Valerie on the Tammi vocals question----At last!!!!!!!

[midnight johnny]

I've tried to avoid this rather macabre business over the years. Really nothing has changed here from the way it was told in Ludie's book. Tammi was in a bad way and couldn't perform as she had before the illness. Instead of standing up and shouting, Tammi had to record the way Dusty did in Memphis - a phrase at a time. Val took extra studio time to do this when everything else was down, sometimes having to edit together the bits that worked, and chop out the bits that didn't. She expressly says that people somehow think she could sing like Tammi, and she couldn't. She worked with Tammi as long as it took, without the pressure of musicians and other parties present. The result was never going to be Tammi at her vital, unique best, but it was what she could achieve. Maybe Val 'punched in' some phrases that just could not be got, but my experience from back then is that that was by no means as easy as the phrase suggests. You had some geniuses, but editing then was a physical process and, nine times out of ten, that kind of thng stood out like a sore thumb. The analogy about using backing singers such as the Andantes, to make hit records work doesn't fit into an album - any album - but one that is based on the intimate exchanges between Marvin and Tammi just doesn't add up. It didn't have the urgency of hit single material; it didn't have any need to use tracks other than those that Tammi had already recorded [[on which Marvin could be dubbed). In short, there is no logic behind the idea of Valerie singing on the final versions - and she doesn't claim she did, even in this last interview.

If Tammi sounded a bit flat [[not musically, but performance wise), who can be surprised? If she sounds more like Val - no surprises there, either - Val is a lady who knew what she wanted, as she made very clear to Jamerson, and she also was able to play like Earl Van Dyke on piano - she alone, despite some tryers.

Tammi was not written off when thiis album was made. Berry was paying all her medical bills, and clearly conceived she would get back to what she was doing. Val is a great singer, just as she is a great composer, piano player, arranger and what all else. She was an employee of Motown at this time and Tammi's mentor and friend.

Give Tammi back her legacy and last moments on the mike.

Dave...no offense. But what you've posted here...it is more expanded and specific than anything we have ever heard, even from Valerie, and you make it sound as though it is fact. Can you say where you got this information.

And I really don't think that it mars Tammi's legacy...not to me anyway... to point out so many cracks in a very implausible story, made up to present Tammi...and Marvin in a very particular way. I'll point out yet again how Tammi's career with Marvin began with an untruth...that Tammi and Marvin recorded "ANMHE" together...instead of the fact that Marvin was engineered onto Tammi's solo track. To me, it finished the way it started...so it's not all that surprising...but very ironic. Tammi's legacy for me is in every track on which she actually sang.

[jboy88]

Dave...no offense. But what you've posted here...it is more expanded and specific than anything we have ever heard, even from Valerie, and you make it sound as though it is fact. Can you say where you got this information.

And I really don't think that it mars Tammi's legacy...not to me anyway... to point out so many cracks in a very implausible story, made up to present Tammi...and Marvin in a very particular way. I'll point out yet again how Tammi's career with Marvin began with an untruth...that Tammi and Marvin recorded "ANMHE" together...instead of the fact that Marvin was engineered onto Tammi's solo track. To me, it finished the way it started...so it's not all that surprising...but very ironic. Tammi's legacy for me is in every track on which she actually sang.

Dave's only repeating the same points that's been brought up in the past by individuals who were close to Tammi! I'm under the impression that fans are more comfortable with it being Valerie Simpson on the album and not Tammi! And I hear all these reasons why Val's not telling the truth; contracts, money etc. What makes what Dave said anymore far-fetched?

I Knew when I signed up, that this would be discussed at least once a year! I've read all the ones in the past with basically the same thing! I can't tell everyone what to think, but I can give some ideas to think about. I love Tammi Terrell, her music gets heavy rotation on my Itunes and Val's "Exposed" is very underrated! But I really don't think Val had the capability to mimic Tammi's vocals for a whole album and I hear several parts on "Easy" that Tammi's sound on her solo work, Especially the aforementioned "This Old Heart of Mine" and "Your Precious Love" [[ the latter being my Favorite Tammi vocal with or without Marvin)!

That, and the legit facts i've read, is enough to prove my take. I've listened to the music over and over, and analyzed it from all ends! And that's what I came up with.