Still Dancing in The Street
Martha Reeves is on the move. Having fronted Motown super-group Martha Reeves and The Vandellas for over 50 years, this grandmother of three has performed with the likes of Marvin Gaye, James Brown, and Dusty Springfield, as well as being inducted into the Rock‘n’Roll Hall of Fame and VH1’s Greatest Women in Rock’n’Roll.
With a string of hits to your name like ‘Dancing in The Street,’ ‘Heatwave,’ ‘Nowhere To Run,’ and ‘Jimmy Mack,’ you’d easily be forgiven for taking it easy at the age of 69, but Martha is showing no signs of slowing down. With three London tour dates at Camden’s Jazz Café this December, she and her band the Vandellas are living proof that all good things grow better with age. “I live my life anticipating our appearances… it’s like everything else comes in between the joy and the fun times of going on stage and performing,” she tells me from her home in Detroit, while preparing to hit the road again.
In fact, Detroit is in Martha's blood. Not only has she served as councillor for the city, but her band’s name was inspired by the streets she grew up on.“Vandyke is a Street on the East side of town. Motown was on the West, but I wanted everyone to be sure that I was from the East side… and Della Reese is my idol - always will be - so we used a part of her name too.”
The name got them in a bit of trouble back in the day though: “Some people used to call us ‘Vandals’ because of the name. They used to say we went around stealing hubcaps while we ‘danced in the street,’ but I stopped that right away,” she asserts firmly. “I knew how to dance in the street from my early childhood. In my neighbourhood we had the kind of neighbours where if they caught us doing something wrong they’d spank us and take us home to our parents, where we’d get another spanking” she giggles.
On her first experience of ‘Dancing in The Street’ she recalls occasions when the local Police would let residents block off whole streets. “We’d bring out our record players onto the porches - I didn’t say iPods or CD players, I meant record players, and everybody would play their music as loud as they could and we would dance in the street… it would be like a carnival or festival right in our own neighbourhood.”
It took a lot of perseverance and determination to get her break at Motown Records. Reeves spent her first nine months answering the phones before she could even get an audition, and with her trademark assertiveness she took the initiative and made herself indispensable. “I think being a female and having that kind of motherly kind of input had a lot to do with my success. I’ve always had backup singers and I’ve always been the captain of the ship – even at home I was the oldest sister – so being a woman is part of that. We women are very powerful.” Wise words from a lady who is seeming more and more like the Motown equivalent of Aslan to my slightly star-struck fawn…
So what does Martha think of today’s music industry? “I have to separate myself from some of today’s music because it’s not actually being made by real musicians. There are a lot of technical toys. I don’t think I would fare well [today] because I don’t actually sing very well to machines. I love the input and effect that live recordings and live instrumentation have on me – it’s what inspires me and what makes me a singer…musicians make my day.”
It’s this kind of earnest attitude to quality music-making that characterises Martha’s style. Unsurprisingly, programmes like the X-Factor don’t really appeal - not for their lack of legitimacy or real talent, but due to the brutal approach of the selection process. “It might make for good audience figures, but I think it sometimes crushes a few personalities who maybe with a few lessons perhaps could become singers or performers.” She compares her own experience at the iconic Motown label (nicknamed Hitsville USA) as having been much more nurturing: “People referred to us as the Motown family – [but] we had things we had to live up to become a part of that.”
So what’s the best party that Martha Reeves has ever been to? “It’s been one long party – a continuation each time! I couldn’t say the best – I just love that our music means a good time… The sound of young America is what Berry Gordy intended it to be…and it’s like a fountain of youth to me, because every time I sing it I can feel that happy time, and that spirit comes back to me, and it’s alive…”Martha Reeves is on the move. Having fronted Motown super-group Martha Reeves and The Vandellas for over 50 years, this grandmother of three has performed with the likes of Marvin Gaye, James Brown, and Dusty Springfield, as well as being inducted into the Rock‘n’Roll Hall of Fame and VH1’s Greatest Women in Rock’n’Roll.
With a string of hits to your name like ‘Dancing in The Street,’ ‘Heatwave,’ ‘Nowhere To Run,’ and ‘Jimmy Mack,’ you’d easily be forgiven for taking it easy at the age of 69, but Martha is showing no signs of slowing down. With three London tour dates at Camden’s Jazz Café this December, she and her band the Vandellas are living proof that all good things grow better with age. “I live my life anticipating our appearances… it’s like everything else comes in between the joy and the fun times of going on stage and performing,” she tells me from her home in Detroit, while preparing to hit the road again.
In fact, Detroit is in Martha's blood. Not only has she served as councillor for the city, but her band’s name was inspired by the streets she grew up on.“Vandyke is a Street on the East side of town. Motown was on the West, but I wanted everyone to be sure that I was from the East side… and Della Reese is my idol - always will be - so we used a part of her name too.”
The name got them in a bit of trouble back in the day though: “Some people used to call us ‘Vandals’ because of the name. They used to say we went around stealing hubcaps while we ‘danced in the street,’ but I stopped that right away,” she asserts firmly. “I knew how to dance in the street from my early childhood. In my neighbourhood we had the kind of neighbours where if they caught us doing something wrong they’d spank us and take us home to our parents, where we’d get another spanking” she giggles.
On her first experience of ‘Dancing in The Street’ she recalls occasions when the local Police would let residents block off whole streets. “We’d bring out our record players onto the porches - I didn’t say iPods or CD players, I meant record players, and everybody would play their music as loud as they could and we would dance in the street… it would be like a carnival or festival right in our own neighbourhood.”
It took a lot of perseverance and determination to get her break at Motown Records. Reeves spent her first nine months answering the phones before she could even get an audition, and with her trademark assertiveness she took the initiative and made herself indispensable. “I think being a female and having that kind of motherly kind of input had a lot to do with my success. I’ve always had backup singers and I’ve always been the captain of the ship – even at home I was the oldest sister – so being a woman is part of that. We women are very powerful.” Wise words from a lady who is seeming more and more like the Motown equivalent of Aslan to my slightly star-struck fawn…
So what does Martha think of today’s music industry? “I have to separate myself from some of today’s music because it’s not actually being made by real musicians. There are a lot of technical toys. I don’t think I would fare well [today] because I don’t actually sing very well to machines. I love the input and effect that live recordings and live instrumentation have on me – it’s what inspires me and what makes me a singer…musicians make my day.”
It’s this kind of earnest attitude to quality music-making that characterises Martha’s style. Unsurprisingly, programmes like the X-Factor don’t really appeal - not for their lack of legitimacy or real talent, but due to the brutal approach of the selection process. “It might make for good audience figures, but I think it sometimes crushes a few personalities who maybe with a few lessons perhaps could become singers or performers.” She compares her own experience at the iconic Motown label (nicknamed Hitsville USA) as having been much more nurturing: “People referred to us as the Motown family – [but] we had things we had to live up to become a part of that.”
So what’s the best party that Martha Reeves has ever been to? “It’s been one long party – a continuation each time! I couldn’t say the best – I just love that our music means a good time… The sound of young America is what Berry Gordy intended it to be…and it’s like a fountain of youth to me, because every time I sing it I can feel that happy time, and that spirit comes back to me, and it’s alive…”
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas come to the Jazz Cafe this Dec 14th, 15th and 16th
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