The Marvelettes: A Fourth-Place Finish and an All-Night Postman Rewrite

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In the fall of 1960 at Inkster High School, west of Detroit, 15-year-old glee club member Gladys Horton, an orphaned ward of the courts, formed a group with Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart and graduate Georgia Dobbins. They first called themselves the Casinyets because they felt they could not sing yet. The 1961 school talent show offered the top three acts a Motown audition. The group placed fourth, but teachers pushed for them, and Berry Gordy told them to return with an original song. Dobbins took an unfinished blues by local musician William Garrett, Please Mr. Postman, and rebuilt it overnight as an upbeat doo-wop number.

Dobbins's father then barred her from show business, and Wanda Young replaced her. Signed to Tamla in July 1961 as the Marvelettes, the group saw Please Mr. Postman reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1961, Motown's first No. 1 pop hit. The promised tutors never appeared, Cowart left in 1963 after a breakdown, Tillman left in 1965 with lupus, and Horton quit in 1967. Motown issued Wanda's solo album as The Return of the Marvelettes, and promoter Larry Marshak later acquired the abandoned trademark and toured imposter lineups.

Freddie Gorman, who helped finish Please Mr. Postman, was working as a real mailman.
Juanita Cowart, flustered on American Bandstand, said Detroit was a suburb of Inkster.
The group passed on Where Did Our Love Go in favor of Too Many Fish in the Sea.
Katherine Anderson refused to pose for The Return of the Marvelettes cover.
Former members sued Motown for royalties in 1987, and Truth in Music laws passed in 33 states.

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