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marybrewster
10-02-2018, 06:31 PM
I seem to recall Martha once making the statement that there were "over 100 Vandellas". I know it was discussed on this forum, but I can't find any threads. Does anyone know where that quote came from? Was it in her book?
marv2
10-02-2018, 07:03 PM
I seem to recall Martha once making the statement that there were "over 100 Vandellas". I know it was discussed on this forum, but I can't find any threads. Does anyone know where that quote came from? Was it in her book?

I don't where the quote can be found, but I do know that after roughly 1973, whenever Martha was on the road she would pick up two background singers to tour with or in the city that she was performing in. There have even been guys that stood in for the Vandellas over the years.
lakeside
10-02-2018, 07:03 PM
Surely she was being facetious? The only ones I ever heard of or seen pictures of
are Annette, Roz, Sandra Tilley, Betty Kelly, Lois and Delphine. Maybe she was referring to when she was performing solo and used random back up singers and I'm sure there were plenty of them. Then, she could have gone on the road with different Vandella's? I wonder if anyone can come up with pics of different groupings? An interesting thread.
reese
10-02-2018, 07:13 PM
I don't remember her giving an exact number. But in Right On! magazine in the 70s, she said something about there being more Vandellas than the world would ever know. Now that is not an exact quote but it is what I got from her interview. Besides the famed Vandellas from the Motown years, there were other ladies like Vonciele Faggett and Alfie Silas, who appeared with her on SHA NA NA and in publicity photos. There was also a time when she had two guys [[one of whom was a Soul Train dancer), and they were called the Vandals.
jobeterob
10-02-2018, 07:38 PM
She's probably talking all sorts of background singers on the songs as well.
marv2
10-02-2018, 07:59 PM
She's probably talking all sorts of background singers on the songs as well.

Nah, that was not what she was talking about. She was referring to singers that performed with her onstage as her backing singers aka "Vandellas". Carolyn Crawford has toured with Martha as one of her Vandellas at one time.
marv2
10-02-2018, 08:04 PM
Pat Lewis was a one time "Vandella" with Carolyn Crawford.
lakeside
10-02-2018, 10:31 PM
Pat Lewis was a one time "Vandella" with Carolyn Crawford.

Wow....I never knew that. Do you know if she ever recorded with them?
marv2
10-02-2018, 10:37 PM
Wow....I never knew that. Do you know if she ever recorded with them?

They didn't record, they just toured with Martha.
motony
10-03-2018, 01:47 PM
it was just a figure of speech Martha used because a reporter was asking her how many Vandellas have there been.
bradsupremes
10-03-2018, 03:33 PM
Sorry, the only Vandellas are Roz, Annette, Betty, Lois & Sandra.
jobeterob
10-03-2018, 03:41 PM
Sorry, the only Vandellas are Roz, Annette, Betty, Lois & Sandra.

It’s true

Imagine the uproar on here if Diana said such a thing

But she never would
marv2
10-03-2018, 05:05 PM
It’s true

Imagine the uproar on here if Diana said such a thing

But she never would

What does she have to do with this discussion?
BigAl
10-03-2018, 05:31 PM
I tend to confine my own definition to those women who performed as Vandellas during the group's tenure at Hitsville: Roz, Nettie, Betty, Lois and Sandy. I believe Martha, however, includes any and all of her backing vocalists.