The Marvelettes were formed in 1960 by five schoolgirls at Inkster High School in Michigan: Gladys Horton, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, Katherine Anderson and Georgia Dobbins. Lead singer Horton was just fifteen years of age. During the following year, encouraged by their teacher, they entered a local talent show for which there was a very attractive prize. The top three acts in the competition would win a chance to audition at the Motown studio in Detroit.
Sadly, the girls finished fourth, but somehow, thanks again to their teachers, they managed to be included in the trip to Studio A. The winners were auditioned by a group of Motown staff including Brian Holland and Robert Bateman, before going on to sing for Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy. What an opportunity!
But then the girls, who had christened themselves the Marvels, were not offered a contract. Instead, they were sent away, with instructions to return with an original song. Georgia Dobbins came up with the idea of asking a local musician for help. She went to see William Garrett, who offered her an unfinished song that he was writing, entitled “Please Mr. Postman”. Garrett invited her to finish the song and give him a credit if it were to be released. Dobbins duly reworked the song to suit the group’s Doo-Wop style and soon they returned to Detroit.
The Marvelettes 1963
Photo: James Kriegsmann (Wikimedia Commons)
Unbelievably, Dobbins took the decision to leave the group at this point, encouraged by her Christian family, who were concerned for their daughter’s well-being. Despite Dobbins’ departure, Gordy liked the song, and The Marvels were signed by Motown in 1961, with Wanda Young taking Dobbins’ place. Gordy upgraded their name to The Marvelettes, and they were on their way, about to become the first act at Motown to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles Chart!
Their first single, “Please Mr. Postman” / “So Long Baby”, was released in August 1961. Both songs were credited to Brian Holland and Robert Bateman, the A-side co-written with Georgia Dobbins and William Garrett, the B-side co-written with James Young (Wanda Young’s brother). Holland and Bateman also produced the two songs, credited as Brianbert. “Please Mr. Postman” was an instant classic, bright and bouncy, impossible to resist. It sailed to the top of the Billboard R&B and Hot 100 Singles Charts, selling over a million copies and later earning the group a gold disc from the RIAA in the USA and a silver disc from the BPI in the UK.
The Marvelettes soon left school in order to work full-time in the music industry and were taken in by Berry Gordy’s elder sister Esther Gordy Edwards, who drove them to their shows.
The group issued one follow-up single in 1961 and three more in 1962. All made chart entries and consolidated the group’s and Motown’s success. The strongest of the songs is “Playboy” from 1962, written by Brian Holland, Robert Bateman, Mickey Stevenson and the group’s lead singer Gladys Horton. All four songs were written and produced by various combinations of Berry Gordy, Janie Bradford, Mickey Stevenson, Marvin Gaye, Robert Bateman, Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Freddie Gorman. Significantly, for the last of the four singles, Brian Holland was working with Lamont Dozier and Freddie Gorman, as Robert Bateman left Motown in 1962. The famous triumvirate was beginning to emerge.
During those first two years, the Marvelettes also released two albums, “Please Mr. Postman” in 1961 and “Playboy” in 1962, produced by Mickey Stevenson and Brian Holland. The songs are bright and bouncy, often with a strong piano line. “Someday, Someway” from the “Playboy” album is typical of the new Sound of Young America that Gordy and his team were beginning to formulate.
