Martha Reeves – A Soul Heat Wave!

Martha Rose Reeves is also known as Martha LaVaille, who was born in the year 1941. Martha Reeves was the lead vocalist of the girl group Martha and The Vandellas.

She was born in Alabama to Elijah Joshua and Ruby Lee Gilmore Reeves. When the family shifted to Michigan, Martha Reeves’s mother became a parson in the Metropolitan Church. In the North Eastern High School, she was coached by Abraham Silver who trained many other future stars as well.

In the year 1957, she associated with Rosalind Ashford, Gloria Williams and Annette Beard to form a group named “The Del-Phis”. They used to perform at local parties of YMCA and also at all the high school functions. After some time the group separated due to some reasons, but Martha Reeves joined other groups counting Saber Ettes and The Fascinations. At the farewell of her graduation she performed an operatic number and was honored with a standing ovation. Then again in the year 1960, Martha Reeves rejoined The Del-Phis and signed an agreement with the label “Chess”. Under this label, in the year 1961, they recorded a single “I’ll Let you know” which failed.

After this Martha Reeves started singing at the nightclubs and included jazz and blues in her music. She was very much appreciated by the people there and also made some fan base. One night, a songwriter who was working under Motown Records namely “William Mickey Stevenson” was impressed with Martha Reeves song and appointed her to give an audition for Motown label. Accidentally she started working for Motown but as Stevenson’s secretary.

Still at off times she used to record as a member of The Del-Phis. After this Gloria Williams recorded a single “There He is”, but the song failed, so ultimately she decided to leave the band. This opened the doors for Martha Reeves to be the lead vocalist of the band The Del-Phis. Martha Reeves along with Annette and Roz recorded a demo title “I have to Let him Go”, which made a strong impact on the president of Motown Records.

Consequently, the president and founder of Motown records, Berry Gordy, signed the contract with the girls and so the group renamed as Martha and The Vandellas. This was just the start of their successful career where they put up a lot of hard work.

Slowly and gradually they started giving out some extreme hits that rocked the charts like “Come and Get These Memories” and “(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave” to name a few. In the year 1974, Martha Reeves started with her solo career under the label MCA. However the album she released failed at the charts and could not rock the people. In the entire career, Martha Reeves worked with various labels like Motown, MCA, Arista, Fantasy and True Life Entertainment. Currently, in the year 2005 she served as a designated council woman for Michigan in Detroit. The point in time till date was not easy for Martha Reeves but she managed her life, well.

Martha Reeves released many albums and singles like “Martha Reeves”, “For the rest of my life”, “We meet Again”, “Gotta Keep moving”, “Home To You”, “Power of Love”, “Wild Night” and “Love Blind” to name a few. Out of these releases, “Power of Love”, “Wild Night” and “Love Blind” made a unique place in the R&B charts and the Bill Board 100. So keep listening to the exclusive numbers by Martha Reeves and keep on rocking.

TJ Grooves

Rare Grooves & Soul Music TV