Marilyn McLeod

She was born in Detroit, into a musical family – her half-brother Ernie Farrow became a noted jazz performer, and her sister Alice married John Coltrane and recorded many albums as a jazz keyboard player and harpist.[1][2] Marilyn McLeod began working as a songwriter for the Jobete publishing company at Motown in 1968.[3] She wrote songs with Johnny Bristol before being teamed with lyricist Pam Sawyer, and the pair co-wrote Diana Ross's 1976 hit "Love Hangover", and the High Inergy hit "You Can't Turn Me Off (in the Middle of Turning Me On)" the following year. In 1982, she co-wrote Jermaine Jackson's hit with Devo, "Let Me Tickle Your Fancy", written with Sawyer, Jermaine Jackson, and Paul Jackson, Jr..[4] As a recording artist, she released some singles under her own name, and fronted the group Pure Magic.[5]

McLeod left Motown in 1985, and, in the early 1990s, co-wrote several songs for Northern Soul DJ Ian Levine and his Motown revival label Motorcity Records. In 2010 she released the album I Believe In Me, a set of songs co-written with veteran Motown songwriter Janie Bradford.[2][3]

Her grandson is the musician, producer and rapper Flying Lotus.[2]