The Darnells

[skooldem1]

I was listening to the Louvain Demps interview posted in another thread. In it she reveals that the Darnells were actually the Andantes, and not The Marvelettes.

[robb_k]

I was listening to the Louvain Demps interview posted in another thread. In it she reveals that the Darnells were actually the Andantes, and not The Marvelettes.
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/320x240q90/301/av5ey4.jpg
The Andantes backing up Gladys Horton [[that is to say).

[midnightman]

The track I heard that was credited to the "Darnells" definitely were the Andantes backing up Gladys Horton.

[floyjoy678]

That is most definitely Gladys on lead. It sounds like the Marvelettes doing the call backs during the verses and the Andantes doing the "ooh"s and "ahh"s.

[soulballad]

Gladys Horton on lead for sure. Gladys even stated that they doubled her voice on "Too Hurt Too Cry, so in the spirit of how Motown did things The Darnells were really no different than the Marvelettes. Also the song "That's a Funny way" is Cal Gill on lead and was credited to The Velvelettes on their Anthology. Oddly they did not play "Like a Nightmare" a song actually credited to the Andantes. I wonder if Louvaine speaks to Ann Bogan?

[copley]

Pages 87-88 of The Original Marvelettes: Motown's Mystery Girl Group. States that the Darnells were the Andantes fronted by Gladys. It's not entirely clear if the other girls were present but Gladys did say that when heard the song on the radio she realised that it was a song that we recorded.

[jobeterob]

I heard Louvain say this as well. But, possibly, like so many of these stories, it is a muddled one.

I noticed she had little to say about any of the Vandellas or Supremes [[other than Florence) or Martha Reeves or Diana Ross. I expect they were irrelevant to Martha & Diana and disliked by the other Supremes.

[radionixon]

Over on Motown Junkies we uncovered just about as much Darnells information as one can shake a stick at, occasioning a search of the Motown archives [[yes really!), and it feels like we're still not much closer to knowing the full true story.

Gladys + the Andantes is the best and strongest-supported hypothesis, but here's a summary of what we've learned:

http://motownjunkies.co.uk/artists/d/darnells