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#FlashbackFunFacts Inkster #DidYouKnow Katherine Anderson, Made Motown Pop History As A Marvelette?

#FunFactFriday Katherine Anderson Was A #MotownMarvelette As A Teenager Attending Inkster HighSchool In Loving Sweet Memories To

Motown star, Marvelettes co-founder Katherine Anderson dies at age 79…. https://www.soultracks.com/story-katherine... via @soultrackscom #SoulTracks

(September 21, 2023) Today we say a sad goodbye to Katherine Anderson (Schaffner), co-founder of the legendary Motown act, The Marvelettes. She was 79. Anderson’s daughter, Keisha Schaffner, posted the news on Facebook, beginning with the touching opening “Some called her Kat - some called her Sis, Gamma- Momma K but my sister and I called her MOM.”

Born in the university town of Ann Arbor, but raised in the Detroit suburb of Inkster, Anderson was singing early in her life. By 1961, as an early high schooler at Inkster High School, she teamed with fellow glee club members Gladys Horton, Georgeanna Tillman, and Juanita Cowart, as well as Georgia Dobbins (replaced early by Wanda Young).

Originally calling themselves The Casinyets (representing the joke "can't sing yet"), the group eventually auditioned for Motown as The Marvels after a talent contest. Motown requested that the group return with an original song. They brought the Dobbins composition, "Please Mr. Postman," and history began.

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The Marvelettes were an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who was replaced by Wanda Young prior to the group signing their first deal.

They were the first successful act of Motown Records after the Miracles and its first significantly successful female group after the release of the 1961 number-one single, "Please Mr. Postman", one of the first number-one singles recorded by an all-female vocal group and the first by a Motown recording act.

The group that would become the Marvelettes formed at Inkster High School in Inkster, Michigan, a suburb located west of Detroit, Michigan by fifteen-year-old glee club member Gladys Horton in the fall of 1960. Horton enlisted older glee club members Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, and a high school graduate Georgia Dobbins (May 5, 1942 – September 18, 2020) to join her.

In 1961, the quintet, now called the Marvels, entered a talent show contest on the behest of their teacher and ended up finishing in fourth place. Though only the first three winners were offered a trip to audition for the fledgling Motown label, two of the girls' schoolteachers advised that they be allowed to audition too.

Upon auditioning for Motown executives including Brian Holland and Robert Bateman, they had a second audition with bigger staff including Smokey Robinson and the label president and founder, Berry Gordy, who while impressed with their vocal styles advised them to come back with their own composition.

Returning to Inkster, Georgia Dobbins contacted a local musician named William Garrett, who had an unfinished blues composition titled "Please Mr. Postman"; Garrett allowed Dobbins to use it as long as he received songwriting credit if the song became a hit. Despite having no previous songwriting experience, Dobbins took the song home and reshaped it overnight to reflect the teenage sound of doo-wop.

Prior to returning to Motown, Dobbins left the group due to her growing family and her father, who advised her not to continue her career in show business. Dobbins' departure left Horton in full charge of the group. To replace her, Horton asked another Inkster graduate, Wanda Young, to replace Dobbins. When the group returned and performed their composition, Gordy agreed to work with the group but under the advice that they change their name. Gordy renamed them the Marvelettes and signed the act to Motown's Tamla division in July 1961. Tamla issued "Please Mr. Postman" on August 21, 1961.

The song then climbed to the top of the singles chart, reaching number one that December. making them the first Motown act to have a chart-topper on the Hot 100.

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NEWS OBITUARIES
Katherine Anderson Schaffner (1944–2023), Marvelettes co-founder
By Linnea Crowther …. Katherine Anderson Schaffner obituary: Marvelettes co-founder dies at 79 – Legacy.com

Katherine Anderson Schaffner was a singer with the Marvelettes, known for such hits as “Please Mr. Postman.” https://www.legacy.com/news/celebrity-deat...

Died: September 20, 2023 (Who else died on September 20?) 
Details of death: Died at a hospital in Dearborn, Michigan, of heart failure at the age of 79….
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