Died On This Date (January 26, 2011) Gladys Horton / The Marvelettes
themusicsover Gladys Horton
1944 – January 26, 2011
Gladys Horton was the founding lead singer of influential Motown girl group, the Marvelettes. Formed in Detroit in 1960, the Marvelettes would go on to have 21 R&B charting hits and 23 to make Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart. Their most popular songs were “Beechwood 4-5789,” “Too Many Fish In The Sea,” and of course, “Please, Mr. Postman,” which was Motown’s first #1 pop hit. They were the blueprint for future hit makers like Martha Reeves & The Vandellas and the Supremes. Horton left the group in 1967 but reunited with the group during the late ’80s. Gladys Horton was 66 when she passed away in a Los Angeles nursing home on January 26, 2011. She had been recuperating from a previous stroke. Co-founding member, Georgeanna Tillman passed away in 1980.
What You Should Own
Florence Ballard was a founding member of influential Motown singing group, the Supremes. Born and raised in Detroit, Ballard began singing in local groups while still a teenager. In 1959, she successfully auditioned for a female vocal group called the Primettes who, after a few personnel changes eventually signed with Motown Records as the Supremes, with the most successful formation of the group including Ballard, Diana Ross and Mary Wilson. Over the next eight years with the Supremes, Ballard sang on nearly a dozen #1 hits and helped the women become one of the most influential female groups in history. In the spring of 1967, Ballard left the group and launched a solo career, but it failed to bring her back into the spotlight. Personal and financial problems plagued Florence Ballard during the final years of her life, and on February 22, 1976, she died of cardiac arrest. She was 32.
