The Velvelettes: A Ninth-Grade Lead, Needle in a Haystack and VIP 401

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The Velvelettes formed in 1961 when Western Michigan University students Bertha Barbee McNeal and Mildred Gill Arbor started a vocal group and recruited family and friends: Mildred's younger sister Carolyn "Cal" Gill, then a ninth grader who became lead singer, Cal's friend Betty Kelly and Bertha's cousin Norma Barbee. Classmate Robert Bullock was Berry Gordy's nephew, and an audition brought them into Motown by late 1962. In January 1963 they recorded There He Goes and That's the Reason Why with producer William Stevenson for the IPG label, with a young Stevie Wonder on harmonica. Songs they recorded were often reassigned to Martha and the Vandellas or the Supremes through Motown's Friday quality control meetings.

In spring 1964 Norman Whitfield produced Needle in a Haystack, which reached No. 45 on the Hot 100 and No. 27 in Canada, followed by He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'. That September Betty Kelly left to join Martha and the Vandellas, and a finished album, VIP 401, was shelved as Motown focused on the Supremes. In 1967 Mildred, Norma and Bertha left to raise families, and after Cal married Richard Street in November 1969, he discouraged her from continuing, and the group disbanded in 1970. Their last single, These Things Will Keep Me Loving You, reached No. 34 in the UK in 1971 through the Northern soul scene.

• Motown's sublabels such as VIP and Soul let radio stations play more of its records without appearing to favor one label.
• Cal brought in Sandra Tilley and Annette McMillan for concerts after the founders left.
• These Things Will Keep Me Loving You reached No. 43 on the U.S. R&B chart.
• Bertha Barbee McNeal organized a 1984 reunion that led to the Motor City Records album One Door Closes.
• In 2007 the group sang backing vocals for the Danish duo Junior Senior, and McNeal recorded a rap verse; she died in 2022 at 82.