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Martha and the Vandellas

MARTHA AND THE VANDELLAS

YEAR

1995

INDUCTED BY

Fred Schneider & Kate Pierson (B-52s)

CATEGORY

Performers

The brazen Motown girl group with an unyielding R&B edge.

Martha and the Vandellas were the Supremes’ tougher, more grounded counterpart. With her cheeky, fervent vocals, Martha Reeves led the group in a string of dance anthems that are irresistible to this day.

Martha Reeves

Martha Reeves

Annette Sterling-Helton

Annette Sterling-Helton

Betty Kelley

Betty Kelley

Lois Reeves

Lois Reeves

Rosalind "Roz" Ashford-Holmes

Rosalind "Roz" Ashford-Holmes

HALL OF FAME
ESSAY

By Susan Whitall

If you had a pulse in the summer of 1964 and heard Martha Reeves’ piercing cry — “Calling out, around the world, are you ready for a brand-new beat?” — you might have recognized it as the siren sound of Berry Gordy Jr.’s Motown Records.

When you are inside that song, Motown’s Sound of Young America is happening, and all is well in the world. As Reeves sings, “Summer’s here, and the time is right for dancing in the street,” to one of the most irresistible riff Motown’s Funk Brothers ever concocted, for that moment you are young and wild and utterly without a care.

Read More
Class of 1995
When I heard the honey harmonies of the Vandellas and Martha's mysterious voice, it was my call to party down.
Kate Pierson
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