The Marvelettes were an American girl group formed in Inkster, Michigan in 1960, consisting of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who was replaced by Wanda Young prior to the group signing their first record deal.

[2] The group struggled with problems of poor promotion from Motown, health issues and substance abuse, with Cowart the first to leave in 1963, followed by Tillman in 1965, and Horton in 1967.

In 1969, the group ceased performing and disbanded the next year, following the release of The Return of the Marvelettes featuring only Young (under her married name, Wanda Rogers).

[3][2] Horton enlisted older glee club members Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, and a high school graduate Georgia Dobbins (May 5, 1942 – September 18, 2020)[4] to join her.

In 1961, the quintet, now called the Marvels, entered a talent show contest on the behest of their teacher and ended up finishing in fourth place.

Despite having no previous songwriting experience, Dobbins took the song home and reshaped it overnight to reflect the teenage sound of doo-wop.

[6] Prior to returning to Motown, Dobbins left the group due to her growing family and her father, who advised her not to continue her career in show business.

Following the success of "Beechwood", R&B radio stations also frequently played the single's flip side, "Someday, Someway", which paid off sending the song to number 8 on the R&B chart; their first double-sided hit.

Due to their young ages and Horton being an orphaned ward of the courts, they eventually were taken in by Esther Gordy Edwards, who bused them to Motortown Revue shows.

In early 1963, the group was shortened to a quartet when Juanita Cowart opted to leave,[3] citing a mental breakdown caused by stress from performing on the road, and her embarrassment at getting flustered during an interview appearance on American Bandstand (wherein she identified Detroit as a suburb of Inskter, rather than the other way around).

The success of "Locking" was probably tested due to strong airplay by the song's B-side, the Young-led ballad "Forever", which also received a pop charting, peaking at number 78.

[8] By 1964, the majority of American vocal groups—especially all female bands such as the Shirelles and the Ronettes—started struggling with finding a hit, after the arrival of British pop and rock acts.

That year, the Marvelettes hit the top forty with the Norman Whitfield production, "Too Many Fish in the Sea", reaching number 25 on the Hot 100 with the recording.

By now Motown had begun its charm school, hiring choreographer Cholly Atkins and etiquette expert Maxine Powell to refine the label's acts.

Atkins began polishing the Marvelettes' dance moves, while Powell taught the group to be more graceful, telling them and every other Motown act that they would "perform in front of kings and queens".

By early 1965, struggling to keep up with their stringent recording sessions and touring schedules and her illnesses, a doctor of Tillman's advised her to leave performing for good.

After her first child, Sammie, was born with cerebral palsy, Horton decided to leave the group entirely, doing so before the release of the hit "My Baby Must Be a Magician".

[3] However, by the time Bogan joined the group in 1968, most of the musicians of Motown's early years had left, mainly due to financial disputes with the label.

In January 1980, former Marvelette and original member Georgeanna Tillman died from complications of lupus, in her mother's house in Inkster, at the age of 36.

[10] Ann Bogan, the latter-day member of the group, now lives in Cleveland, Ohio and became a part of the New Birth and their subgroup, Love, Peace & Happiness, before retiring to raise her children.

All the surviving members of the group at that time, including Dobbins and Rogers, were interviewed for an episode of their lives on the TV-One show, Unsung.

In 2005, the group was awarded two Gold plaques for their biggest hits, "Please Mr. Postman" and "Don't Mess with Bill" after the RIAA had certified the singles as million-sellers.

[19] On August 17, 2013 the Marvelettes were inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in Cleveland and again in June 2017 in Detroit, Michigan.