Mary Wells

MARY WELLS d1992. American singer who helped define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s along with The Miracles / The Temptations / The Supremes and The Four Tops. One of the main artists who began the charge in black music onto the radio stations and record shelves of mainstream America and thereby "bridging the color lines in music at the time". One of Motowns first superstars, she was recognised as "The Queen Of Motown" with a string of hit singles including ; Two Lovers (1962) / You Beat Me To The Punch (1962) and her signature song "My Guy" (1964). She left the label in 1964 at the height of her popularity, her later career never again reached similar heights. A notorious chain smoker who also developed a heroin habit during the 1980s after failed romances. She died of cancer aged just 49 in 1992.