TAMMI TERRELL

'Tammi Terrell' (born 'Thomasina Winifred Montgomery') (April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970) was an American soul singer, most notable for her association with Motown and her duets with Marvin Gaye. As a teenager she recorded for the Scepter/Wand, Try Me and Checker record labels. She signed with Motown in 1965 and enjoyed modest success as a solo singer. Once she was paired with Gaye in 1967, her star rose, but in the fall of that year she collapsed on stage into Gaye's arms during a performance. She was then diagnosed with a brain tumor which eventually led to her death at age 24.

Contents

Biography

Early years

Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Rumors

Discography

Albums

Solo

Singles

with Marvin Gaye

Solo

See also

Further reading

External links

Biography

Early years

Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, she entered the music business at the age of 13, regularly performing live. In 1961 she was signed to the fledgling Scepter Records (later Wand Records), recording under the name "Tammy Montgomery". After coming to the attention of James Brown she recorded one single apiece for Brown's own Try Me record label and, in 1964, Checker Records. The year after that, she was spotted by Berry Gordy Jr. while playing live, and signed to his Motown label. Attractive and talented, she became romantically linked with both James Brown and David Ruffin, who was in the award winning group The Temptations.

Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell

Initially Terrell recorded solo, with only moderate success (she had a pair of R&B Top 30 singles in 1966, "I Can't Believe You Love Me" and "Come on and See Me") . However, from 1967 onwards she recorded a series of duets with Marvin Gaye, producing hits with Ashford & Simpson written tunes such as "Ain't No Mountain High Enough", "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" and "You're All I Need to Get By".
However, Terrell's success was to be short-lived. On October 14, 1967, while in concert at the homecoming for a college in Virginia, she collapsed in Gaye's arms. (Sources differ as to the exact site; some say it was Hampton University, others say it was Hampden-Sydney College.) She was rushed to the hospital, where she was later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. From then on her health deteriorated. Gaye later told his biographer David Ritz that Terrell was no longer able to record and that Valerie Simpson recorded most of the female vocals on the final Gaye/Terrell duet album, ''Easy''. (Simpson is quoted as denying this in a book written by Terrell's sister Ludie Montgomery.) Terrell died on March 16, 1970 at the age of 24. Marvin Gaye reacted to her death by taking a two year hiatus from concert performance and went into self-isolation. In addition, in 1971 Gaye's classic album ''What's Going On'', an introspective, low-key work which dealt with mature themes, was in part a reaction to Terrell's death.

Rumors

Rumors persist that Terrell's condition was either brought on, or worsened by, domestic abuse from her live-in boyfriend, Temptations singer David Ruffin, as well as James Brown during her early career. While Ruffin and Terrell did fight, it was never proven that Ruffin abused her severely enough to damage her in such a way. Speculation has occurred for years that Terrell may have had an affair with her frequent singing partner Marvin Gaye. Tammi Terrell was also rumored to have married boxer Ernie Terrell, but Terrell's sister Ludie Montgomery dispells this rumor as false in Terrell's biography, ''My Sister Tommie,'' explaining that "Terrell" was a stage name that Motown founder Berry Gordy gave her.

Discography

Albums

'with Marvin Gaye'

★ 1967: ''United''

★ 1968: ''You're All I Need'' (6 of its 12 tracks were existing Terrell solo tracks with Gaye overdubs)

★ 1969: ''Easy''

★ 1970: ''Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's Greatest Hits'' (posthumous)

★ 2001: ''The Complete Duets'' (compilation of ''United'', ''You're All I Need'', and ''Easy'')

Solo

★ 1967: ''The Early Show'' (Wand LP, side A is by Tammi Terrell, side B is by Chuck Jackson)

★ 1969: ''Irresistible''

★ 2001: ''The Essential Collection'' (posthumous)

Singles

with Marvin Gaye

★ 1967: "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" #19 US

★ 1967: "Your Precious Love" #5 US

★ 1967: "If I Could Build My Whole World Around You" #10 US, #41 UK

★ 1968: "If This World Were Mine" #68 US

★ 1968: "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing" #8 US, #34 UK

★ 1968: "You're All I Need to Get By" #7 US, #19 UK

★ 1968: "Keep On Lovin' Me Honey" #24 US

★ 1969: "You Ain't Livin' Till You're Lovin'" #21 UK

★ 1969: "Good Lovin' Ain't Easy to Come By"
★ #30 US, #26 UK

★ 1969: "What You Gave Me"
★ #49 US

★ 1969: "The Onion Song"
★ #50 US, #9 UK

★ 1970: "California Soul"
★ #56 US
(
★ - credited as Tammi Terrell, but allegedly sung by Valerie Simpson, see above)

Solo

★ 1963: "I Cried" (as Tammi Montgomery) #99 US

★ 1966: "I Can't Believe You Love Me" (H Fuqua, J Bristol) #72 US

★ 1966: "Come On and See Me" (H Fuqua, J Bristol) #80 US

★ 1967: "Oh What a good man he is" (Wm Robinson, A Clevelend) no chart position

★ 1969: "This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You)" (B Holland, L Dozier, E Holland, S Moy) #67 US

See also

★ List of notable brain tumor patients

★

Further reading

★ Montgomery, Ludie. ''My Sister Tommie: the Real Tammi Terrell'' (2005, ISBN 1-904408-16-8)

★ Ritz, David. ''Divided Soul: the Life of Marvin Gaye'' (2003 edition, ISBN 0-306-81191-X)

★ Whitall, Susan. ''For the Record: Women of Motown'' (1998, ISBN 0-380-79379-2)

External links

★ TammiTerrell.com (fan site)

★ Tammi Terrell fan group

★ Tammi Terrell at Internet Movie Database

★ Tammi Terrell's Gravesite

★ Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell