Wednesday 25 January 2012
Martha Reeves: When There Was Nowhere To Run The Motown Legend Looked To The Stars
Who's that lady (who's that lady)/Beautiful lady (who's that lady)/Lovely lady (who's that lady)/Real fine lady (who's that lady) – well as sure as Tamla Motown ruled the airwaves back in the sixties, the lady in question in the Isley Brother’s classic can only be Martha Reeves.
Having been raised the Alabama the church way, Reeves hit teendom and became a fan of R&B and doo-wop music.
After failing to join her elder brother Benny's vocal group, Reeves formed her own vocal group, the Sabre-Ettes in 1958.
A year later, she joined The Fascinations. Reeves left the group before they became a recording act. This was one girl who wasn’t gonna take second best.
But neither was Reeves any X-Factor wannabe: "It takes a little bit of our soul to sing Motown," she said. Something she doesn't see in today's music.
"It's a lot of machines, It's a lot of people making noises with toys. If I'm listening to any music and it's not real musicians, it doesn't hold my attention." Hallelujah to that!
Reeves entered the Hitsville school of musical excellence as a secretary.
"I answered the phone – "Martha Reeves, A&R secretary" – and I sort of spoke my way into the position.
“I had practically taken over. I was issuing cheques and assigning the piano, as there were 17 writers in that office. It was just a little cubbyhole of a place."
It was there that she got to know another emerging talent, Diana Ross. The latter managed to secure the position of secretary to Motown impresario, Berry Gordy.
The two singing talents would go on to become professional rivals as both their groups would rise to the very pinnacle of the charts.
A big break for Reeves was hitting the road with a British singer who was himself topping the charts.
"We performed with Georgie Fame, when Yeh Yeh was a big hit.
“He let us do 40 one-nighters with him, and so we were already familiar with England. When we came over with the Motown revue, it was just a welcoming home by the Tamla Motown Appreciation Society!"
With the help of established and emerging artists - and the name and musical heritage of Motown attached – Martha Reeves And The Vandellas were now established on both sides of the Atlantic.
With her brassy and gospel-reared alto vocals, Martha Reeves helped Martha and the Vandellas ascend from background singers with early songs such as Come and Get These Memories and (Love Is Like a) Heat Wave distinguishing the group from contemporaries and label mates The Marvelettes and The Supremes, who were more influenced by doo-wop.
The majority of songs released under the Vandellas' name had a rough, soulful sound with frenetic musical backing from The Funk Brothers.
Martha's alto, and fellow members’ Rosalind Ashford's soprano and Annette Beard's contralto vocals gave their harmonies dimension and made their recordings unique.
But the walls came tumbling down for Reeves when Motown upped sticks and moved to from Detroit to Los Angeles.
"I had a young baby, and I wasn't able to travel. And I didn't know that they were moving, actually. I was not informed.
“The only thing left of the company, when I went to report for my next assignment, were a few computers that were being put on a truck to leave the city.
"It ended the Motown saga. There were no real successes, other than maybe a discovery of disco with the likes of Rick James and Teena Marie – but the Motown sound stopped at that point."
But what Martha Reeves And The Vandellas are left with is a catalogue of hits that have stood the test of time.
Dancing in the Street - Heat Wave - Nowhere to Run - Jimmy Mack and I'm Ready For Love - all performed live by Miss Martha Reeves, the original Vandella sisters and a full 9 piece band. The girl, even at seventy, still kicks musical ass!
Reeves does express dismay at the state of current pop music: "We didn't have to send our children out of the room when we were with Motown. Our songs have always been about love, happiness, joy and partying." Amen to that!
Martha Reeves And The Vandellas play Concorde 2, Brighton, on Friday 3rd February. See concorde2.co.uk for more information.
by: Mike Cobley
|
|
It really should be ridiculous, but it isn't. Somehow concocting a seemingly obnoxious stew that includes such tasty ingredients as incest, violence, mutilation, and nudity - at Theatre Royal Brighton, no less - all comes together in the mix to serve up one of the tastiest treats of Brighton Festival.
With tongues firmly in cheeks, Spymonkey brought Oedipussy onto the hallowed Brighton stage and unravelled the tale o...
more >>
|
 The Temper Trap pic by Andy Sturmey
With the Festival and Festival Fringe already packing the streets, bars and venues of Brighton, it got pretty wild on the streets of the city when the annual Great Escape Festival was added to the throng over the weekend.
It was difficult to get a foot in many-a venue, let alone an eye on the performers, as vast queues snaked the...
more >>
|
Mariella Frostrup is both the intellectual kingpin and host of The Book Show, on Sky Arts. Featuring an array of A-list authors and other big-name guests, it was great to see the channel's flagship programme leave its studio setting and head to the Brighton Festival for two special recordings.
|
One of the hidden themes of Brighton Festival 2012 so far seems to be of a kind of theatre that is not theatre, at least not as you might expect it to be.
I have seen work enacted well out of any theatrical context in warehouses, theatre in a theatre but with a gla...
more >>
|
I fell under the spell of poet Lemn Sissay at the Pavilion Theatre, on Tuesday night. I fell for his enthusiasm, warmth and unwavering passion for the topic in hand. Hell, when I pass on I reckon Sissay will even make me sound interesting!
With every seat taken, the house lights dipped and a screen came to life with the image of the recently depart...
more >>
|
I have always had a curious fascination about what goes on other people's houses, have you? Are they like me, my family, or not? What do they think? How do they cope with things? How do they live?
Many times on a dark night I have walked home past the station and up over the Seven Dials and looked up or do...
more >>
|
Ashley Varney from Leonards-on Sea accomplished an incredible 30-race running feat when he recently crossed the London Marathon finishing line.
The 42 year old Sussex swimming pool engineer took on 30 races, which he named &...
more >>
|
Shakespeare's plays are best watched standing up. I watched his work like this as a youth paying a fiver for standing matinee places at the rear of the stalls at the old RSC in Stratford Upon Avon, in Warwickshire.
Once, all the standing-ups cheered loudly, like football fans, as Edmund the Bastard was finally killed off i...
more >>
|
"What do you wear to a literary event?" my friend Rachel asked me in the school playground a couple of weeks ago after I had invited her to the Faber Social, at the Corn Exchange, on the opening night of Brighton Festival 2012.
“I don’t know, whatever you like I suppose”, I answered<...
more >>
|
The Bee Detective must have looked, to the assembled band of worthies from the cultural Olympiad, to be just up their street. As they clutched their list of 'things we need from our attempt to show that sports people are intelligent too and that the Olympics is actually not a boring load of expensive shit, a fitness contest sponsored by McDonald's and Coca-Cola, a drug-fuelled cheats paradise with mind numbing events like rifle shooting and wrestling actually CHARGING money to get in' they must have thought like this.
It is about the death of bees, a modern issue with environment relevance… tick!
It is c...
more >>
|
|
|