Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves & The Vandellas) were an American vocal girl group formed in Detroit in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown. An act founded by friends Annette Beard, Rosalind Ashford and Gloria Williams, the group eventually included Martha Reeves, who moved up in ranks as lead vocalist of the group after Williams’ departure in 1962. The group signed with and eventually recorded all of their singles for Motown’s Gordy imprint.
Following their signing to Motown’s Gordy imprint in 1962, the Vandellas struck gold with their second release, the first composition and production from the famed writing team, Holland-Dozier-Holland, titled “Come and Get These Memories”. It became the Vandellas’ first Top 40 recording, reaching number twenty-nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaking at number six on the R&B chart. Their second hit, “Heat Wave”, became a phenomenal record for the group, reaching number four on the Hot 100 and hitting number one on the R&B singles chart for five weeks. It became their first million-seller and eventually got the group their only Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Performance. On the single and album, the song was titled “Heat Wave”. It was sometime later that the song was retitled to avoid confusion with the Irving Berlin song.
The group’s success continued with their second Top Ten single and third Top 40 single, “Quicksand”, which was another composition with Holland-Dozier-Holland and reached number eight in the late fall of 1963. Around that time, Annette, who was pregnant with her first child and set to get married, chose to leave her singing career behind by 1964. Betty Kelley, formerly of the Velvelettes, was brought in shortly afterward to continue the Vandellas’ rise. The next two singles, were less successful, failing to reach the Pop Top 40. However, their next single, “Dancing in the Street”, rose up to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also found global success, peaking at No. 21 on the UK Singles Chart in 1964. In 1969, “Dancing in the Street” was re-issued and it was plugged heavily on radio stations. It did not take long for the song to peak at No. 4 in the UK, thus making the song one of the all-time favourite Motown single releases ever. The song became a million-seller, and one of the most played singles in history.
Between 1964 and 1967, singles like “Wild One” “Nowhere to Run”, “I’m Ready for Love” and “Jimmy Mack” kept the Vandellas on the map as one of the label’s top acts. Throughout this period, the Vandellas had also become one of the label’s most popular performing acts. In June 1965, the group appeared with several other popular acts of the period on CBS-TV’s Murray The K-It’s What’s Happening, Baby. Martha, Rosalind and Betty performed “Nowhere to Run”, as they skipped through a Ford auto plant and sat in a Ford Mustang convertible as it’s being assembled.
During their nine-year run on the charts from 1963 to 1972, Martha and the Vandellas charted over twenty-six hits and recorded in a variety of styles. Ten Vandellas songs reached the top ten of the Billboard, including two R&B number ones, and six Top Ten Pop Hits on the Billboard Hot 100. Selected members of the group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 2013.
