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Music History Monday: April 29

Posted by Jeff Harris, April 29, 2013 10:55am | Post a Comment

To read more Behind The Grooves, go to http://behindthegrooves.tumblr.com.

Born on this day: April 29, 1899 - Composer, bandleader and pianist Duke Ellington (born Edward Kennedy Ellington in Washington DC). Happy Birthday to this jazz giant, born 114 years ago today. We ♥ you madly, Duke!!

Born on this day: April 29, 1922 - Jazz guitarist/harmonica virtuoso and whistler extraordinaire Toots Thielemans (born Jean-Baptiste Frederic Isidor, Baron Thielemans in Brussels, Belgium). Happy 91st Birthday, Toots!!

Born on this day: April 29, 1945 - Motown vocal legend Tammi Terrell (born Thomasina Winifred Montgomery in Philadelphia, PA). Happy Birthday to this "Sweetheart of Motown" on what would have been her 68th Birthday.

On this day in music history: April 29, 1968 - Ridin' High, the fifth studio album by Martha Reeves & The Vandellas is released. Produced by Richard Morris, it is recorded at Motown Studio A in Detroit from mid-1967 to early 1968. The album will be the group's first since the departure of producers William "Mickey" Stevenson and Holland-Dozier-Holland from Motown. Staff producer Richard Morris will fill the void, collaborating with songwriter/producer Sylvia Moy (Stevie Wonder). The pair will write the groups' last two top 40 pop hits "Honey Chile" (#5 R&B, #11 Pop) and "Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone" (#14 R&B, #25 Pop), with the album spinning off a third single "(We've Got) Honey Love" (#27 R&B, #57 Pop). The album will also mark the debut of Lois Reeves (Martha's younger sister), replacing longtime member Betty Kelly (1963-1968) from the group. Ridin' High will peak at #167 on the Billboard Top 200.

SOUNDTRACK SERIES #5

Posted by Job O Brother, May 2, 2010 12:46pm | Post a Comment

Directions: Imagine Mr. Brother living another day, as always, with music playing. Whether it’s one of his trusty iPods, or his home stereo, or working the soundtracks section of Amoeba Music Hollywood, Mr. Brother is eating, sonically, with the mouths of his ears.

To simulate this experience, as you read the below story of a day lived, you will be given certain music clips to play. These are inserted to provide you with the same tunes Job was hearing as he was doing what you’ll be reading.

For example, while he was writing the above directions, he was listening to this:

The boyfriend and I need a lamp. Not just any lamp – something that can complete his “reading nook” in the prominent corner of our living room. It must be a lamp that won’t be diminished by our awesome Italian chair (roughly the size of my last apartment) which it will stand behind, be powerful enough to provide the boyfriend with the amount of light he likes in order to read (roughly the brightness of two suns) and, in general, should be hella rad.

So, every Sunday for the past month, he and I have set out into the deliciously temperatured* but cruelly trafficked land of Los Angeles. Armed with my trusty iPod, which I plug into his car – a Lexus with a capacity for smarts exceeding most high school students – its music gives me the fortitude to face another shopping day.

Remembering Tammi Terrell, Who Died 40 Years Ago Today

Posted by Whitmore, March 16, 2010 08:11pm | Post a Comment

40 years ago today, Thomasina Winifred Montgomery, better known as Tammi Terrell, died of a brain tumor just a month short of her 25th birthday. She was one of that incredible crop of 1960’s soul diva’s who knew how to seduce or belt out a song. Today she is best remembered for her Motown duets with Marvin Gaye with singles like “Ain't No Mountain High Enough”, “Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing”, “Your Precious Love” and “You're All I Need to Get By.”

Born in Philadelphia in 1945, as a teenager Tammi Terrell recorded for the Scepter/Wand label, releasing two solo discs under the name Tammy Montgomery. Both singles released in 1961, “If You See Bill,” and “Voice of Experience,” failed to chart. At about the same time, she also did session work doing backup vocals for the legendary Shirelles. In 1963 she was discovered by James Brown and joined his Revue. While under contract with Brown, Tammi released one single on his Try Me label, “I Cried.” At the time it was rumored that Terrell and Brown were romantically involved, Tammi Terrell

something that didn’t quite fly with her parents, leading to her quick departure; she was replaced by Anna King. Next she signed with Checker Records' label, releasing one single, “If I Would Marry You.” Unfortunately her string of unsuccessful releases continued. In 1965 she signed with Motown, Barry Gordy changed her name to Tammi Terrell, and there she finally scored a couple of Top 30 singles on the R&B charts with 1966’s "I Can't Believe You Love Me" and "Come on and See Me." But it was when she was paired up with Marvin Gaye in 1967 that success finally came, fast and furious, with five top three R&B charting singles in just over a year. But all her success was short lived. On October 14, 1967, while in concert at Ogden Hall at the Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia, she collapsed on stage in Gaye's arms. She was rushed to the hospital, where she was later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. She had complained of severe migraine headaches for some time.

For years now stories have circulated that Tammi was the victim of a physically abusive boyfriend who had not only thrown her down a flight of stairs, but had also hit her over the head with a steel chair. But no actual allegations were ever proved. Terrell would undergo eight separate operations over the next three years for cancer; suffering from memory loss, numbness and weakness, blindness, she become far too sick to work. Eventually she was confined to a wheelchair and her weight dropped to under 85 lbs.

Tammi Terrell died on March 16th, 1970. She’s buried in Mount Lawn Cemetery in Philadelphia.

Marvin Gaye was devastated by her death. He took a long hiatus from live performances. And in his period of self-isolation, amidst his depression he re-evaluated his whole concept of what music might say. The result was the classic 1971 album What's Going On, a meditative, low key work which dealt, in part, with Tammi Terrell's death and issues of the world around him -- injustice, suffering and hatred.