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Motown Tribute

Mary Wells was truly Motown's first female superstar, who achieved international fame with her 1964 crossover hit "My Guy."  But Mary had a string of hits before "My Guy" ...  Mary's first record was a hit on the R&B charts in 1961 at #8, and later crossed over to #45 on the pop charts. "Bye Bye Baby" shows off Mary at her soulful best.  It has since been covered by Tony Jackson & The Vibrations (1964), Bonnie Raitt (1979), Maria Doyle (1991) and The Detroit Cobras (May 1, 2001).

"First I Look at the Purse" was The Contours' other hit   (1965) and their second highest charting single for the group.  They never had another No. 1 hit after the wildly popular "Do You Love Me," but "Can You Jerk Like Me" did make it to No. 15 on the R&B charts.  "Can You Jerk" did reach a higher number on the national charts than "Purse."   "First I Look at the Purse" has since been covered by The Assortment (1967), The J. Geils Band (1970), The Cortinas (1978), Rod Stewart (1993), Nashville Pussy (1999), Commander Cody (2007) and Lil' Ed and The Blues Imperials ( 2008).

Barrett Strong gave Motown its first hit ever with "Money ( That's What I Want)" in 1960.  The song has been covered by Jerry Lee Lewis, The Searchers, The Beatles, The Everly Brothers, The Rolling Stones, The Kingsmen, Little Richard and many many others!

The Marvelettes had a string of hit songs, including the playful "Beechwood 4-5789."  Back then, people used to have an exchange prefix that was a name (ours was Humboldt).  Some of the Marvelettes' most covered hit songs include "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game," "Too Many Fish in the Sea" and their signature song, "Please Mr. Postman."

Jr. Walker & The Allstars had their biggest hit with 1965's "Shotgun."  The Shotgun was a dance and the two other dances mentioned in the song are The Jerk and the Twine. 

Tammi Terrell was the most popular duet partner of  Marvin Gaye.  Tammi also had a couple of minor solo hits before she teamed up with Marvin, including "Come on and See Me."  Tammi's suffering from migraine headaches and subsequent diagnosis of a brain tumor led became the basis of wild speculation that this happened to her as a result of domestic violence at the hands of boyfriend, David Ruffin.  The worst rumor was that Ruffin had hit her in the head with a hammer.  Tammi had a prior abusive relationship with James Brown, and she actually left him because of the abuse.  She broke up with Ruffin when she learned he was already married.  Tammi passed away a month before her 25th birthday.