Nov 13th in Pop History
This day, November 13th, in:
• 1961 - Please Mr. Postman delivered a # 1 R&B song for The Marvelettes
The Marvelettes was an American girl group that achieved popularity in the early- to mid-1960s. They consisted of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who was replaced by Wanda Young prior to the group signing their first deal. They were the first major successful act of Motown Records after the Miracles and its first significantly successful girl group after the release of the 1961 number-one single Please Mr. Postman, one of the first number-one singles recorded by an all-female vocal group and the first by a Motown recording act.
Founded in 1960 while the group's founding members performed together at their glee club at Inkster High School in Inkster, Michigan, they signed to Motown's Tamla label in 1961. Some of the group's early hits were written by band members and some of Motown's rising singer-songwriters such as Smokey Robinson and Marvin Gaye.
Despite their early successes, the group was eclipsed in popularity by groups like The Supremes, with whom they shared an intense rivalry. Nevertheless, they managed a major comeback in 1966 with Don’t Mess with Bill, along with several other hits.
Please Mr. Postman
A couple of significant cover versions of this record include The Beatles and The Carpenters. Here are their versions…
Please Mr. Postman
Also, on this day, November 13th, in:
• 1965 - The Sound of Music soundtrack, featuring Julie Andrews, hits # 1 in America
• 1973 - Three Dog Night's Old Fashioned Love Song was released
• 1968 - Hugo Montenegro was at # 1 on the charts with The Good The Bad And The Ugly, the soundtrack from a Clint Eastwood spaghetti western film. The record was the first instrumental # 1 since 1963
• 1982 - Men at Work’s debut album called Business as Usual hits # 1 in America, where it stays for 15 weeks until it is dethroned by Michael Jackson's Thriller
