Mary Wells - post My Guy at motown

[sup_fan]

interesting idea about her taking those mid-60s Marvelettes songs. hadn't thought of that but the sound and style of "sophisticated soul" would have worked perfectly with Mary.

She also had big support from the Beatles. so had she stayed and had more hits with Motown [[a label the beatles greatly admired) it's easy to think that she would have continued to occasionally tour and appear with them.

what was she like live? i've seen a few minor clips [[like the motown at apollo). do you think she would have been able to do Vegas and Copa? I adore her unreleased MOR tracks and the Second Time Around material. she certainly had a great voice for that, even though she wasn't the most powerful singer or one with the largest range.

And i wonder how she would have done on more "traditional motown sound" songs like what HDH really became known for. more upbeat and harder driving material

[nabob]

And i wonder how she would have done on more "traditional motown sound" songs like what HDH really became known for. more upbeat and harder driving material

Think You Lost the Sweetest Boy. She took that HDH material to church and back to the revival. Mary Wells would have handled this material like a pro. The HDH material on Vintage Stock was good to great filler material, but would not have been mega hits.

Somehow, I think she may have remained hitched to Smokey Robinson with only occasional HDH produced material. Brenda Holloway probably would have been even more of an artist in the shadows, not getting the material she inherited after Mary left.

I don't envision that there would have been two queens in the hive had Mary remained a hit maker. The Supremes emerged just as she left Motown, on a different path that would have eventually rivaled Mary Wells. Diana Ross' personality and drive would eventually have surpassed Mary's talent. Just a couple of opinions based mostly in conjecture.