Annette Beard
Encyclopedia
Annette Beard Sterling Helton (born July 4, 1943) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 R&B and soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 singer, most notable for being one of the original members of popular Motown singing group Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas were among the most successful groups of the Motown roster during the period 1963–1967...

.

Early years

Born in Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...

 to Ann and Roger El Wood Beard, Annette started singing in church choirs at an early age. When she was fourteen, she was discovered by a man named Edward "Pops" Larkins, who was auditioning for a female group at the local YMCA to complement a male group he had started.

Fourteen-year-old Annette impressed him with a single note and she joined friends Rosalind Ashford
Rosalind Ashford
Rosalind "Roz" Ashford-Holmes is an American soprano R&B and soul singer, famed for her work as member of the popular Motown singing group Martha and the Vandellas.-Early years:...

 and Gloria Williams
Gloria Williams
Gloria Williams was an American singer notable for being the original lead singer of an early incarnation of Martha and the Vandellas under the name, The Del-Phis....

 to form the original version of the Del-Phis in 1957. The group performed at local get-togethers, high school parties, YMCA benefits and lawn parties. Annette, who was a shy girl growing up, did not mind singing background behind Gloria Williams, then the original lead singer of the group. Fellow Detroit singer Martha Reeves
Martha Reeves
Martha Rose Reeves is an American R&B and Pop singer and former politician, and was the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. During her tenure with The Vandellas, they scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Jimmy Mack", "Dancing in the Street" and "Nowhere to Run"...

 would replace a departing fourth member in 1960.

After changing their name to The Vels, the group recorded for local Motown subsidiaries Mel-O-Dy and Tamla usually singing background for local Detroit acts such as The Elgins
The Elgins
The Elgins were an American vocal group on the Motown label, active from the late 1950s to 1967. Their most successful record was "Heaven Must Have Sent You", written and produced by the Holland-Dozier-Holland team, which was a hit in the US in 1966, and in the UK when reissued in...

' Saundra Mallett. In 1962, frustrated by the group's slow development and sensing a break-up, Williams left the group. Afterwards, Annette, Martha and Rosalind sang together on Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....

's hits "Stubborn Kind of Fellow
Stubborn Kind of Fellow
"Stubborn Kind of Fellow" is a 1962 single by Marvin Gaye, released on the Motown subsidiary Tamla. The single was historic in many ways for the Washington, D.C.-bred singer and former Moonglows member, for it was the first major hit record for the singer on Motown after three failed singles and an...

", "Hitch Hike" and "Pride and Joy".

After replacing Mary Wells
Mary Wells
Mary Esther Wells was an American singer who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s...

 and The Andantes
The Andantes
The Andantes were a prolific female sessions group for the Motown record label during the 1960s. Composed of Jackie Hicks, Marlene Barrow, and Louvain Demps, the group sang background vocals on numerous Motown recordings, including songs by Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, The Temptations, Stevie...

 on a refuted session with a demonstration record for a Mickey Stevenson song, Motown president Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy, Jr. is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.-Early years:...

 suggested the girls to sign a contract as a recording group. With Reeves as the confirmed lead singer, the name Vandellas was chosen with the final name being Martha and the Vandellas.

Martha and the Vandellas

Signing to Motown Records' new Gordy subsidiary, Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas were among the most successful groups of the Motown roster during the period 1963–1967...

 gained a stature as hitmakers in the label almost as quickly after they were signed, boosted by their powerful backing behind Marvin's hit singles, their second single, "Come and Get These Memories
Come and Get These Memories
"Come and Get These Memories" is an R&B song by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. Their second single released under Motown's Gordy Records subsidiary, "Memories" became the group's first hit single, reaching number 29 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart, and number-six on the Billboard...

", written by the fabled team of Holland-Dozier-Holland
Holland-Dozier-Holland
Holland–Dozier–Holland is a songwriting and production team made up of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian Holland and Edward Holland, Jr. They are considered to be one of the greatest songwriting teams in popular music...

, became the group's first hit success.

Distinguishing themselves from the two-lead format/traditional girl group pop
Girl group
A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...

 sound of The Marvelettes
The Marvelettes
The Marvelettes were an American singing girl group on the Tamla label. Motown's first successful female vocal group, the Marvelettes are most notable for recording the company's first #1 Pop hit, "Please Mr...

 and the doo-wop
Doo-wop
The name Doo-wop is given to a style of vocal-based rhythm and blues music that developed in African American communities in the 1940s and achieved mainstream popularity in the 1950s and early 1960s. It emerged from New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and...

 sensibilities of The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...

, Martha and the Vandellas employed a much rougher and sharper sound influenced by gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....

. The group's third hit, "(Love Is Like A) Heat Wave
(Love is Like a) Heat Wave
" Heat Wave" is a 1963 hit single penned by the Holland–Dozier–Holland songwriting team and made popular by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. It was originally released in July 1963, on the Motown subsidiary label Gordy, peaking at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 on the Billboard Hot...

", further established the group as recording stars. A third single, "Quicksand
Quicksand (song)
"Quicksand" is a 1963 dance single by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas. Built under almost the same gospel-inspired delivery of their previous hit " Heat Wave", this time lead singer Martha Reeves explains how her loved one brings her "closer" to him explaining that his love was like...

", continued that rise in late 1963. The Vandellas' sound was unique because of the difference in sounds between the three women: with Reeves' brassy alto
Alto
Alto is a musical term, derived from the Latin word altus, meaning "high" in Italian, that has several possible interpretations.When designating instruments, "alto" frequently refers to a member of an instrumental family that has the second highest range, below that of the treble or soprano. Hence,...

 leading the group, Rosalind Ashford Holmes provided the high vocals in her soprano
Soprano
A soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...

 voice while Beard provided the lower vocals in her contralto
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...

 delivery making for an interesting and commercial sound.

But Beard's rise to fame was overshadowed by a romance with a suitor. Within a few months, Beard announced she was engaged and pregnant with her first child. Coming to grasp with wanting to stay in the group but also wanting to have a life of a married woman and mother, Beard opted to leave the group in the winter of 1964. Beard was replaced by former Velvelettes
The Velvelettes
The Velvelettes was an American singing girl group, signed to Motown in the 1960s.-Early years and establishment:The group was founded in 1961 by Bertha Barbee McNeal and Mildred Gill Arbor, students at Western Michigan University. Mildred recruited her younger sister Carolyn , who was in 9th...

 member Betty Kelly
Betty Kelly
Betty Kelly is a former American singer, most famous for her tenure in the popular Motown singing group Martha and the Vandellas.-Early years:...

 while Beard retired from show business, working for St John Hospital in her native Detroit.

Later years

Having remained in touch with her former bandmates, Beard soon found herself back in the public eye following a reunion with Reeves and Ashford during a benefit concert for actor Will Geer in Los Angeles. In the mid 1980's, she and Rosalind filed suit against Motown for back royalties; several years before Reeves would do the same. Sensing a return to performing, she reunited again with Reeves and Ashford, releasing the "Heat Wave"-styled pop of "Step into My Shoes" in 1989. This reunion lead to several tours across the US and UK. In 1995, Beard joined Reeves, Ashford, Betty Kelly
Betty Kelly
Betty Kelly is a former American singer, most famous for her tenure in the popular Motown singing group Martha and the Vandellas.-Early years:...

 and Lois Reeves, as Martha and the Vandellas were inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 2005, after 30 years of employment in the outpatient lab of Saint John's Hospital, Beard retired. As of 2011, she and Rosalind continue perform all over the country as "The Original Vandellas".
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