Tammi Terrell

Tammi Terrell

Tammi Terrell (born April 29, 1945 in Philadelphia ; † March 16, 1970 there ; actually Thomasina Winifred Montgomery ) was an American soul and R&B singer. She had her greatest success as a singing partner with Marvin Gaye between 1967 and 1969.

biography

Tammi Terrell was the daughter of the politician Thomas Harper Montgomery (1907–1980) and his wife Jennie Bearian Graham (1917–1983). After she had won several talent competitions as a student, the young Tammy Montgomery recorded from 1961 records on Scepter / Wand Records. James Brown produced the songs I Cried and If You Don't Think with her in 1963 . Both appeared on James Brown's Original Funky Divas album . She was on the road with the James Brown Revue for a year. A relationship developed between her and James Brown. After Brown severely abused the 17-year-old, she fled to live with her parents.

In 1965, Berry Gordy discovered Tammy Montgomery for Motown , where she recorded her songs as Tammi Terrell. The new name was shorter and more memorable, and there is no verifiable evidence of an alleged marriage to boxer Ernie Terrell . On the other hand, soon after starting her Motown engagement, she had an intimate relationship with the Temptations singer David Ruffin . Although he was often violent towards her - among other things, he is said to have severely injured her head and face several times - Tammi Terrell only ended the relationship when she learned that Ruffin was already married in another state.

Terrell initially had two smaller solo hits at Motown with I Can't Believe You Love Me and Come On And See Me . The collaboration with Marvin Gaye from 1967 onwards should help her breakthrough in her career. After Mary Wells and Kim Weston, she became his third duet partner. With him she recorded such classics as Ain't No Mountain High Enough (produced by Harvey Fuqua and Johnny Bristol , first recorded from her solo, shortly afterwards supplemented by Marvin Gaye's vocal part) and Your Precious Love . She was considered the ideal duet partner for Gaye, and a close friendship developed between the two privately, but not a love relationship. In the summer of 1967, Tammi Terrell and Marvin Gaye went on a large, successful tour.

But in October of the same year, the duo's success was overshadowed by Terrell's serious illness, and their joint appearances came to an abrupt end. For a long time she had complained of frequent severe headaches, which were wrongly recognized as a result of stress and abuse by David Ruffin. Tammi Terrell claims that massive headache attacks began to emerge in 1966, around the time she ended her relationship with David Ruffin. So she assumed at the time that the headache was psychological. During 1967, her complaints increased. On October 14, 1967, Tammi Terrell collapsed on stage during a performance by the duo in Hampden-Sydney , Virginia . When Terrell began to suffer from paralysis and visual impairment after their next gig in Chicago, the tour was canceled and Terrell went to the hospital in Philadelphia for examinations. It was only during her second stay there, in January 1968, that a brain tumor in the thalamus was diagnosed as the real cause of her symptoms. On January 13, 1968, she underwent difficult and risky brain surgery. Although Tammi Terrell had lost a lot of weight, she resumed her work as a singer - against the advice of her doctors - only two months later with a few appearances in Philadelphia.

However, massive health problems soon reappeared. Spinal fluid could no longer be sufficiently resorbed in the skull because one or more cerebral ventricles were affected. In a total of five operations within a few months, she was therefore u. a. Drains and a shunt inserted, which were supposed to remedy the situation, but initially did not work. Meanwhile, some songs from Terrell's previous solo recordings were sung in Marvin Gaye's studio. By overdubbing from duets were artificially made. I.a. six tracks on the album You're All I Need were created in this way.

Tammi Terrell survived the operations but recovered slowly. As a result, she suffered from right-sided paresis - her right arm was paralyzed, the mobility of her right leg severely restricted - and from forgetfulness. In the spring of 1969, she went to the Motown studio in Detroit, sitting in a wheelchair. Since she was still very weak physically and had problems memorizing lyrics, she was likely to be sent home soon. In the months that followed, Tammi Terrell concentrated entirely on reducing her physical limitations through physiotherapy. In the fall of 1969, her condition seemed to have improved significantly: She had overcome some of the paralysis, trained her memory and, after a full recovery, was planning to return to singing or to resume the studies that she had before her career at Motown had started.

Whether Tammi Terell sang all the songs on the last duet album with Marvin Gaye Easy herself in 1969, as her sister says, or whether her vocal part on most of the songs was taken over by Valerie Simpson , as Marvin Gaye claimed according to a biography, is an open question Question. The only thing that is certain is that Tammi Terrell sings on More, More, More and I Can't Believe You Love Me , as they are older solo recordings to which Gaye's vocals have been added.

Tammi Terell got engaged to doctor Ernest Garrett in the last year of her life. However, they did not marry again because her health deteriorated again. From the end of December 1969 to January 18, 1970 she was treated again in the hospital in the neurological ward. Her parents then traveled with her to the Bahamas. On March 16, 1970, Tammi Terrell died in Philadelphia Graduate Hospital at the age of 24 after another operation. The exact cause of death was not disclosed at first, but it was later announced that she had died of an inoperable brain tumor. Her duet partner Marvin Gaye gave a moving, tearful eulogy at Terrell's funeral.

music

Albums

With Marvin Gaye

• 1967: United
• 1968: You're All I Need (6 of the 12 songs were already existing solo tracks by Terrell with subsequent overdubs by Gaye)
• 1969: Easy
• 1970: Greatest Hits (after her death)
• 2001: The Complete Duets (compilation containing the albums United, You're All I Need and Easy as well as alternative versions, solversions and previously unreleased material)

solo

• 1967: The Early Show (Wall LP WDM-682, side A by Tammi Terrell, side B by Chuck Jackson)
• 1969: Irresistible
• 2001: The Essential Collection (compilation by Spectrum Music; 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
• 1968: If This World Were Mine # 68 US
• 1968: Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing # 8 US (UK: platinum)
• 1968: You're All I Need to Get By # 7 US
• 1968: Keep On Lovin 'Me, Honey # 24 US
• 1969: Good Lovin 'Ain't Easy to Come By # 30 US ^
• 1969: What You Gave Me # 49 US ^
• 1970: The Onion Song # 50 US ^
• 1970: California Soul # 56 US ^

^ - Valerie Simpson probably took over the female vocals on these songs and imitated Tammi Terrell's voice, as Terrell probably no longer recorded these songs due to her poor health.

solo

• 1961: If You See Bill / It's Mine (SCEPTER 1224) *
• 1962: Voice Of Experience / I Want'cha To Be True (WAND 123) *
• 1963: If You Don't Think / I Cried (TRY ME 28001) * # 99 US
• 1964: If I Would Marry You / I Want'cha To Be True (Checker 1072) *
• 1966: I Can't Believe You Love Me / Hold Me Oh My Darlin (Motown 1086) # 72 US
• 1966: Come On and See Me / Baby Don'tcha Worry (Motown 1095) # 80 US
• 1967: What A Good Man He Is / There Are Things (Motown 1115)
• 1969: This Old Heart Of Mine (Is Weak For You) # 67 US

(*) as Tammy Montgomery

literature

Ludie Montgomery, Vickie Wright: My Sister Tommie: The Story of Tammi Terrell , Bank House Books, 2005, ISBN 1-904408-16-8 . Art Peters, The ordeal of Tammi Terrell, in: Ebony XXV, No. 1, November 1969.

swell

1. ↑ Ebony XXV / 1, Nov. 1969, p. 96.
2. ↑ ibid.
3. ^ David Ritz: Divided Soul. The Life of Marvin Gaye , Mcgraw-Hill 1985 ISBN 0-07-052929-9 . - Simpson is said to have testified in an interview with Ludi Montgomery that she only produced the songs, but did not sing them herself.
4. ↑ JET April 2, 1970, p. 55.
5. ↑ JET April 9, 1970.
6. ↑ Music Sales Awards: UK

Web links

• Feature at Jazzwax (2010)