – December 15, 2021), also known as Wanda Rogers, was an American singer, known for being a member of the Motown all-female singing group the Marvelettes, and after 1965, the lead singer. Early life Youn ...

as lead vocalist on the

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record company ...

, albeit in a split lead vocal with main lead vocalist

Gladys Horton The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who wa ...

. The track was recorded 8 January 1963 in Studio A

Hitsville USA "Hitsville U.S.A." is the nickname given to Motown's first headquarters and recording studio. The house (formerly a photographers' studio) is located at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit, Michigan, near the New Center area. The house was purch ...

and released 15 February 1963; the B-side: "Forever", was a cut from the 1962 ''

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'' album, written and produced by

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former province on the western coast of the Netherlands. From the 10th to the 16th c ...

– Dozier– Gorman ( H-D-H's predecessor), and also featured Young as lead vocalist. On the single's initial A-Side, Horton, as the main lead and narrator, tells the audience that she's giving up love, as she's "tired of being abused" and "mis-used". The flip-side, narrated by Young, tells us she's so devoted to her love that she'll endure any pain and suffering for it. The second single of the group where both sides charted, it would be promoted as if it were a " double A-side" by the label. This is also one of the last Marvelettes' singles to feature member Juanita Cowart (in the background) on either side. By the time of the single's release, Cowart, who had already ceased performing on stage, would permanently leave the group and had retired from both performing and recording. "Locking Up My Heart" broke out in Baltimore and San Francisco to enter the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 dated 23 March 1963 at #83; Motown considered the track to be significant enough to re-press it with adjusted instrumentation that April. However "Locking Up My Heart" lost its strong initial momentum as disc jockeys in some markets - including Pittsburgh - began to play the intended B-side: "Forever", and the Hot 100 dated 4 May 1963 showed "Locking Up My Heart" stalled at #44 as "Forever" debuted at #100; subsequently "Locking Up My Heart" would abruptly drop from the chart while "Forever"'s popularity would fail to coalesce into major hit impact with the track peaking at #78.

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/ref> Both sides of the single ranked in the R&B Top 30 where "Locking Up My Heart" (#25) was succeeded by "Forever"(#24). '' Cash Box'' described "Locking Up My Heart" as "a sensational shuffle-rocker...that the femmes and their musical accompaniment ‘lock up’ in solid chart style." '' Cash Box'' described Marvin Gaye's 1964 cover of "Forever" as "a slow-shufflin' tradition-styled blues lament rendered with loads of authority and feeling." *¹The first Holland-Dozier-Holland production was "Dearest One" an overlooked 1962 release by

Lamont Dozier Lamont Herbert Dozier (; June 16, 1941 – August 8, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Detroit, Michigan. He co-wrote and produced 14 US ''Billboard'' number-one hits and four number ones in the UK. Career Doz ...

Personnel

*Lead vocals by

(verses - A-side) and

(choruses, outro - A-side; B-side), *Background vocals by Gladys Horton, Wanda Young,

Georgeanna Tillman The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who ...

, Wyanetta ("Juanita") Cowart, and

Katherine Anderson The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who w ...

*Instrumentation by

The Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

References

1963 singles The Marvelettes songs Songs written by Holland–Dozier–Holland Tamla Records singles 1963 songs Song recordings produced by Lamont Dozier Song recordings produced by Brian Holland {{1960s-single-stub