Thomasina Winifred Montgomery, known as Tammi Terrell (April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist most notable for her association with Motown and her duets with Marvin Gaye. As a teenager she recorded for the Scepter–Wand, Try Me and Checker record labels. She signed with Motown in April 1965 and enjoyed modest success as a solo singer. Once she was paired with Marvin Gaye in 1967, her stardom grew, but on October 14 of that year she collapsed on stage into Gaye's arms during a performance. She was soon thereafter diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour which eventually led to her death at the age of 24.
Tammi Terrell was born Thomasina Winifred Montgomery in Philadelphia. Members of her family have said her parents figured their eldest child would be a son and had settled on 'Thomas'. After Terrell's birth, they added in '-ina'. Terrell was called 'Tommie' by friends and family. Terrell had a younger sister, Ludie (born 1949). Terrell began singing in church at an early age. She developed a rebellious, free-spirited streak and changed her name to Tammy after seeing the film Tammy and the Bachelor in the summer of 1957 and hearing its theme song 'Tammy'. Around this time, Terrell began complaining of migraines and headaches. Tammi's family said that this foreshadowed her later struggle with brain cancer but that at the time they did not regard it as a major issue.
By the age of 13, Tammi Terrell had begun a professional singing career. In 1960, prior to her 15th birthday, she signed with Scepter Records and recorded the doo-wop single 'If You See Bill', releasing it under the name 'Tammy Montgomery'. Though the record wasn't a success, it established Tammi in some R&B circles and she went on tour with some of Scepter's biggest artists and other popular R&B artists of the Philadelphia area, including Chubby Checker and Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles. She also opened for R&B star Gene Chandler, with whom she had a friendship.
In 1962, Tammi came to the attention of James Brown and the 17 year old found herself in Brown's popular Revue becoming one of Brown's first female headliners. In 1963, Tammi recorded for Brown's Try Me Records, releasing the ballad, 'I Cried', which gave her some chart success.
After recording a single for Checker Records in 1964, produced by the legendary Bert Berns and paired with singer Jimmy Radcliffe on a now-released duet version of the song 'If I Would Marry You' wherein she debuted as a co-writer with Berns, Tammi semi-retired from show business and enrolled in the University of Pennsylvania where she stayed for two years majoring in pre-med. In 1965, Jerry 'The Ice Man' Butler asked Tammi to sing with him in a series of nightclub shows, which she agreed to with a schedule that would allow her to continue her studies in Pennsylvania. In March 1965, Motown Records CEO Berry Gordy spotted Tammi performing in Detroit and asked her to sign with Motown. Tammi agreed and signed with Motown on April 29, 1965, her 20th birthday.
Tammi Terrell's first single with Motown was the Johnny Bristol and Harvey Fuqua composition, 'I Can't Believe You Love Me' in November 1965. Prior to the single's release, Gordy gave her a new name from 'Tammy Montgomery' figuring Montgomery was too long. He wanted to give her a name that screamed 'sex appeal', therefore settling on 'Tammi Terrell' (with the y in 'Tammy' changed to an i). The song became a modest success reaching the top thirty of the American R&B charts. Another modest R&B charter was the sultry 'Come On and See Me'. Tammi also recorded the first version of Stevie Wonder's future classic, 'All I Do (Is Think About You)' and also recorded a version of the Isley Brothers' 'This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)', in a slightly uptempo gospel-influenced version.
Tammi Terrell's R&B success landed her a spot on the Motortown Revue. By early 1967, Marvin Gaye had seen three singers he recorded duets with - Mary Wells, Kim Weston and Oma Page - leave Motown. Figuring Tammi could benefit, Gordy asked her to sing duets with Marvin, which she agreed. Marvin later recalled that he didn't know how musically and vocally gifted Tammi was until they began recording duets together.
At first the duets were recorded separately. For sessions of their first recording, the Ashford & Simpson composition, 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', both Marvin and Tammi recorded separate versions. Motown remixed the vocals and edited out the background vocals, giving just Marvin and Tammi vocal dominance. The song, originally written for Dusty Springfield, became a crossover pop hit in the spring of 1967, reaching number 19 in the Billboard Hot 100 and number three in the R&B charts, making Tammi Terrell a star. Their follow-up hit, 'Your Precious Love', became an even bigger hit reaching number five in the pop chart, and number two in the R&B chart. In late 1967, the duo scored a third Top Ten single with 'If I Could Build My Whole World Around You', which peaked at number ten in the pop chart and number two in the R&B chart. The song's B-side, the Marvin Gaye composition, 'If This World Were Mine', became a modest hit in both charts, reaching number 68 in the pop chart and number 27 in the R&B chart. Marvin would later cite the song as 'one of Tammi's favorites'.
All four songs were included on Gaye and Terrell's first duet album, United, released in the late summer of 1967. Throughout that year, Marvin and Tammi began performing together and Tammi became a vocal and performance inspiration for the shy and laid-back Marvin, who hated live performing. The duo even performed together on TV shows to their hits. While Tammi was finally being established as a star, the migraines and headaches that she suffered from as a child were becoming more constant. While she complained of pains, she insisted to people close to her that she was well enough to perform. However, on October 14, 1967, while performing with Marvin in Virginia, Tammi fell and buckled onstage. Marvin helped her not fall completely to the ground and rushed Tammi backstage, where she was immediately taken to Southside Community Hospital and later diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour.
After a six-week stay at a Philadelphia hospital where she had her first of what would be eight operations, Tammi returned to Detroit to record the duet, 'You're All I Need to Get By'. Prior to the tumour diagnosis and her collapse onstage, Tammi and Marvin recorded in front of each other for the first time during the recording of 'Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing'. Both songs became number one R&B hits in 1968, as well as Top Ten pop hits. The change in recording from United and the duo's second album, You're All I Need was due to Terrell's rapid illness - while two of the songs on United were overdubbed with Marvin's vocals, six of the tracks on You're All I Need were overdubbed with Marvin's vocals to create duet tracks.
Marvin Gaye later told his biographer David Ritz that Tammi Terrell was unable to record and that Valerie Simpson filled in for Tammi's vocals on the final Gaye/Terrell duet album,
Easy. Simpson and her husband, Nickolas Ashford, have been quoted as denying this in several sources, including a book written by Tammi's sister Ludie Montgomery and the liner notes to the Complete Motown Singles Volume 9: 1969. Simpson's own account is that she did provide guide vocals for Marvin to work with in Tammi's absence (and that it was this which Marvin later remembered), but that Tammi was then brought in to 'painstakingly' record her vocals for the
Easy album over Simpson's guide track. Simpson reiterated the story on a recent documentary on Tammi Terrell's life story.
However, others who worked with Motown heard the album, and despite these reports that Tammi vocally contributed to the album, concluded that Tammi wasn't on the album due to the voice being 'too nasal' and sensing the language pattern, accent and vocal delivery weren't close to how Tammi sounded, although Simpson had some vocal similarities to Tammi. Despite these conflicting reports, Marvin and Tammi continued to have chart success. The Easy album included the modest hit, 'What You Gave Me' (later covered by Diana Ross in an ill-fated disco version) and the Top Ten UK hit, 'The Onion Song'.
In late 1969, while performing at the Apollo Theater, Marvin spotted an ill Tammi in the audience after the singer, now under ninety pounds, stood up and began singing her opening response to Marvin on their hit, 'You're All I Need to Get By'. Marvin, who was performing with Carla Thomas on the bill, reportedly stepped off the stage into the audience to sing with Tammi, who was given a microphone. The performance ended with a standing ovation. It was to be Tammi's final public appearance.
At the time of her death, Tammi was engaged to be married to a doctor, though not her personal doctor. Tammi figured with every operation she would get well but her tumour only got worse. By late 1969, Tammi was on her seventh operation and was unable to promote the Easy album. Also in 1969, Motown issued Tammi's first and only solo album, Irresistible, which included recordings going back to 1965 and through 1968. Tammi was also unable to promote the record. A 1969 Ebony article reported on Tammi's struggles to get well and the singer gave an exclusive interview, hopeful of an eventual recovery and a return to recording and live performances. However, it wasn't to be. On January 25, 1970, Tammi went into her eighth and final operation on her tumour. Shortly after that she lapsed into a coma. Tammi then died of complications from brain cancer on March 16, 1970. She was just 24.
Marvin Gaye reacted to her death by taking a four-year hiatus from concert performance and went into self-isolation. He failed to appreciate his own successes including the international hit, 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine', thinking the success was not deserved on his part. At the funeral, Marvin delivered a final eulogy while 'You're All I Need to Get By' was playing. According to Tammi's fiance, who was also friends with Marvin, Tammi's mother allowed just Marvin at the funeral but told him that Tammi's other Motown colleagues would not be allowed in. Tammi's mother criticised Motown for not helping with Tammi's illness, accusing the label of covering up the singer's condition, releasing albums of her work without her consent. Marvin had also contended that he felt Motown was taking advantage of Tammi's illness and refused to promote the Easy album despite Motown telling him it would cover Tammi's health finances. Marvin never fully got over Tammi's death, according to friends, and several biographers stated her death led him to depression and drug abuse. In addition, his classic album What's Going On, an introspective, low-key work which dealt with mature themes released in 1971, was in part a reaction to Tammi's death.
In July 1970, four months after Tammi Terrell's untimely passing, a dramatic gospel-pop rearrangement of 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough', was released by Diana Ross, becoming a number-one hit and one of her signature songs.
On October 8, 2010, Hip-O Select released Come On and See Me: The Complete Solo Collection, a collection of all of Tammi's solo work dating back to high school, plus never before released songs and 13 minutes of the only known live stage recordings.
