Martha Rose Reeves was born in Eufaula, Alabama,[1] the first daughter of Elijah Joshua Reeves and Ruby Lee Gilmore Reeves, and the third of the couple's 11 children. She was a baby when the family moved from Eufaula to Detroit, Michigan, where her grandfather, Reverend Elijah Reeves, was a minister at Detroit's Metropolitan Church. The family was very active in the church and its choir. Elijah played guitar, and Ruby liked to sing; the children acquired their love of music from their parents.[4][5][6][7] At Detroit's Northeastern High School, her vocal coach was Abraham Silver, who also worked with Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson (of the Supremes) and Bobby Rogers (of the Miracles).[4][5][7] Raised on gospel, and inspired by singers like Lena Horne and Della Reese, Reeves became a fan of R&B and doo-wop music. She joined the Fascinations[5] in 1959, but left the group before they became a recording act.
Career
In 1957, Reeves joined a group called the Del-Phis, with Rosalind Ashford, Gloria Williams and Annette Beard. Edward "Pops" Larkins formed the Del-Phis as a sister singing group to complement his male vocal group.[8] The Del-Phis were popular local performers.[4]
Through 1960 and 1961, Reeves made ends meet working several jobs by day and worked as a singer in nighttime hours singing jazz and blues standards at some of Detroit's respected nightclubs. Singing at the 20 Grand, Reeves was spotted by Motown A&R director Mickey Stevenson, who gave her his business card and invited her to audition.[5] Reeves, who used the stage name Martha Lavaille showed up at Motown's Hitsville USA studios the next morning, not knowing that she was to call to schedule an audition. Stevenson asked her to answer phones while he took care of other business. Using the skills she had learned in commercial courses in high school, Reeves answered phones, took notes, administered payroll for Motown's Funk Brothers. (Stevenson and Reeves give a different account of this in the 2019 documentary Hitsville: The Making of Motown. Directly quoting Stevenson: "She came to audition a few times. I would find nice ways of saying, 'Martha, you know, come back later.'" Reeves added, "And I must have looked like I was gonna cry or something, cos he said, 'Answer this phone. I'll be right back.' This "right back" was four hours."
Before long, Reeves was working several hours at Hitsville as Stevenson's right hand. (She also did A&R work in addition to secretarial work for Motown.[4][6][9][10]) By 1961, the Del-Phis had changed their name to The Vels[5][7] and recorded singles for Checker and Checkmate Records. One day, when Mary Wells could not attend a session, Reeves stepped up to the microphone and called in the Del-Phis. With "I'll Have to Let Him Go", Martha and the Vandellas was born. Then, when the Andantes could not make a session to back the Miracles' drummer on songs he was recording, Martha called her groupmates. The ladies (a trio after Williams' departure) provided backup vocals for Marvin Gaye's "Stubborn Kind of Fellow".[5][11] The single became a hit. Martha and the Vandellas backed Gaye on his first three singles, his first album, and on stage—even after they had their own hits.
That story is told a bit differently in the film Hitsville. According to Berry Gordy, Motown routinely recorded without a singer present, in violation of union rules: "We were recording sometimes tracks without the singer, and according to the Union, you had to have a singer singing it live. You couldn't do tracks in those days." A union representative made a surprise visit, and Berry said, "Everybody went crazy, saying, 'Well, you're doing a session in there and the union guy is coming.' We told Mickey, 'Man, we've got to put somebody on the mic.' His secretary overheard it....Then she grabbed the mic and started singing it, and she was Martha."
With her brassy and gospel-reared vocals, Martha Reeves helped Martha and the Vandellas ascend from background singers with early songs such as "Come and Get These Memories" and "Heat Wave", distinguishing the group from contemporaries and labelmates the Marvelettes, who preceded them, and the Supremes, who followed them.
The group was also featured in major magazine articles in Johnson Publishing Corp. publications including Hep, Ebony and Jet, and in the newspaper Soul and the magazine Soul Illustrated. Reeves was also an early contributing writer for Soul.
When original member Rosalind Ashford left in 1968, Reeves recruited Sandra Tilley[6] and the lineup of Martha and Lois Reeves and Tilley continued until 1972 when the group disbanded shortly after issuing the album Black Magic. In 1972, after Motown moved from Detroit to Los Angeles, Reeves negotiated out of her contract, ending her tenure with the label.[16][17]
In 1989, Reeves, Rosalind Ashford, and Annette Beard filed a lawsuit against Motown Records for royalties on the group's records not received since 1972. The company reached a settlement with the women in 1991. Berry Gordy, Jr. apologized to Reeves for the length of time in reaching the agreement and the terms of the settlement were not made public.[5][10]
Solo career
Reeves in 1996
After leaving Motown and moving to Los Angeles, Reeves was signed by MCA by late 1973. Her first project, released in January 1974, was the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film Willie Dynamite with jazz trombonist J. J. Johnson. In the summer of the year, MCA released her self-titled album, produced by Richard Perry. It was reportedly the most expensive album of that time, costing $250,000, and featuring other star musicians including Billy Preston, Joe Sample and James Taylor. Despite positive reviews, it failed to generate commercial success as did Reeves' subsequent follow-ups on other labels including Arista and Fantasy.[18] Reviewing in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981), Robert Christgau said, "This attempted masterpiece doesn't make it because Richard Perry has failed the fundamental test of the interpretive producer—matching performer and material. To an extent, this is Reeves's fault—her gorgeous voice has trouble gripping complicated ideas."[19]
In 2004, Reeves released her first album in 24 years, Home to You, with songs she wrote and produced herself except for a Billie Holiday cover and an updated version of "Jimmy Mack". Between leaving the Vandellas and her solo career, Martha served as an early contributor to the music newspaper, Soul, for which she was honored for by the Black Women in Publishing organization.[25] She was also honored for her best-selling 1995 autobiography, Dancing in the Street.[26]
Reeves received an honorary PhD in Humanities on November 25, 2012, in Detroit. She was inducted as a solo artists into the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame on October 4, 2015. Reeves received the Sandy Hosey Lifetime Achievement Award at the Artists Music Guild's 2015 AMG Heritage Awards on November 14, 2015, in Monroe, North Carolina.[28] She is featured in Alabama's 2016 Black History calendar, sponsored by AT&T.
In August 2016, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were presented in concert at London's Hippodrome, where various Motown artists recorded live albums in the 1960s and 1970s.[29]
Current work
After serving on the Detroit City Council from 2005 to 2009, Reeves returned to full-time performing with nearly 50 shows annually, including a major tour of Australia in 2010. She regularly appears at festivals in the UK during the summer, and for her performances was nominated for two UK Festival Awards, as "Best Headliner" and "Feel Good Act of the Summer".[30]
Reeves is a board member of SAG-AFTRA Detroit chapter. In 2007, she testified before Congress on behalf of musicians, session singers and recording artists for better wages and royalties. She was honored for her hard work and courage in 2007 by delegates and members of AFTRA. She is also on the board of SoundExchange, a non-profit performance rights organization that collects royalties on behalf of sound recording copyright owners and featured artists for non-interactive digital transmissions, including satellite and internet radio.[31]
Martha continues to perform concerts and club dates both solo and with her Vandellas—sisters Lois (Motown-era Vandella since 1967) and Delphine (since mid-1980s).[2]
In September 2019, Martha was one of the celebrity contestants taking part on the BBC One show Celebrity MasterChef in the UK.
