Mary Wells
This is the voice which gives Motown its first three consecutive Top 10 pop hits by one single artist, and the vehicle for the compelling early songs of Smokey Robinson. Mary Wells will always be Berry Gordy’s first solo superstar, and “My Guy,” in particular, will endure as one of his company’s most endearing anthems.
FAST FACTS
- First hit: “Bye Bye Baby”
- Biggest hit: “My Guy”
- Top album: Greatest Hits
- Career highlight: adored by The Beatles, a love which money can’t buy
- Detroit-born in , Mary Wells overcomes poor childhood health and determines to make a living in showbusiness. In a Motor City nightclub, she pitches a self-composed song to Berry Gordy in hope that he can persuade Jackie Wilson to record it. Instead, the Motown boss recruits the teenager to his company’s cause and personally produces her recording of the tune, “Bye Bye Baby.” It’s the very first chart success for the Motown label (to this point, Tamla Records is Berry’s primary imprint) in
- The following year, Mary is placed into the magic hands of the Miracles’ leader, Smokey Robinson, who creates for her a series of tender love songs of notable maturity. The first three h
Detroit-born (in ) Mary Wells was one of the first stars of the soon-to-be-legendary Motown Records, and while she became one of the label's superstars, she had very, very difficult early years that many other people would not have been able to overcome. As a child she contracted spinal meningitis, resulting in temporary paralysis, hearing loss and partial blindness in one eye. When she regained her health she had to learn how to walk all over again. Fortunately, however, she did regain her hearing and eyesight.
At ten years of age she began singing in Detroit-area clubs and talent contests. When she was 17 she wrote a song she wanted to give to Jackie Wilson, a favorite singer of hers. Motown head Berry Gordy was holding open auditions at his studio and Mary showed up with the song, "Bye Bye Baby", and performed it for him. Gordy not only bought the song but signed her to a recording contract, and instead of giving the song to Jackie Wilson, it became Mary's first single, in It landed in the top 50 on the R&B charts.
Gordy set her up with legendary songwriter/producer Smokey Robinson and together they came out with a stream of big hits: "The OneThe Tragic Real-Life Story Of Mary Wells
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Mary started using drugs around She's quoted in Mary Wells: The Tumultuous Life of Motown's First Superstar: "I used drugs for relief, like so many other people do but never talk about it." She reported used heroin, cocaine, and methadone for most rest of her life, only stopping when she was pregnant with her daughter Sugar. She successfully completed a drug rehab program in That same year, reported People, "the former heavy smoker learned she had cancer of the larynx, which later spread to the lungs." The disease "stilled her famed burnt-honey voice" and Wells had no health insurance. Singer Martha Vandella had toured with her in and told People that eventually Wells "had no voice at all" and "just whispered the lyrics."
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Jet reported that Bruce Springsteen contributed $10, toward her aid. Radio stations stepped up, spreading the news, informing where donations could be directed. Over $, was raised from colleagues and fans. Wells began what People called "a painful course of treatment that
Wells, Mary –
Singer
The first star to bring consistent sales and recognition to Detroit's Motown label in the s, Mary Wells was also the first of many Motown stars to break away from that label acrimoniously. Her signature hit, "My Guy," is known to virtually all Americans who came of age in the s, and she notched a string of other hits in collaboration with Motown's prolific songwriter and producer, William "Smokey" Robinson. Yet her career floundered until her tragic death in
Mary Esther Wells was born in Detroit on May 13, When she was three years old, she contracted spinal meningitis and had to remain in bed for two years. Wells also suffered from tuberculosis as a young woman. Her family was poor, and at the age of 12 she began to help her mother with housecleaning work. "Daywork they called it," Wells was quoted as saying in Nowhere to Run: The Story of Soul Music. "And it was damn cold on hallway linoleum. Misery is Detroit linoleum in January—with a half-froze bucket of Spic-and-Span."
Nevertheless, Wells found time to perform solos with the choir at Detroit's Northwestern High School, from which she graduated when she was Shaken by the illnesses she had sur
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