John Malveaux of
writes:
Martha Reeves is an astute business woman and remarkable vocal artist.
Martha recalls the legendary opera tenor George Shirley teaching music in
the Detroit school system. It is my opinion, Martha could also have
been a great opera soprano. Martha started with Motown as a secretary
and subsequently sang background vocals on Marvin Gaye's first single,
Stubborn Kinda Fellow. I first encountered Martha Reeves in 1968 when
WorldWide Production produced the first Motown Review concert on the
west coast. As vice-president of WorldWide Production, I steered the
historic concert to Long Beach instead of Los Angeles. The concert
included Marvin Gaye, the Four Tops, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas,
and Etta James.
Years later, upon my urging, Martha
relocated from Los Angeles to Long Beach immediately before flying to
England for a lengthy tour. I secretly moved Martha into a house in the
Central Area of Long Beach near Martin Luther King Park and hid her
Mercedes under a parachute. I lived a few blocks away from the rented
house for Martha. I had earlier committed the house to my girlfriend but switched the rental arrangement to Martha for business purposes. During
Martha's time in England, her Long Beach house was ransacked and
robbed of irreplaceable career awards, fur coats, and other important
personal valuables. Martha blamed my girlfriend for the scandalous and
destructive robbery. My relationship with Martha was only repaired after
I personally tracked down the burglar after no results came from the
Long Beach detectives/police. Martha returned to Long Beach to press
charges for the trial and immediately fly away. The robber was sentenced
to multiple years in prison. I never told Martha that the burglar
turned out to be a close friend of my girlfriend's brother. Part of this
story is found in Martha's autobiography. See
Martha
Reeves served on the Detroit City Council from 2005-2009. The great
lady continues to travel and perform on a high level. See recent
interview http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Martha-Reeves-8220-life-stage-life-business-8221/story-22892419-detail/story.html
Thanks
John Malveaux
Comment by email:
Could you add this as a comment to the post: Martha Reeves Tour Dates, September, 2014:
[John Malveaux]
Comment by email:
Could you add this as a comment to the post: Martha Reeves Tour Dates, September, 2014:
No comments:
Post a Comment