Wanda Young

Wanda was born and raised in Inkster, Michigan. Originally aspiring to be a nurse, Young's professional music career started after fellow Inkster High School classmate Gladys Horton asked her to audition for a spot left by original Marvels member Georgia Dobbins.

After a successful audition, Young joined the group and the quintet, which had auditioned for a deal with Motown earlier, returned with a song written by Dobbins titled "Please Mr. Postman". In 1963, the Beatles recorded "Please Mr. Postman" on their second studio album With the Beatles. In 1975, the Carpenters' remake of "Please Mr. Postman" hit No. 1 around the world and was one of a dozen million-selling Gold-certified singles for the duo in the United States. It was also the second song to ever hit No. 1 by two different artists.

Impressed with the group's sound, they were immediately signed and had their name changed to the Marvelettes and after the song was remastered, the song was released and became Motown's first No. 1 Pop single in late 1961—it also held the top slot for seven weeks on Billboard's R&B chart. Young sang lead on the B-side of the single on a ballad, "So Long, Baby".

While Young did occasionally sing leads on Marvelettes' album cuts, Horton was the main vocalist of the group for singles. Young sang co-lead on Marvelettes' songs, including singles "Locking Up My Heart" and "Too Many Fish in the Sea". In 1964, she sang her first (solo) lead on a Marvelettes' single, "You're My Remedy", which didn't translate as successfully to sales or charts figures.

The first hit single to feature her on lead was the dance hit, "I'll Keep Holding On". From then on until the Marvelettes' departure, Young would be the main lead vocalist of the group. She went on to sing lead on several classics such as "Don't Mess with Bill" (a million-selling gold 45), "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game", "When You're Young and in Love" and "My Baby Must Be a Magician".

The Marvelettes' hit making days had waned by the end of the 1960s and in 1970 the group disbanded. In 1970, Wanda recorded a solo album with Smokey Robinson serving as her producer. Sensing marketing value as a Marvelettes release, Motown released the album as The Return of the Marvelettes. The other Marvelettes refused to participate for the album cover and the album flopped. Young left the label in 1972 when the Motown label relocated from Detroit to Los Angeles.

On December 18, 1963, Young married her longtime boyfriend Bobby Rogers, a member of the Miracles, in Detroit and became known professionally as Wanda Rogers. The union produced two children; son Robert III and daughter Bobbae. Young and Rogers divorced in 1975 after 12 years of marriage, and she reverted to being known as Wanda Young.

Young was involved with many years of substance abuse and alcoholism following the Marvelettes' departure, largely due to witnessing the shooting death of her sister at the Young family's Inkster residence. She re-emerged in the late 1980s after accepting an offer from Motorcity Records' Ian Levine to record new songs and revised versions of her classics with the Marvelettes. She made a brief return to performing in the early 1990s but without Marvelettes members Gladys Horton and Katherine Anderson. Katherine retired from show business after the Marvelettes' breakup though both Horton and Young collaborated on a Marvelettes recording for Motorcity Records. They released an album called The Marvelettes Now!, the artwork of which was modeled after their pink, 1967 album, and featured both Young and Horton on the cover.

In 2002, Kanye West sampled Young's version of the Miracles' "After All" for Jay-Z's rap duet, "Poppin' Tags" from The Blueprint 2: The Gift and the Curse album, which featured Killer Mike, Big Boi and Twista.

The Marvelettes were nominated for induction into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame in 2013 and again 2015.

• Pete Lewis Interviews Wanda Rogers, 'Blues & Soul' September 1990