Motown Collaborations

[skooldem1]

I wonder if there are any "experiments" left in the vault that were duets- with 2 acts that never recorded together before, that didn't get the 2 thumbs up for release? What Motown collaborations would you liked to have happened? This can be a singer/singer, or singer/producer.

[reese]

It would have been interesting to see what a 70s era Stevie might have come with for Diana. I'd also like to hear what Smokey might have done for Diana besides KEWPIE DOLL.

[jsmith]

After Stax lost the partnership of Otis & Carla [[when Otis was killed) & the pairing of William Bell & Judy Clay never set the US Pop charts alight [[though they had a Top 10 pop hit in the UK), the company embarked on the 'Boy Meets Girl' project. This teamed up various male / female duo's from artists signed to the label & it resulted in a double album release in the US [[single LP in the UK). None of the 'new' partnerships endured though and the idea was allowed to wither.
I guess after the highly commercially successful Marvin & Tammi partnership was broken, Motown had ideas of finding another such coupling. They did however have Ashford & Simpson on board but didn't seem to encourage the pair to concentrate their efforts on finding recording success for themselvs [[within the company).
Motown did try other male / female partnerships down the years [[J Butler / Th Houston, G C Cameron / Syretta, Ross / Gaye, Billy Preston / Syretta, Rick James / Teena Marie, etc.) but none seemed to really be given a real push.
No doubt there are tracks that feature other teamings still in the vaults.

[nabob]

The closest we may come to hearing vaulted duet tracks was the Marvin Gaye-Oma Page [Heard] pairing with four tracks that appeared on the Marvin Gaye Collection from 1990. We had seven additional tracks from Marvin Gaye-Kim Weston that appeared on Take Two + and on the Marvin Gaye Collection. Finally, there was also a Mary Wells-Smokey Robinson duet, I Want You Around from a re-hash Mary Wells package.

[RossHolloway]

Don't forget that Nic Ashford and Valerie Simpson did record an album together in the early 1970s that still has not been released. I also have to wonder if there aren't any Syreeta & Stevie Wonder duets from the time they wrote together and were married...

[Calv1971]

I remember some years ago chatting with Martha Reeves after a show and asked her if there were any "Duets" in the Motown vaults, she replied that there weren't any, at the same time asking if there were any tracks left in the vaults at MCA etc, she was positive everything had been released, then some years later came the MCA album CD issue with bonus tracks on Hipo-select, so you never know, there might be something hiding in those Motown vaults.

[tomato tom]

Although a lot later, Johnny Gill & Stacey Lattislaw had huge success in the States, but not in the UK. Also Charlene & Stevie Wonder had a hit with Used To Be. Although not Motown,I loved Brenda Holloway & Jimmy Ruffin dueting on Im On The Rebound on the NIGHTMARE label, or was it MOTORCITY. I have it somewhere, but always liked it. 12" single it was. Great sleeve cover of them both...Paulo xxxx