Martha Reeves

Martha Rose Reeves (born July 18, 1941), was the lead singer of the American Motown Records group Martha & the Vandellas. She was born in Eufaula, Alabama to Elijah Joshua and Ruby Lee Gilmore Reeves. The Reeves family moved to Detroit

Martha Rose Reeves (born July 18, 1941), was the lead singer of the American Motown Records group Martha & the Vandellas. She was born in Eufaula, Alabama to Elijah Joshua and Ruby Lee Gilmore Reeves. The Reeves family moved to Detroit, Michigan right after Martha's birth. Reeves was brought up in church, for her grandfather Elijah Reeves was a minister at Detroit's Metropolitan Church.

As a teenager, Reeves became a secretary at Motown, and founded a singing group called the Del-Phis. The Del-Phis became Motown recording artists --rechristended "The Vandellas" -- after Mary Wells didn't show for a recording session and Reeves was pulled in to record the song intended for Wells. Martha & the Vandellas recorded several successful hits during the mi-1960s, including "(Love is Like a) Heat Wave", "Nowhere to Run", and "Dancing in the Street", and also backed Marvin Gaye on his earliest hits: "Stubborn Kind of Fellow," "Pride & Joy" and "Hitch Hike."