Now, THAT'S what I'm talking about!

Some really good points.* There's definitely a case to be made for both sides of the argument - I hope I didn't come across as though I was trying to say "Ha, you're obviously wrong, and here's 10,000 words explaining why!" - that's not me.* I still do feel that one side of the argument stacks up more strongly than the other based on what we've got, but as I said a few times, I don't think we'll ever really know the truth.* There's no Judo Argument here, no one piece of evidence that anyone can point to and say "see, this PROVES it!", hence the ongoing discussion.

[[And it is a discussion - when I'm baldly stating my opinions, they're just that, opinions.* I don't have the desire or the ability to sh[[o)ut down a debate!)

In order to respond, I think it'll be illustrative to go back to that Ebony article, because I believe it goes towards a few of the points you raise.* In the prologue, the journalist [[not Tammi herself) does indeed state: "Tammi Terrell, bound for Detroit and her first recording date in nearly two years...", but this is referring to the airplane incident in the opening paragraphs, rather than when the article was written [[which was "approximately six months after her sixth and final operation", according to the text itself - given the article was published in November '69, you can come up with a few plausible ballpark dates for both the writing, and Tammi's surgeries).* The article <i>then</i> goes on to state: "Plagued by physical and emotional breakdowns, she has been in and out of the hospital at least four times in the past six months. Unable to accept night club or theater engagements, she has concentrated her efforts on <b>recording and song writing.</b>" [[my emphasis)

Now, admittedly this is flimsy evidence at best, but it's evidence nonetheless - evidence she was <i>trying</i> to do some recording even after her sixth surgery.* The Ebony article is most interesting to me because of the picture it paints of Tammi's health after her six operations; she was in pain, she didn't have full use of her arms and legs, but equally she wasn't completely incapacitated either.* I've never met anyone suffering from brain cancer, but I've read "cancer diaries" from the likes of Ivan Noble and Steven Wells, and they were as articulate and personable as ever literally right up until the end, so I don't think it's so very unlikely she was still trying to work at such a late stage.* I think it does terminal cancer sufferers in general a bit of a disservice to suggest Tammi's gravely serious condition flatly precluded any travel or studio work.

In terms of otherwise cherry-picking evidence, I'd like to underline that I'd question <em>everybody's</em> veracity on this one - I don't assume that Valerie's version is the right one, I just point out that as things stand, it's by far the most convincing.* The trouble is that Valerie's story [[which could easily have been invented after the fact - I don't have a date for the first time she gave her guide vocals/line-by-line explanation, not sure if anyone else does?) pre-emptively neutralises Marvin's story by giving a plausible explanation as to why Marvin may have remembered wrong [[i.e. he remembered Valerie doing guide vocals and got his memories mixed up), and Marvin isn't here to answer back.* All we can do is weigh up the evidence as it stands, which by nature favours Valerie.* I don't claim Marvin is lying [[he is my favourite Motown artist!), just that on the balance of probabilities, I believe he was remembering wrong.

The Milli Vanilli argument is a very good one, and something I hadn't really considered before.* The possibility of a confession causing sales to nosedive is pretty strong motivation, for sure.* Having said that, nobody's disputing it's Marvin Gaye on those records rather than, say, JJ Barnes, so it's not a perfect comparison.* Plus, the cat's been out of the bag on this particular conspiracy theory for a long time already [[genuine question: did Motown seek to stop Divided Soul going to print?), and UMG haven't exactly been careful about sticking to the party line.* The Gracenote CD database error above is clearly derived from the liner notes to <i>The Complete Duets</i> CD, an official release from 2001 - and, unless I'm mistaken, the only way to buy any of the three Marvin & Tammi albums in full these days? - whose liner notes state unambiguously that it's Valerie and not Tammi on the later recordings [[based on Marvin's "revelation" rather than any new insider knowledge).* The compilation continues to sell regardless - though I agree it's legitimate to wonder if that would have been the case had the cover stated "Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell and Valerie Simpson" in big letters instead.* Food for thought!

Ultimately, the evidence just isn't there to definitively support either argument, and so it'll come down to what people want to believe.* I appreciate you think the best evidence of all is what's on the records, but I still feel this is completely subjective - though I could be in a tiny minority on that one [[it wouldn't be the first time!).* I'd ask everyone reading this: ignoring the fact that the vocalist on Easy sounds a bit different to the "golden age" Tammi we know, was your first reaction on hearing that LP "They've replaced Tammi!"?* Did anyone identify Valerie Simpson's voice before Divided Soul?* Not trying to make a point, I'm genuinely curious.

Sorry, this turned out really long again, didn't it?