Music > Interviews
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas
The Adrian Flux Waterfront
28/11/16
Discovered at the age of 21, went and worked as a secretary at the peerless Motown Records before the opportunity came to join a rosta that included names like Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross, She went on, with her Vandellas, to make some of the best loved and most recognised songs of all time, including Heatwave, Dancing In The Streets and Jimmy Mack. Still singing, still dancing, Martha still tours all over the world to let the good times roll and wear some dazzling outfits. I had the honour of speaking to the lady herself about how she got started singing, how Detroit has changed and what it was really like at Motown Records back in the 60’s.
You were the third of 11 children – did that give you the desire to be noticed?
I was given a talent because I prayed for it at a very early age. My mom taught me to remember lyrics and melodies while she was combing and braiding my hair, and I wanted to please her so I tried to remember the songs she taught me. I was the first girl in the family so I was her living doll – she pampered me and taught me to sing!
What did your family think of your fame and fortune when it first happened?
Well it was just an extension from singing in my grandfather’s church from the age of eight with my two older brothers. I left home at the age of 18 and had to return because I caught pneumonia, so at 21 I was ready to reach out and leave home. I then became aware of Motown Records. I’d been in amateur contests and sang with other girl groups around the city, so when I was discovered at the age of 21 my dad said go for it. I’d been singing all my life and became famous only when someone discovered me, so my family was very cool with it. They knew I was always going to sing.
You turned up at Motown Records at age 21 to audition, but ended up answering the phones! How did that happen?
I was told to turn up for an audition, but afterwards I was told that I should have phoned ahead and it wouldn’t work just turning up without an appointment. William Stevenson was busy writing some songs for Marvin Gaye, who was a drummer on Motown’s drummer list at that time but trying to find a hit record for himself. When I arrived he was in the midst of it and wanted me to answer his busy telephone. He was gone for three hours and when he came back I had taken over the position of secretary. After three weeks I asked for a salary because I was getting paid for the sessions I was doing making demonstration records. I even managed to get a hit record out of those demo records for myself when I called in my singing partners at the DelPhi. So I was a singer who could answer phones, take dictation, type and I knew music!
How did you end up recording for Motown?
I called in my singing friends and we sang behind Marvin Gaye on that song that William Stevenson was writing. They liked our voices and said hey, let’s make you a group, so we came up with the name Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and that set us aside from the other girls. There was no competition at Hitsville USA, there were enough writers for everyone to be satisfied musically.
Motown had a huge following and almost everything they released was an automatic success. I guess that was a two edged sword – you were almost guaranteed a hit every time but equally the standard had to be upheld?
The songwriters were 17 in number and they would be told “we need a song for The Marvelettes”, or The Contours, so everyone had their own style. The writers and producers always gave the material out, and would sometimes have a contest to see who would win and be allowed to produce a certain song. Berry Gordy won in our case and handwrote and produced Do You Love Me? especially for us. It wasn’t something you could plan, it was hard work and competition that brought out the hits.
The label Motown has been described as a bit like a factory – you’d go out on tour for weeks at a time and then come back to Detroit to record. Were there times when you wanted to get off that train?
No, not in a lucrative business like I was in! No one would doubt that Hitsville was a famous and successful company. I was always pro Motown, pro recording, pro going on the road and travelling. It’s a joy to do those things, I consider it to be a joy and a pleasure to be able to do those things, to sing and meet wonderful people year after year who follow your career and collect your records – it’s a thrill!
Maxine Powell was head of the Artist Development at Motown, teaching you etiquette and getting you ready for being famous and representing the label – was it frustrating not to be able to express yourself in a personal way in terms of your songwriting, performance and style?
She was the answer to a prayer. She turned men into gentlemen and girls into ladies. She gave us simple knowledge to be able to be socially accepted. We were amongst the first people to be allowed to sit at counters and to go into places where American black people were denied. So we were taught to be ladies and gentlemen in order to be accepted. She was very helpful in teaching us how to carry ourselves, not just use knives and forks, she gave us social graces, and taught us how to honourable.
I think most pop stars would tell you where to go if you did that now, although I think a lot of them could do with it!
Well I’m glad to hear you say that as that’s my opinion as well! I have plans to teach the theory that she taught us myself. It’s as important as learning how to act and sing, learning how to behave and to be accepted.
How much of a say did you have in the songs you sang or how you progressed as a group? I was listening to Come And Get These Memories and then Heatwave, and they’re quite different in terms of how much of your personality there is in those songs.
My mom told me when she was teaching me songs at the age of three of four, “if you don’t feel it, don’t sing it”, and as I got older she told me to listen to the lyrics and not to sing it unless I felt it in my heart. That’s the way I treated every song that was given to me by the writers. You know at one time in my life I though they were following me around because they were writing songs that fit my lifestyle and my love life completely! So when I sang My Baby Loves Me I was really in love, although a little embarrassed because the guy didn’t love me that much! I have record to reflect that love, though, and I cherish it. My personality is in every one of songs I sing, that’s why they became hits.
With the rise of the civil rights movement in the late 60’s and the Vietnam War the mood of America changed significantly - you even had to save releasing Jimmy Mack until after the Vietnam war finished. Was there a worry in the label at that time that it might not survive?
That song was written during the Korean War, and Vietnam was very soon after that so we kept Jimmy Mack in the can until the minute when the fighting eased up a little in the Vietnam War they released that track. It was about a soldier who went away and never came back. That was a heartache for many Americans who had loved ones go off to the war. No one ever explains it or understands it..Edwin Starr expressed it best…”WAR! HUH! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing!” Jimmy Mack eased the ladies’ hearts, it was young spirited, and although not exactly happy, it helped to ease the pain of the fact that he hadn’t come back. I still sing about him and people join in.
There have been over 100 different Vandellas over the years, but you’re singing with your sisters at the moment – how is that going?
Yes, Lois joined me in 1968 right after one of the girls quit without notice and my sister Delphine joined me in 1980 after Eudora, my other sister, who had been singing with me got married and wanted to stay home with her husband for a while. I’ve got a long history of back up singers!
How much of a lead did you actually take in terms of decision making or leading your back up singers?
We did it collectively really, but I also took the lead. Sometimes more recently I’ve sung my own back up when recording. I think you need to know how to be a good back up singer in order to be a successful lead singer.
I have to ask about your beautiful outfits through the years –were they specially made for you and the Vandellas and which was your favourite dress of all time that you wore on stage?
Oh baby, I can’t tell you that! Motown’s Artist Development department let us know that we needed to wear delicate outfits for the stage – you won’t see me in torn jeans with holes in the butt! They told us if we dressed properly we’d always represent Motown. Some of our dresses were designed for us, some were from the shops, and always with the thought in mind to be elegantly dressed like royalty – we were always told that it was important to be well dressed for our audience.
You’ve sung in so many different styles over the years – rock, jazz, country, gospel, blues and classical. Which has been the hardest to master?
None of my singing has ever been difficult. My roots are gospel and I’m Southern although I went to get my accent corrected in the 80’s so that “I might speak English one day’! I love singing beautiful lyrics and I think it’s important that everyone should be trained. I have a vocal teacher, Betty Lane, who graduated from Juilliard in New York, came to Detroit and set up a music school; I take lessons from her once a year. The voice changes as it ages so you have to stay trained so you can stay in your range. She teaches a medicinal lesson without herbs or gels or syrups or anything, she helps me take care of my voice and use your own natural fluids to do that. I love her so, she’s the reason why I can still sing jazz, blues, opera and anything else that’s thrown my way!
I see you’re doing a run of tours around the Motown Museum next April. Do you still live in Detroit and how has it changed over the years?
All of the places I’ve been in the world have changed! I’ve watched them grow and change. I served for Detroit City Council here between 2005nand 2009 and I was at a neighbourhood meeting just yesterday. I get to see a whole lot of land and a whole lot of cities grow. England was much like Detroit when I first went there and the architecture is about the same because we have lovely homes here as you have lovely homes there, very well put together by the masons. I enjoy your buildings, your scenery, I’ve seen motorways that weren’t there when I first come grow, and roundabouts develop in the States that originally I only saw in the UK. I’ve changed too – I wish I was still as skinny as I was when started singing but I still have the same love for the business and love of travelling. It’s a real joy, being in showbusiness – it’s a thrill!
What is your favourite part about performing live?
My favourite part is when someone says “AND NOW, MARTHA REEVES AND THE VANDELLAS!” and the band starts, we start singing, the audience sing and dance when they feel the spirit, it’s just a joy.
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas play at the Waterfront on 18th December. Tickets available from ueatickets.ticketabc.com.