Motown's Cinderella

As I have said before in previous posts much of taste in music comes from the influence of my grandparents and I feel as though that is a good thing. As a songwriter who writes lyrics and a fan of music I love listening to old R&B music. I love Marvin Gaye's music as a child I loved hearing his duets with the late and possibly lesser known beautiful songstress Tammi Terrell. Tammi's voice is so beautiful and amazing because she was such a small woman that had a polished voice. So I am saluting all my love and respect in this post to late Tammi Terrell. By the way if you want to know more about  her watch TV One's series "Unsung."


Early Life of Tammi Terrell: Originally born as Thomasina Winifred Montgomery on April 29, 1945 in North Philadelphia, PA. Her parents were expecting a boy but obviously  they had to make some adjustments but she often called "Tommie" by her family. She began singing and playing the piano at an early age. Her mother suffered from clinical depression as well as having symptoms of a brain tumor such as severe headaches just like Tammi would later in life.

Series of Unfortunate Events....What You Didn't Know and Modest Success: At the age of 11 Tammi was raped by three teenage boys while walking home from a neighborhood social event. Most of her family and close friends say that after experience she became rebellious and more interested in boys and sex. She went on a free-spirited streak and changed her name to Tammy 2 years later at the age of 13 she had begun a professional singing career.  It has also been said that she was a heavy drinker and was promoscious but she was still a sweet person. If you think about it she never had the chance to really deal with the fact that she was raped and those demons led her to bad relationships. All in all I think she was just trying to live becuase her days were numbered I think she was wanted to be loved and accpeted more than anything. In 1960 by right before her 15th birthday she signed with Specter Records and recorded a doo-wop single "If You See Bill" it was released under the name Tammy Montgomery it did help establish her as in some R&B networks with popular fellow Philly natives such as Chubby Checker and Patti La belle and the Blue belles.  She became the opening act for Gene Chandler and later caught the attention of James Brown.


Tammi sang in James Brown's popular review by 1963 she recorded a balled entitled "Try Me" by this time she was dating James Brown and endured much physical abuse from him. It seems as though he controlled her life at this moment she was an artist on his record label and he had influence on Tammi because she was only a teenager. One night when she was 17 by this time James became so mad that she did not watch his performance at a venue he beat her brutally and dragged down the steps to a basement and continued to beat her when they got to his dressing room. A friend who was also a witness  this incident contacted Tammi's mother after she asked him to call her mother so she could leave James Brown for good.

Pause on the Music....School Days and Motown Before returning to school singing sensation Sam Cooke met Tammi and wanted to pursue a relationship with her but he was murdered. Tammi  semi-retired from the music business and enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania where studied pre-med for two years.  At this point she was second guessing the music business because of the beatings and demanding schedule.She wanted to prove to people that she was more than a pretty face and a singer. By 1965 Jerry Butler asked Tammi to sing with him at a series of nightclub shows Tammi agreed as long as she could still pursue her education. In March of 1965 while doing a show in Detroit Berry Gordy CEO of Motown Records enjoyed Tammi's performance and signed her to his label the very next day.

Tammi Terrell and David Ruffin

Rocky Relationship and then Meeting Marvin Gaye... Tammi had moderate successful songs but they were good enough to land her a spot on the Motown Revue tour around the same time she met and fell in love David Ruffin lead singer of The Temptations.  By 1966 he proposed to Tammi but she became distraught when she found he had a wife and 3 children living in Detroit. This caused tension between the two and  he would become physically abusive towards her and they would have public fights as well. Ruffin hit Tammi in the face with a motorcycle helmet and this incident caused their relationship to end in 1967.


In 1967 Berry Gordy asked Tammi to record duets with Marvin Gaye since most of his previous duet partners had left the label. Marvin Gaye also said he did not realize how talented she was until they began recording together. Ashford and Simpson would produce and write most of Marvin and Tammi's duets such as the first crossover hit for them "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Your Precious Love," "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," just to name a few. Gordy's plan worked this pushed Tammi out into the mainstream he also changed her name from Tammy Montgomery to Tammi Terrell because it gave her more sex appeal. Marvin and Tammi had incredible chemistry in fact Marvin was smitten with Tammi he loved her dearly she felt the same but he was married and she always had a boyfriend. Their relationship was flirtatious and competitive especially in the studio.

Pain and Suffering: On October 14, 1967 Terrell collapsed at a show in Virginia Marvin carried off stage immediately. Tammi would eventually undergo about 8th surgery in an attempt to save her life. She has a malignant brain tumor that caused her severe pain and began to make her weak and even lose weight. Berry Gordy paid for all of her hospital expenses so that pressure would not be put on her family. After Tammi's 8th and final surgery she fell into a coma and died on March 16, 1970 two weeks before her 25th birthday.




Tammi's mother allowed Marvin Gaye to attend her funeral and deliver a eulogy but the rest of her Motown colleagues were not allowed to attend and they were deeply hurt. Tammi's mother felt as though they did not protect from the raft and abuse of David Ruffin. Marvin Gaye was upset because they promoted Tammi's final duet album with him "Easy" while she was sick. Marvin Gaye felt guilty because he thought he would've taken better care of Tammi in her time of need. He slipped into depression and a hiatus for 4 years and eventually drug addiction he never recovered from the death of Tammi Terrell. Many friends of Tammi said that it was such a tragic loss because she was a sweet, adorable, fun-loving charming, always laughing and smiling.


My Thoughts: I knew brief information about Tammi Terrell's life but one thing I found out that she always has courage and strong sense of hope that things would get better and I respect that. Her cousin also said that she felt as though Tammi lived life in the fast life because there is a chance she knew that her life would end soon. In honor of Black Music Month we celebrate the life and work of Tammi Terrell. It is truly sad to know about all the she endured I knew about how rude and crude David Ruffin could be but I think I have pretty much lost all respect for James Brown. I called this post "Motown's Cinderella because her clock struck at midnight too soon and her peers called Motown's Cinderella.