The Marvelettes- Please Mr. Postman

The Marvelettes will always hold a special place in Motown’s distinguished history, providing the label with its first smash hit in the form of the single ‘Please Mr. Postman’. The song became Motown’s first number-one hit, spending 23 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts. Arguably, the single was where the Marvelettes peaked commercially, with the success of the Supremes the following year bumped them down the Motown pecking order.

The Marvelettes initially comprised a group of friends from Inkster High School in Detroit, Michigan. The group was started in 1960 by Gladys Horton, who recruited her classmates Georgeanna Tillman, Katherine Anderson, Juanita Cowart, and Georgia Dobbins. Wanda Young replaced Dobbins prior to the group signing their first deal, her father advising her not to pursue a career in show business. The group initially adopted the name ‘The Casinyets’, a humorous play on words (‘The can’t sing yets’). The group’s name was later changed by the label to The Marvelettes as they believed it was marketable.

The group entered a school talent show in 1960, where the first three winners were offered an opportunity to audition for Motown. They finished fourth, but two of the group’s teachers successfully lobbied for them to have an audition too. In April 1961, the group passed their Motown audition, though the head of the label, Berry Gordy, told them to come back with an original composition.

Dobbins contacted a local musician named William Garrett, who had an unfinished blues composition he was working on, ‘Please Mr. Postman’. Garrett allowed Dobbins to use it as long as he received songwriting credits if it became a hit. Dobbins and several of the Motown team, including Brian Holland, reworked the song, giving it a doo-wop sound. Released in August 61, the song became a smash hit, necessitating the need to release an album and cash in on the group’s early success.

The resulting album, Please Mr. Postman, released in December 61, was a slap-dash affair, as the label sought to keep the group in the spotlight. It wasn’t an overwhelming commercial success, consisting primarily of covers of their label mates’ songs. Touring the record proved difficult as many of the group were still in High school; ironically, the audience Motown was chasing at the time. Despite the record’s rushed nature, it fares better than many of Motown’s previous efforts that year, with the group’s chemistry plain to see.

The opening track, ‘Angel’, is one of the record’s better moments, a lively affair with its scatty, jaunty keys. The track features an early lead from Wanda Young, who would eventually take Gladys Horton’s place as the group’s lead singer. ‘I Want A Guy’ falls flat, while ‘So Long Baby’ features some lovely vocal harmonies but suffers from poor production. 

‘Please Mr. Postman’ is simply brilliant and provides an early example of the sound Motown sought to produce. Featuring simple chord changes, hand-clapping, and some silky doo-wop harmonies, it’s dripping in a nostalgic romance. Played in 4/4 time, the track has a consistent, easy rhythm, gently bopping along. ‘So Long Baby’ features some superb vocals from Young, but the group fails to match Smokey Robinson’s energy on ‘Way Over There’. 

‘Happy Days’ is a prime example of filler, while ‘You Don’t Want Me No More’ is rather messy with its bizarre shifts in tempo. ‘All The Love I’ve Got’ feels very rushed, but ‘Whisper’ is much better. The album’s stronger moments are when the tempo is slower, allowing the group’s excellent vocal harmonies to shine through, as shown again on the closing track ‘Oh I Apologize’. 

The record is essentially one single and ten filler tracks. The production is a little rough around the edges, but the album shows the group’s excellent vocal abilities, even if some tracks don’t play to their strengths. It’s a typical early Motown effort, with a slightly confused sound as the label looks to find its feet. But the single ‘Please Mr. Postman’ showed that the label could undoubtedly produce a single, even if consistency over a whole album eluded them.