Wanda Young of the Marvelettes RIP

It's been rumoured for a few days but it has now been confirmed by her family that Wanda Young of the Marvelettes has died at the age of 78. Wanda was a member of the group almost from the start and sang lead on 'So Long Baby', the B side to the huge 1961 hit ''Please Mr Postman'. She sang lead on some other tracks, including 'You're My Remedy' in 1964 and from 1965 she was the group's lead singer and was the main voice heard on some of their greatest tracks, including 'Don't Mess With Bill', 'The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game', 'My Baby Must Be A Magician' and 'When You're Young And In Love'. Wanda married Bobby Rogers of the Miracles and changed her professional name to Wanda Rogers. When the group's hits dried up in the late sixties they disbanded but Wanda recorded a solo album produced by Smokey Robinson. It was misleadingly entitled 'The Return of the Marvelettes' even though the other members did not contribute and most backing singing was by the Andantes. The cover shows three women on horseback but the faces of two of them are blurred out as the other members did not wish to be featured. It's a pretty good LP which includes covers of several well known Motown songs including 'Some Day We'll Be Together', 'A Breath Taking Guy' and 'Fading Away' but for some reason it was not released in the UK despite receiving a catalogue number. Wanda left the music business in the early seventies but returned to performing in the early nineties and took part, with original lead singer Gladys Horton, in an album called 'The Marvelettes Now' for Ian Levine's Motorcity label.

Another recent death is that of reggae singer Leo Graham, whose distinctive voice can be heard on a handful of Lee Perry produced records by the Bleechers including 'Ram You Hard' (attrubuted to John Lennon and the Bleechers), 'Check Him Out' and 'Come Into My Parlour'. In the seventies he recorded as a solo artist including 'Three Blind Mice' for Lee Perry and 'Perilous Time' and 'Not Giving Up' for Joe Gibbs.