Valerie Simpson - who has to be considered the Alpha and Omega of this question, given that [[a) she's the only person left alive who was definitely there, and [[b) in her version of the story she was with Tammi recording when nobody else was around, and therefore impossible to prove or disprove beyond what she says - has consistently and clearly denied subbing for Tammi, not only in the quote at the head of this thread [[which I can't believe some people are taking as an admission?!):
There were a couple things that were tweaked, but not a lot. I couldn't just sing like Tammi. People give me the credit of thinking I could be Tammi Terrell, but it's just not true. We did some production edits to fix things, but that's about it.
...but also in the liner notes to TCMS 9:
I’ve heard that so many times, but it’s not really true. To the extent that yes, when she was sick, I would stand in for her initially. But after we got Marvin’s part down, we would painstakingly bring her in and do her in a different kind of way because, at that juncture, she really wasn’t well. I’ve heard this all along, but I’m just not that good. I’m good, but I’m not that good.
...to the point that Valerie's story is easy [[!) enough to summarise: she says she sang some guide vocals on the tracks, as Marvin needed, but later brought Tammi in to the studio to sing "line by line". [[That, incidentally, is a description everyone who claims it was Tammi has used with surprising consistency.)
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