Quote Originally Posted by gman View Post
Carolyn Crawford and the Velvelettes had the goods!....I think if Mary Wells remained, she would have been promoted more in the RnB field, while BG concentrated on Pop with DR.....Martha Reeves 60's records wouldn't have sounded as good with anyone else, same with the Marvelettes and the Supremes, Tops and Tempts...I think the pairing of producers/ performers was masterful and best as chosen and released by the company till around '68 when HDH departed and left a huge void.
I've never seen a Carolyn Crawford performance, so I can't speak to her star potential. Vocally she has an appealing voice. The Velvelettes recorded some great cuts at Motown, but personally I've always found Cal's voice mostly devoid of any personality, and thus can't imagine that it had the ability to reach star status.

Apparently Gordy's intensions was for Mary Wells to get the pop push, so had she stayed I don't think he would have suddenly switched the plan. Mary was already a proven crossover artist.