'Come to Me': Marv Johnson & the birth of Motown Records

[woodward]

This writeup was published three days ago on udiscovermusic.com. A word of caution in case you want to print it out and retain it as I often do. You must switch to the "landscape" mode on your printer because if you use the normal "portrait" mode the right hand side of the article will be left off.

ADDENDUM: I just printed it out via "landscape" and some of the material included in the writeup failed to print out. Sorry. Obviously this is a computer problem that everyone might have.

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/marv-johnson-come-to-me-motown/

[marv2]

Thanks Woodward!

[lockhartgary]

Thanks for the article, Woodward.

I was able to cut and paste all of the elements [[except the videos of course) into LibreOffice [[free word processor) and save as a .docx document so that it can be opened in Microsoft Word and as a .pdf document.

[kenneth]

I read the article and then linked to a similar article about the Marvelettes. Interesting, except the writer states it was Gladys Horton who was married to Bobby Rogers of the Miracles! In fact, the quote also made me wonder, did Gladys sing lead on any of Smokey Robinson's songs that he wrote for the Marvelettes? I can't think of any offhand, certainly none of the singles anyway. I mean, Gladys wasn't in the group all that long after Smokey started utilizing Wanda's voice, first on "You're My Remedy" which didn't hit, until they hit the Top 10 with "Don't Mess With Bill" and the following year with "The Hunter Gets Captured By the Game."

So while I agree that Gladys had more of a "sassy adult" voice than Wanda did, I don't think Smokey ever utilized it, as he favored Wanda as one of the "sleeping giants" he talked about now and then.

https://www.udiscovermusic.com/artists/the-marvelettes/

"Lead singer Gladys Horton was becoming the sassy adult which Smokey’s better songs required. To boot, she was a married woman now, to one of Robinson’s Miracles, Bobby Rogers. Another grown-up Marvelettes milestone was ‘Too Many Fish In The Sea,’ the hot, rhythmic ’64 side which put the singers together with fast-rising writer/producer Norman Whitfield."

I want to complain to the authorities!

[WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance]

I read the article and then linked to a similar article about the Marvelettes. Interesting, except the writer states it was Gladys Horton who was married to Bobby Rogers of the Miracles! In fact, the quote also made me wonder, did Gladys sing lead on any of Smokey Robinson's songs that he wrote for the Marvelettes?

Smokey's first effort for the Marvelettes was 1963's "As Long As I Know He's Mine" and Gladys sang lead. According to the booklet included with the Marvelettes box set, "Deliver: The Singles", Smokey commented on how impressed he was with the group and their energy when performing on stage, so he wrote this song expressly for them.

Then, he came up with "He's A Good Guy [[Yes He Is)" in January of '64. Then, in August of '64, he recorded "I Just Can't Let Him Down", again with Gladys on lead. So that's two singles with Gladys and one unreleased recording also with Gladys.

So I guess even udiscovermusic is confused by which is Gladys and which is Wanda.

[motony]

I think Smokey had a falling out with Gladys over personal issues as Gladys & Claudette were close friends.