Co-founding member of The Velvelettes
Bertha Barbee-McNeal died yesterday (16 Dec '22), I
believe she was 80/81.
She formed the group with school friend, at Western Michigan
University, Mildred Gill Arbor in 1961 and recruited her cousin Norma
Barbee-Fairhurst and Gill's sister Carolyn ('Cal' Carolyn Gill-Street)
who in turn brought in her friend Betty Kelley (who left before
their 1965 hit "Needle In A Haystack" to join Martha & The
Vandellas).
They originally named themselves Les Jolie Femmes (The
Pretty Women) later changing it to The Velvelettes when their voices
were described as velvet. I've read reports that Gail Sonders was a member in 1965/66 for the TV
appearance on 'Where The Action Is'. She went on to sing with Hot Ice
in the 70s and later changed her name to Floreece Davis.
A school classmate was the nephew of Berry Gordy who encouraged them
to audition for Motown who they were signed to in 1962. Their first
single "There He Goes" / "That's The Reason Why" was released on IPG
(Independent Producers Group) in Jun 1963. The song was written and
produced by William 'Mickey' Stevenson and included Stevie Wonder on
harmonica. I guess it was one of those Jobete songs that Motown
decided not to release so was released independently.
Their first Motown single "Needle In A Haystack" was released in Sep 1964 on the V.I.P. imprint. Sadly, they
were rather neglected by Motown who by this time had Diana Ross &
The Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas and The Marvelettes all
having hits, and they only released another four singles "He Was Really Sayin' Somethin'" (covered in the 1982 by Bananarama who had a #4 UK pop hit with it), "Lonely Lonely Girl Am I", "A Bird In The Hand (Is Worth Two In The Bush)", "These Things Will Keep Me Loving You" all of which have become firm favourites on Northern Soul
dancefloors in the north of England with their last record reaching #34 on UK pop chart in 1971 on UK reissue after latent NS exposure.
The group recorded "Dancing In The Street" which was eventually
released by Martha & The Vandellas, which makes you wonder what
might have happened to them had Gordy released their version?
Mildred Gill, Norma Barbee, Cal Gill, Betty Kelly , Bertha
Barbee
By 1967 they had disbanded with Mildred Gill, Norma and Bertha
Barbee leaving to raise families leaving just Carolyn who recruited
Sandra Tilley (another who would later become a Vandella in 1968) and
Annette McMillan who continued the group until Carolyn Gill's marriage
to Richard Street of The Monitors (who later joined The Temptations)
in 1969.
Cal Gill, Mildred Gill, Bertha Barbee
The group reunited in the mid 80s for concert performances and
Ian Levine, as he did with many 60s Motown acts,
re-recorded their hits and new material for his Nightmare and
Motorcity labels. Whilst at Motown they recorded a self-titled album
that was scheduled for V.I.P. 401 but was unreleased, so their first
album "One Door Closes" appeared on Motorcity in 1990. Motown
released two compilations of their material in 1999 "The Very
Best Of The Velvelettes" and 2004 The Motown Anthology" (containing
48, many previously unreleased, tracks) with another "The Best Of"
appearing on Spectrum in 2001.
Bertha was a trained classical pianist and gained a bachelor's and
master's degrees in music from Western Michigan University and became
a music teacher in Kalamazoo Public Schools, where she taught for 26
years before retiring in 2002. The group continued to perform to this
day.
Discography
Singles
1963-07 - There He Goes / That's The Reason Why [IPG #1002]
1964-09 - Needle In A Haystack / Should I Tell Them [V.I.P
#25007]
1964-12 - He Was Really Sayin' Somethin' / Throw A Farewell Kiss
[V.I.P. #24013]
1965-05 - Lonely Lonely Girl Am I / I'm The Exception To The Rule
[V.I.P. #25017]
1965-11 - A Bird In The Hand (Is Worth Two In The Bush) / Since
You've Been Loving Me [V.I.P. #25030]
1966-08 - These Things Will Keep Me Loving You / Since You've Been
Loving Me [Soul #S-35025]
UK Singles
1987 - Needle In A Haystack / Needle In A Haystack (Instrumental)
[Nightmare #MARE 28]
1988 - Running Out Of Luck / Running Out Of Luck (Nightmare Dub
Mix) [Nightmare #MARE 60]
1989 - Pull My Heartstrings / Pull My Heartstrings (Motor-Town
Dub Mix) [Nightmare #116]
1992 - It Keeps Reminding Me (Of Happy Memories) / That's When
The Tears Start
Albums
1990 - One Door loses [Motorcity #MOTCLP 43]
Compilations
1995 - The Velvelettes Meet The Royalettes [Marginal #MAR
017]
1999 - The Very Best Of [Motwon # 314549507-2]
2001 - The Best Of [Spectrum # 544 467-2]
2004 - The Motown anthology [Motown #980 937-2]
Included below are both sides of all their singles plus a few
unreleased songs. A few videos, whilst they claim are from 65/66,
seem to be the members of the later formation of Gill, Tilley and
McMillan. Certainly on "These Things" at least as that looks like
Sandra Tilley on the left and Gail Sonders is on "Really Saying
Something" (on left who also appears on the first), but is the only
footage available and none seem to contain Bertha. Therefore, included is their 1987, re-recording of their first hit which includes all four
original members along with their last Levine recording "It Keeps Reminding Me (Of Happy Memories)" where they are missing
Norma from the line-up.
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