Originally Posted by
milven
Interesting question, which I have also had every time I read Roberta's posts. Outside of Roberta, I've never heard of anyone else calling Martha that. In the early sixties, I've always heard of Mary Wells being referred to as the First Lady of Motown. In recent years, I've heard many people referred to that way, including Diana and Claudette.
A Google search informed me that Berry Gordy affectionately dubbed Claudette as "The First Lady of Motown," for being the first female artist signed to Motown's first vocal group. I think Mabel John was the second.
For anyone around in the early sixties, we knew Mary Wells as the First Lady of Motown. She was the soloist with the big hits. Most of the other female singers then were part of groups including Martha, Gladys, Wanda, Claudette and Diana [[who was still unknown and a member of the No Hit Supremes).
In later years , after Mary Wells left Motown and became a non-person to Berry, and the Supremes became a super group; Mary's reference as First Lady of Motown seemed to fade away.
In later years, Diana seemed to often be called First Lady of Motown . Although I am a fan of Diana, Mary Wells will always be the First Lady of Motown to me and, probably, to all others of my generation, who enjoyed the Motown music of Martha & the Vandellas, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, the Marvelettes, and others.
As for Martha, she had been around for fifty years and is still recording. Congrats to her and a tip of the hat to Roberta for being such a strong fan of the lady. When Martha sings, I will always come and get those memories
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