Motown
singing
group
The
Marvelettes
including
Katherine
Anderson,
from
left,
Wanda
Young
and
Gladys
Horton
in 1965.
(Photographer:
James
Kriegsmann/Michael
Ochs
Archives
via
Getty
Images) |
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Wanda
Young
and
other
members
of the
Marvelettes
were
teenagers
when
they
recorded
Please
Mr
Postman
for
Berry
Gordy
Jr's
Motown
Records
in 1961.
The song
became
Motown's
first
No. 1
pop hit.
(FB
Photo) |
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Wanda
Young,
member
of
Motown's
The
Marvelettes,
dies at
78
DETROIT
(AP) —
Wanda
Young, a
member
of
Motown’s
chart-topping
The
Marvelettes,
has died
in
suburban
Detroit.
She was
78.
Meta
Ventress
told The
New York
Times in
a story
published
Saturday
that her
mother
died
Dec. 15
in
Garden
City,
Michigan,
of
complications
of
chronic
obstructive
pulmonary
disease.
Young
and
other
members
of the
Marvelettes
were
teenagers
when
they
recorded
“Please
Mr.
Postman”
for
Berry
Gordy
Jr.’s
Motown
Records
in 1961.
The song
became
Motown’s
first
No. 1
pop hit.
The
all-female
group
was
signed
by
Motown
to its
Tamla
label
earlier
that
year and
included
Georgeanna
Tillman,
Gladys
Horton,
Katherine
Anderson
and
Juanita
Cowart,
according
to the
Motown
Museum.
The
teens
were
students
at
Inkster
High
School
outside
Detroit,
and
along
with
Georgia
Dobbins,
a
graduate,
were
members
of a
singing
group
called
The
Casinyets.
Young
replaced
Dobbins
when
Gordy
signed
the
group.
Songs
like “Twistin’
Postman,”
“Playboy”
and “Too
Many
Fish In
The Sea”
followed
“Please
Mr.
Postman.”
The
group
would
later
record
such
hits as
“Don’t
Mess
With
Bill,”
“The
Hunter
Gets
Captured
By The
Game”
and “My
Baby
Must Be
A
Magician.”
Young
sang the
lead on
“Don’t
Mess
With
Bill.”
“I told
her
constantly,
‘All
these
people
love
you,’”
Ventress
told the
Times.
“And
she’d
say,
‘Wow.’”
“She
didn’t
wake up
every
day
thinking
of the
Marvelettes,
but she
never
lost
that
glamour,”
Ventress
added.
The
Motown
Museum
posted
on its
Facebook
page
that
Young
“helped
The
Marvelettes
become
one of
the many
success
stories
at
Motown
Records.”
After
The
Marvelettes
disbanded
in the
early
1970s,
Young
recorded
under
another
label.
Young
and
Horton
sang on
the 1990
album
“The
Marvelettes:
Now!”
according
to the
Times.
In
addition
to
Ventress,
Young is
survived
by
children
Robert
Rogers
III and
Bobbae
Rogers;
seven
grandchildren;
a
great-grandson;
four
sisters
and four
brothers.
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