Very Interesting info per Mary Wells biography

[luke]

http://www.peterbenjaminson.com/mary_wells__the_life_of_motown_s_first_superstar__ in_progress__104537.htm

[motony]

thanks, Luke however that has been up awhile & I'm concerned about the delays, the last time I heard from Peter he was expecting it to be out...NOW.

[jobeterob]

Man, there sure is a lot of bitterness in Peter Benjaminson's writing; I don't understand it but it's oozing. He must have come up on the short end of some stick.

[luke]

He said in June he was behind and working hard on it all summer.

[glencro]

Man, there sure is a lot of bitterness in Peter Benjaminson's writing; I don't understand it but it's oozing. He must have come up on the short end of some stick.

I agree. Hate his style of writing and the need to include negative slide remarks about everything. Would be nice to see a real author write her story.

[smark21]

Man, there sure is a lot of bitterness in Peter Benjaminson's writing; I don't understand it but it's oozing. He must have come up on the short end of some stick.

He was/is also involved in that proposed film on Florence Ballard that's gone nowhere.

[jobeterob]

Something isn't right here; there's been so much trouble with putting together any kind of film. And his kind of talk is what Mary Wilson has asked people to stop doing. It's as if this is his way to sell the story.

I think this kind of talk is very out of fashion in the Motown world these days.

He doesn't seem like a very happy guy for some reason.

[pbenjamson@aol.com]

Geez, guys, I'm flattered that you-all have been reading my writing so closely over the last 35 years and seven published books that you detect bitterness. Most reviewers accuse me of being too positive, especially about Motown, and, most recently, about Florence Ballard. [The three Motown books I wrote are "The Story of Motown" [[Grove Press, 1979), "The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard [[Lawrence Hill Books/Chicago Review Press, 2008) and the upcoming "The Life of Mary 'My Guy' Wells: The Rise and Fall of Motown's First Superstar [[Lawrence Hill Books/Chicago Review Press.] The Mary Wells book is going slower than I thought it would because Mary had a much longer career than Flo and was involved with many more people and record companies than Flo and I'm trying to make the book as accurate as possible. The Flo movie is actually moving forward with great speed. Those of you who know anything about independent films [[as opposed to studio-produced films, which the Flo movie is) know that the clock has barely started ticking on the development of this film. A recently-released independent film, "Moneyball," backed by none other than Brad Pitt and starring Brad Pitt, took 10 years from announcement to release. If it takes Brad Pitt 10 years... Peter Benjaminson

[pbenjamson@aol.com]

I just realized I may have implied in my last comment that the Flo movie is a studio produced film. It is actually an independent film, which is the point I was making. I also wanted to mention that anyone interested in any of my books, including the three Motown books, is welcome to visit one of my websites, either www.peterbenjaminson.com [[http://www.peterbenjaminson.com) or www.thelostsupreme.com [[http://www.thelostsupreme.com). At this second website, you can also order "The Lost Supreme" at a discount. Peter Benjaminson.

[motony]

I have the "Lost Supreme" & enjoyed it.REALLY lookin forward to the Mary Wells book.Thanks, Peter.

[luke]

Thanks Peter for updates! Cant wait for Mary book.

[jobeterob]

Peter:

Do you know this is what is written at this website?

It seems a little harsh and sensationalist; was that done on purpose?



Mary Wells

Fabulous Dead People | Mary Wells|
By Christopher Petkanas
NEW YORK TIMES November 23, 2010, 12:57 pm

THE SUBJECT OF A BIOGRAPHY NOW BEING WRITTEN BY PETER BENJAMINSON, Wells was in [[1960) and out [[1964) of Motown before she knew what hit her. Having reigned so briefly and disappeared from the charts so suddenly, she seems a distant figure, part of an earlier era — grainy, black and white, and crowned with bad wigs — than she actually was. Yet if Wells were alive today she would be only 67.

If her run was short at least she was first. When Wells had her own car and driver, the Supremes were literally hitching to gigs. Mary Wilson of the Supremes recalled how Wells would swan through the lobby of Motown with “her entourage behind her and we’re standing there like, ‘Wow, yea, that’s, that’s the way we want to be.’”

It meant nothing at the time, because the Supremes were nothing, but in the ’80s, when Wells’s career was on the skids and she was limping along on the oldies circuit, smoking two packs a day, there was some satisfaction in being able to say that the boss’s mistress had done her grunt work. Diana and company are behind Wells on “You Lost the Sweetest Boy” and, I’d bet because only one person sang through her nose so alluringly, “My Heart Is Like a Clock.” Because of Wells’s association with Robinson, I always assumed the men who sang backup with such suave complicity were the Miracles. In fact it was the in-house Love-Tones. Eddie Kendricks of the Temptations was a Love-Tone for the time it took to cut “Two Lovers” with Wells, filling in for a group member who couldn’t make the session. “The lead singer got stabbed to death, and they kind of fell apart after that,” Wells remembered.

She could claim other victories over the Supremes — and over the Motown founder Berry Gordy. In the label’s waste-not tradition of recycling musical tracks, Wells was there first with “Whisper You Love Me Boy.” Dying of throat cancer and evicted from her home, she took on Gordy, filing suit for breach of contract and infringement of right of publicity. For 25-plus years Motown, which Universal acquired in 1988, merrily operated on the belief that Wells’s contentious exit deal with the company included a name and likeness clearance, which it used to sell a monumental number of records. According to Wells’s lawyer, Steven Ames Brown, there was no such clearance. Mary’s third husband, the singer Curtis Womack, says the $100,000 out-of-court settlement she obtained was split 60-40 with Brown.

“Universal protected itself against any claims by demanding indemnity prior to buying Motown, so resolution was funded by Gordy,” says Brown, a royalty recovery specialist who has represented assorted Vandellas and successfully litigated for the return to Nina Simone of many of her masters. “I told Mary when we sued, ‘Don’t worry, sooner or later Berry will call me: My father was his podiatrist.’ And he did call. Some of the Motown artists were no better than their oppressor. But others were abused. Mary was one of them.”

Coached by her first husband, Herman Griffin, possibly the most minor act in Motown history, Wells sought to disaffirm her contract when she attained majority. Gordy paid her 3 percent of retail, less taxes and production and promotion costs. As an advance on a two-year deal, 20th Century wrote her a check for $250,000 — more than $1.7 million today. Accepting a portion of her royalties for the years remaining on her Motown agreement was maybe the worst business decision Gordy ever made. It’s fashionable for Motown partisans to dismiss “Never, Never Leave Me,” one of Wells’s two 20th Century releases, but with Wells turning up the pout, it’s a uniquely charismatic record.

Atco, the label she jumped to next, should have been a good fit. But when after one so-so album Wells was told to get in line behind Aretha Franklin and wait a year for studio time, she walked. “We could do nothing with her,” Jerry Wexler, the Atco chief, says in the notes to the excellent Wells compilation, “Looking Back.” “The fault wasn’t Mary’s. Nor was it ours. She was an artist who required the idiosyncratic Motown production,” which could not be duplicated. “Most importantly we didn’t have Smokey Robinson.”

Mary had a thing for the Womack men, and when she switched labels yet again, it was to work with her second husband, Cecil Womack, on two forgotten albums for Jubilee. Womack went on to eclipse Wells, writing the Teddy Pendergrass smash, “Love T.K.O.,” and teaming with his second wife as Womack & Womack.

By the time Wells was told she had cancer, she had burned through her 20th Century advance and more. With no health insurance, a trust was set up at the Rhythm & Blues Foundation, with contributions from, among others, Bruce Springsteen, Ross and Gordy, whose $25,000 check Wells singled out in an interview on “Entertainment Tonight.” “He did come through,” she said.

Wells “knew little about the trust,” Brown says, “except that someone else seemed to be using the funds for something other than Mary’s care. My reaction to the interview is that she was being gracious because of the settlement” Gordy made with her. Curtis Womack says Aretha Franklin insisted on bypassing the Foundation, sending $15,000 directly to Wells.

Doctors told Wells they could save her by removing her vocal cords, an option she rejected. “I miss my voice, you know, but hopefully it will come back,” she said in the same “Entertainment Tonight” appearance the year before she died. “I’ve been singing all my life. I don’t know any other trade.”

[motony]

well, Peter did not write that article & it is fairly accurate. Marys life was not a bowl of cherries, some her fault, most others fault.

[randy_russi]

Yes, I have read this article before and it is not authored by Peter; sadly, it is basically factual. I haven't read all of
Peter's books, but I have read those about Motown, including the one on Florence Ballard, and I didn't find anything
to suggest he was bitter on the topic.

[motown_david]

I'm also looking forward very much to Peter's book, MoTony. It's about time the first superstar of Motown got her dues and her story needs telling. As you said her life was complicated and contained the ups and downs that we all experience.

[pbenjamson@aol.com]

Now I understand. Some of you thought I wrote the NY Times column that was actually written by Chris Petkanas. I didn't write it and his tone is certainly different than the one I would use. I posted it on one of my web sites because it's very unusual for a book to be mentioned in the NY Times before it's published unless it's a President's memoirs. I was glad that Mary Wells, and, very secondarily, me writing about it, was and is a topic of such great interest. But I agree with some of the other posters: Mary made some controversial moves in her life, and was hardly a saint. I admire her, as I said in my letter to Petkanas that's posted last in the letters about that column below that column. If I didn't llike and admire her or Motown, I wouldn't do her bio. Dumping on people ain't no fun. But her mistakes make her more interesting, just like the rest of us.

[motony]

I would urge all to go to the website posted by Luke & go all the way down below the article by Chris & see the letter from Peter to Chris.

[jobeterob]

Here is Peter's letter reprinted! Now that makes more sense. Thanks Peter and Tony.


3. Peter Benjaminson
New York, NY
November 24th, 2010
3:43 pm

Thank you very much for writing your column about the great Mary Wells. I really enjoyed reading it. I'm particularly pleased that you highlighted what I think was Wells' most attractive feature: her refusal to quit even when the going got awful. As you point out, "Dying of throat cancer and evicted from her home, she took on [Motown President] Berry Gordy, filing suit for breach of contract and infringement of right of publicty." Wells was like that all her life. At age 15, in Detroit, she tried to push her way into all-male singing groups and was never fazed by the rejections she always received. At age 17, she approached Gordy while he was directing two separate Motown groups in two different parts of a bustling nightclub. When he said he didn't have time to see her in his office, she was courageous enough to immediately sing to him the song she was trying to sell him. Gordy was so impressed he hired Wells as as a Motown vocalist the next day. But it was in the long years after she left Motown that she was able to display her strength and her courage in the face of never-ending adversity. People with that strength of spirit deserve to be remembered. I'll be providing many further examples of this in my forthcoming biography of Ms. Wells.

[mellow_q]

"Harsh and sensationalism" seems to be this writer's m.o. This person from the Times is the same guy who somehow got in touch with me at the end of 2009 for a story on the Marvelettes. I told him how to get in touch with Katherine and also [[after getting permission) gave him the phone # of Wanda's eldest daughter. Whatever K said, he decided not to used, and her quotes for the story were pulled directly from the book. He also did not use anything that Wanda's daughter told him. Overall, the piece was extremely, extremely unflattering, which was why I never mentioned it on SDF. Inevitably, someone on here found out about it and I had to do a bit of damage control.

I stand by Peter B., and I will reserve judgement on his Mary Wells book until I have read it in its entirety.

Marc T.

[Laurel]

I remember hearing years ago about Mary Wells passing away from cancer. What a shame. I hate cancer so much, I've lost several of my family to cancer. Mary Wells will always be remembered for My Guy. Thank You for the music. I look forward to reading the book, she sounds like a great fighter and a wonderful woman.

[glencro]

I must admit that I had it confused. It was the writing of Chris Petkanas, who wrote the ARTICLE about the BOOK that I was referring to. Thanx for clearing that up. Unfortunately I've met his type too many times [[messy, negative and bitter). My apologies Mr. Benjaminson. I believe I saw you at a Borders in downtown Detroit with Flo Ballard's daughter, during a reading of the book of Flo. Much success in all of your endeavors. Looking forward to the movie and books.

[pbenjamson@aol.com]

No apologies necessary from Glencro or anyone else. I'm glad to get this opportunity to inform as many people as possible about the upcoming Mary Wells book. And yes, Glencro, I remember meeting with you at one of the readings Michelle Ballard and I did in Detroit for the Flo Ballard book. I hope to see you and many others at the readings I hope to do for the Mary Wells book in Detroit and elsewhere. I can't resist saying that the Mary Wells book will be full of surprises for many readers, so please keep your fingers crossed while I try to bring it to life as an actual printed object and as an e-book.

[luke]

Fingers crossed-any readings in NYC?

[stephanie]

I was going to respond to this thread knowint that Peter is NOT a bitter man in his writings or his personality. However I see that the deeds have been corrected. Good to see the Mary Wells project is still going. We Motown fans cant wait!
Steph

[motown_david]

I'd love to know well in advance about any readings in NYC or, more particualry, in Detroit so that I can book my plane ticket from the UK. Wanna be there, Peter....

[pbenjamson@aol.com]

Thanks very much for your support, Stephanie, David, Luke and others. I'll call you-all up to date about any scheduled readings, premieres, etc. As I used to say all the time before I got involved on the Mary book, Go with the Flo!

[luke]

Love it! But dang we need out Motown fix!!

[marv2]

Geez, guys, I'm flattered that you-all have been reading my writing so closely over the last 35 years and seven published books that you detect bitterness. Most reviewers accuse me of being too positive, especially about Motown, and, most recently, about Florence Ballard. [The three Motown books I wrote are "The Story of Motown" [[Grove Press, 1979), "The Lost Supreme: The Life of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard [[Lawrence Hill Books/Chicago Review Press, 2008) and the upcoming "The Life of Mary 'My Guy' Wells: The Rise and Fall of Motown's First Superstar [[Lawrence Hill Books/Chicago Review Press.] The Mary Wells book is going slower than I thought it would because Mary had a much longer career than Flo and was involved with many more people and record companies than Flo and I'm trying to make the book as accurate as possible. The Flo movie is actually moving forward with great speed. Those of you who know anything about independent films [[as opposed to studio-produced films, which the Flo movie is) know that the clock has barely started ticking on the development of this film. A recently-released independent film, "Moneyball," backed by none other than Brad Pitt and starring Brad Pitt, took 10 years from announcement to release. If it takes Brad Pitt 10 years... Peter Benjaminson

Peter, how are you? I bought your first book ,"The Story of Motown" back when it came out. An excellent reference book too I should add. I was in college and have been a fan of your books since. I am forward to the next on the life of Mary Wells.

Marv

[pbenjamson@aol.com]

Thank you, Marv.

[juicefree20]

I saw reference made about Christopher Petkanas whom I don't know from Adam. I have to say that I don't care much for the title of the article. I detect a bit of snarkiness & a bit of a condescending tone about some, but I've seen far worse written here by our members about fellow SDF members, current artists & non-Motown groups. But more important than how people feel about the tone that he used in expressing himself, I simply want to know one thing...

In any of his words, did he write a lie? And if so, please point it/them out.