Brenda Holloway was born in Atascadero, California, in 1946. She was still a child when her family moved to Los Angeles, where her sister Patrice was born in 1951. As teenagers the two girls began singing on demo recordings and as backing vocalists for local R&B singers. In 1962, at the age of sixteen, she recorded a series of singles for a number of local labels, including Ed Cobb’s song “Every Little Bit Hurts” for Del-Fi Records and a couple of duets with local producer Hal Davis on the Minasa and Snap labels.
Then, in 1963, she met Berry Gordy at a party and was offered a contract with Motown, along with her sister. They were Motown’s first signings on the West Coast, where Gordy had decided to set up an office. The girls were given the option of coming to Detroit to record or staying in Los Angeles, and they chose the latter for their first recordings. Patrice’s single “Stevie” was released in December 1963 on the V.I.P. subsidiary imprint, while Brenda was persuaded to re-record Cobb’s song “Every Little Bit Hurts”, released by Tamla in March 1964. Patrice had no joy with her single, but Brenda scored a top-twenty hit with hers, as she watched the single climb to number thirteen on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and number three on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. The song had been recorded in California, produced by Hal Davis and Marc Gordon.
The success of Holloway’s first Motown single enabled her to join the 1964 Motortown Revue and then Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars tour. A second single and an album were quickly issued by Tamla, who saw Holloway as a potential replacement for Mary Wells. As the follow-up single Tamla chose another Ed Cobb song, “I’ll Always Love You”, and put Davis and Gordon in charge of production. The song charted but only reached number sixty on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart. Frank Wilson’s composition on the B-side, “Sad Song”, actually shows off Holloway’s warm, expressive voice to better effect.
The album took the name of the hit single. It is a collection of Motown songs plus a Gershwin classic and a couple of Holloway’s own compositions.
Brenda Holloway recorded an album in 1965 that was unissued, but she did see three singles released by Tamla during the year. The first was “When I’m Gone” that Smokey Robinson had written for Mary Wells. Holloway came to Detroit to record the song in Studio A, produced by Robinson, achieving success when the single peaked at number twenty-five on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and number thirteen on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart.
The follow-up single was also a Mary Wells’ recording, written and produced once more by Smokey, but it didn’t sell that well. Gordy and Robinson began to worry that Holloway was not fitting in with the Motown image. Holloway was equally concerned, believing that she was being treated less well than the local acts. Berry Gordy took charge of the recording of the third single from 1965, “You Can Cry on My Shoulder”. Chart success did not improve.
Brenda Holloway was scheduled to release an album in 1965 and another in 1966, but neither project came to fruition. Instead, Tamla issued two singles in 1966, the first of which was “Hurt A Little Everyday”, co-written by Hank Cosby, Sylvia Moy and Mickey Stevenson. The second was “Together ‘Til The End Of Time”, written by Frank Wilson and produced by Hal Davis and Marc Gordon. Neither made a chart entry.
Tamla released two more singles by Holloway in 1967, the first in March and the second in August. “Just Look What You’ve Done”, co-written by Frank Wilson and R. Dean Taylor and produced by Wilson, is a typical Motown song, which Holloway sings in a punchy style. The single reached number sixty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart and number twenty-one on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart. The follow-up, “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy”, co-written by the Holloway sisters with Berry Gordy and Frank Wilson, made it to number thirty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart, number forty on the Billboard R&B Singles Chart and also to number forty-eight on the UK Official Pop Singles Chart.
In 1968, a compilation of Holloway’s songs was issued in the UK with the title “The Artistry of Brenda Holloway”, but then she left Motown, suddenly. In the middle of a studio session recording with Smokey Robinson, she decided she could not continue. She had had enough of Motown and feared that her religious beliefs were being compromised. She went back to California.
The following year, she sued Berry Gordy for royalties due on that last charting single and won!
Not everyone suited Motown, and more than a few artists found Motown a difficult place to work.
