Gladys Horton, co-founder of Motown group The Marvelettes, dies at 66
Thursday, January 27th 2011, 12:46 PM
Gladys Horton gave Motown Records its first No. 1 hit, as the lead voice of the Marvelettes on the 1961 classic "Please Mr. Postman."
She spent the last several decades of her life in a frustrating attempt to get the group's name back, after Motown sold it to a promoter who assigned it to an unrelated group that sang Marvelettes songs.
Horton died Wednesday night at a nursing home in Sherman Oaks, Calif., where she had been recovering from a stroke and pneumonia.
She was 66 and while she never did get the Marvelettes' name back, she will be remembered for defining the sound of Motown's breakthrough female vocal group.
Motown called itself "The Sound of Young America" in those days, a brilliant race-neutral umbrella under which Horton's driving, upbeat lead voice fit perfectly.
Even on the sad songs, there was something irresistibly bright about Marvelettes' songs, which exploded out of car radio speakers.
After "Postman," their hits included "Playboy," "Beechwood 4-5789," "Too Many Fish In the Sea" and "Danger: Heartbreak Dead Ahead."
Horton left the group in 1967 and subsequently divided her time between performing and caring for her handicapped son.
In later years she wanted to perform as the Marvelettes, since she was the original lead voice on so many of the group's hits. But she had to bill herself as "Gladys Horton of the Marvelettes," and her situation helped spark a drive for legislation that would reform trademark laws as they pertain to performing groups.
The Marvelettes first formed in the late 1950s at Inkster High School outside Detroit, entering a talent contest under the name the Casinyets.
That was shorthand for "can't sing yet," but they sang well enough to audition for Motown, where Smokey Robinson suggested they find an original song.
Group member and original lead singer Georgia Dobbins rewrote a song given to her by a neighbor named William Garrett, who happened to be a postman.
Dobbins had to leave the group, however, reportedly because her father wouldn't let her perform in nightclubs. So an initially reluctant Horton became the lead singer.
Also featuring Marvin Gaye on drums, "Please Mr. Postman" stayed on the charts for almost six months.
Despite ongoing campaigns by fans, the Marvelettes have not joined many of their fellow Motown acts in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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