Originally Posted by
WaitingWatchingLookingForAChance
I don't think Mary's leaving had an impact at all on the Marvelettes for better or worse. You do make a good argument though. However, Smokey had a thing where he wrote songs with a particular singer in mind. He would hear something in each one's voice so distinctly that I recall in an interview he remarked how he liked how a singer would sing certain words.
Smokey had Wanda specifically in mind for "Don't Mess With Bill" because he liked her little country voice [[ I too like her particular way of saying certain words to the point that I ended up co-opting it in everything I would sing.)
I don't doubt Smokey was on a different track musically when it came to either Mary or Wanda. Also, keep in mind that Smokey had already been working with Wanda well before Mary Wells's departure.
Still, you do raise a really good question, one I had never thought about before, so who knows?
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