Valerie on the Tammi vocals question----At last!!!!!!!

[luke]

Nicely said motony. Why cant we just accept what valerie says is beyond me. To honor her truth and Tammi's legacy. Such acrimony! Valerie is ok not taking credit and Tammi is dead!

[RossHolloway]

Nicely said motony. Why cant we just accept what valerie says is beyond me. To honor her truth and Tammi's legacy. Such acrimony! Valerie is ok not taking credit and Tammi is dead!

For me the reason why I don't just take Valerie for her word is because I don't think she's telling the entire truth about the situation. We're all entitled to our own opinions, but we're not entitled to our own facts. I find it interesting that those people who have no doubts what so ever about Valerie's statement, willl blindly ignore all the other facts and pieces of evidence that support the opposite position. The bottom line is this: I know what Tammi Terrell's voice sounds like and I know what Valerie Simpson's voice sounds like. And that's Valerie's voice all over the Easy album. Do I think that it degrades Tammi's legacy? No, not really. Do I think that Motown was above doing something of this nature? Now knowing what we know about the background vocals of recordings done by the Supreme's, The Vandella's, The Marvelettes and the use of the The Andantes, I believe that Motown was totally capable of substituting Valerie for Tammi. 1967 showed that no one singer is bigger than their group or the company. Motown was in the business of making money and music, and in that order. I also believe that Valerie also does the vocals on a couple of tracks off the You're All I Need To Get By album.

I use to have my doubts about if it were Valerie or not, until I watched the Unsung program on Tammi Terrell. The clinching fact was the number of brain surgeries Tammi had between late 1967 and her death in early 1970. If I'm not mistaken, the program stated that she underwent 7 or 9 different brain surgeries. Are we really to believe that between operations Tammi was well enough to make repeated trips back to Detroit to record love songs? I'm not a rocket scientist, but I'm not the village igit either. That same Ebony article also quotes Tammi as saying that she had not recorded in a year in a half at the time of the article!! I would love to witness Valerie's explanation of that as well as Marvin's statements about the album. There's just too much evidence out there that says that it's not Tammi singing on those tracks, but instead it's Valerie Simpson. I think if anyone who knows the difference between Tammi and Valerie's voice and listen to those tracks with their ears and not their heart will know the truth as well.

[RBTEMPSFAN]

You are right RossHolloway. All of knew something sounded different when the Marvelettes sange When Your Young - all of the sudden, you hear beautiful background vocals that could not have been Kat and Gladys. So we just thought that the group sounded better.

Same with the Supremes on Love Child and Someday - all of the sudden, there is a sound unlike any harmony that Mary or Cindy or Flo did . We knew something was different. it took all of the later years to find out that other than the lead singers in the girl groups, anybody could be on background on any day.

The music was great - we loved it then - we still love it - but we all know the truth now.

[jobeterob]

I've read the books and listened to the records and the debate over the years........and while I know that if this were a Court hearing, if Valerie Simpson "swore" that her evidence was true, it would probably be the evidence that is accepted............ given that, when all is said is done, I believe the truth is what has been written here by RossHolloway, RBTemptsFan and Midnite Johnny.

I think Valerie is relaying the story to the best of her ability, after a long time; but we've heard screwed up versions of history from every Motown artist a dozen times; and history has a way of becoming what we want to believe.

[RossHolloway]

I've read the books and listened to the records and the debate over the years........and while I know that if this were a Court hearing, if Valerie Simpson "swore" that her evidence was true, it would probably be the evidence that is accepted............ given that, when all is said is done, I believe the truth is what has been written here by RossHolloway, RBTemptsFan and Midnite Johnny.

I think Valerie is relaying the story to the best of her ability, after a long time; but we've heard screwed up versions of history from every Motown artist a dozen times; and history has a way of becoming what we want to believe.

Well I think that Valerie's sworn testimony would be admissible into court evidence, as would all the other surrounding pieces of evidence that have been mentioned in this thread, and proper weight would be given to her statement and all the rest. But when you take all the "evidence" into consideration there can only be one true judgment: It's Valerie vocals on those tracks.