The group's string of hits included "Come and Get These Memories" (1963), "Heat Wave" (1963), "Quicksand" (1963), "Nowhere to Run" (1965), "Jimmy Mack" (1967), "I'm Ready for Love" (1968), "Bless You" (1971), and "Dancing in the Street" (1964), the last of which became known as their signature song.

Teenagers Rosalind Ashford and Annette Beard first became acquainted after a local music manager hired them to be members of a girl group he named the Del-Phis.

[citation needed] Reeves reverted to a solo artist under the name Martha LaVaille in the hope of getting a contract with emerging Detroit label Motown.

After Motown staffer Mickey Stevenson saw Reeves singing at a Detroit club, he offered her an audition.

Initially upset with Reeves, Stevenson soon assigned her as his secretary eventually responsible for handling Motown's auditions.

Prior to her success as lead singer of The Elgins, Saundra Edwards (then going by her surname Mallett) recorded the song "Camel Walk", in 1962, which featured the Vels in background vocals.

With Williams out, the remaining trio of Ashford, Beard and Reeves were told by Gordy that they would need a new name.

[8] 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".

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.

On June 28, 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.

Motown struggled to find good material for many of their acts after the exit of Motown contributor and Reeves' mentor William "Mickey" Stevenson in 1967 and Holland–Dozier–Holland in early 1968, but after their former collaborators left the label, the Vandellas initially continued to find success with the Richard Morris-produced singles "Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone" (US #25; R&B #14) and "Honey Chile" (US #11; UK #30; R&B #5) added to their already extended list of charted singles.

That same year, label changes had started to take effect, and Gordy focused much of his attention on building the Supremes' as well as Diana Ross' burgeoning upcoming solo career that would follow in 1970.

Among their late 1960s hits was "I Can't Dance to That Music You're Playing", which featured singer Syreeta Wright singing the chorus, and peaked at number forty-two.

On some stations, the flip-side "Love, Guess Who" was played instead, however the group reached the top 20 that year in the UK with a reissue of "Jimmy Mack".

"Bless You" reached number thirty-three in the UK giving the group two big hits that year in England.

After living what she called "a rock & roll lifestyle" of prescription pills, cocaine and alcohol, Reeves sobered up in 1977, overcoming her addictions and becoming a born-again Christian.

Original member Gloria Williams, who retired from show business when she left the group, died in 2000.

In 1978, Reeves and original Vandellas Ashford and Beard reunited at a Los Angeles benefit concert for actor Will Geer.

In a Season One episode of the television show The Golden Girls, Blanche described her car as the "noisiest thing to come out of Detroit since Martha & The Vandellas.

[19] Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999 (they were nominated for Best R&B Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for the song in 1964).

[23] Always concert favorites, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were nominated for UK Festival Awards in 2010 and 2011 as "Best Headliner".

Martha and the Vandellas were inducted in the inaugural class of the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame on August 17, 2013.