{"id":1729,"date":"2020-01-03T20:21:01","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T20:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=1729"},"modified":"2020-01-03T20:24:52","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T20:24:52","slug":"from-the-vaults-the-andantes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.woas-fm.org\/?p=1729","title":{"rendered":"From the Vaults: The Andantes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0How could anyone sing on more than 20,000 songs and yet not be recognized?\u00a0 Such was the hand that fate dealt to a trio of young singers from Detroit called The Andantes.\u00a0 Unless you have jumped into a time machine and escaped to the distant past before radio was invented,\u00a0 I am willing to bet that you HAVE heard the Andantes sing. To understand the story of The Andantes, one must go back to the birth of Motown Records.\u00a0 The story follows a twisting path from that point to Berry Gordie\u2019s decision to pack up his label and relocated to Los Angeles in 1972. The Andantes were there for 90% of the ride, yet they were unceremoniously left behind when Motown moved west.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Berry Gordy\u2019s business model was imprinted on him when he was making $86.40-a-week on a Lincoln-Mercury assembly line.\u00a0 He hated the work but often credits his short stint there with his vision of making records as efficiently and proficiently as Ford made cars.\u00a0 As Gordy explained it, \u201cEvery day I\u2019d watch how a bare metal frame rolling down the line would become a spanking brand-new car. What a great idea!\u00a0 Maybe I could do the same with my music. Create a place where a kid off the street could walk in one door an unknown, go through a process and come out a star.\u201d\u00a0 He had already moved on to writing and producing records when he decided that he was going to start his own studio. The music recording business then was largely owned by lawyers and money people for whom the music biz was more like a hobby or sideline.\u00a0 Musicians, especially Black artists, were not getting paid what they should have been paid and Gordy decided he should do something about it!<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 1959, the five people who would become the staff of his various record labels (Tamla, Gordy, and Motown) gathered together to hear Berry Gordy\u2019s vision:\u00a0 \u201cWe aren\u2019t going to make records for Black radio, we are going to make music for the world!\u201d The second group Gordy signed for his new label was William \u2018Smokey\u2019 Robinson and the Miracles.\u00a0 Robinson not only wrote more than 4,000 songs for the Miracles and countless other Motown groups, he also became Motown\u2019s vice-president and talent scout. The studio they worked in was set up in the garage of a bungalow that Gordy purchased at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit.\u00a0 It was functional but not fancy. His ambition was stenciled on the outside of the building: HITSVILLE U.S.A. The studio was so cramped that a sentry was posted outside the bathroom to make sure the sound of a flushing toilet wouldn\u2019t carry through the thin walls and ruin a recording session.\u00a0 They had a premier group of studio musicians known as the Funk Brothers to lay down the music being written by the likes of Robinson, Dozier-Holland-Dozier, and Stevie Wonder. Gordy had an ear for music and a formula for creating radio hits. He also had a secret weapon: The Andantes.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Any one of the young women in The Andantes could have been a lead singer, but their ability to create memorable background vocal parts on the spot made them invaluable to the Motown Sound.\u00a0 At $10 per hour, the pay was good and they worked constantly, but Berry Gordy didn\u2019t want anyone outside the label to know too much about them. Like a chef guarding a secret ingredient in their signature dish, Gordy didn\u2019t want anyone else luring away the three voices who were capable of turning a so-so record into a hit.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Andantes included Marlene Barrow, Jackie Hicks, and Louvain Demps.\u00a0 When the original high soprano quit, Barrow and Hicks weren\u2019t sure they could continue without her voice in the mix.\u00a0 It was a studio staffer who suggested they listen to Demps who was performing as part of the studio\u2019s choral ensemble.\u00a0 \u201cCan she <\/span>sing?<\/span><\/i>\u201d they asked?\u00a0 The were told, \u201cOh yeah, she can sing!\u201d\u00a0 Demps recalled her audition: \u201cWe just seemed to click right away.\u201d\u00a0 Hicks also remembered the chemistry was apparent immediately: \u201cFirst time, first song, perfect blend.\u201d\u00a0 All three women had grown up singing in Baptist and Catholic church choirs. By the time they were finished, they had contributed to more than 20,000 Motown songs (the \u201890%\u2019 mentioned earlier) before the label moved west without them.\u00a0 Their perfect blend and the ability to come up with their own vocal arrangements effortlessly made them one of the key elements that turned Motown records into crossover hits on all the record charts, not just on R&B (read: Black) radio stations.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0According to Hicks, to this day, \u201cI hear myself on the radio every day.\u201d\u00a0 Mary Wells\u2019 <\/span>My Guy<\/span><\/i>? That is the Andantes responding to Wells in the background; <\/span>What you say?\u00a0 Tell me more. <\/span><\/i>They can be prominently heard testifying on Marvin Gaye\u2019s <\/span>I Heard It Through the Grapevine.<\/span><\/i> \u00a0 The Temptations <\/span>My Girl<\/span><\/i>?\u00a0 There they are again.\u00a0 Writer-producer Lamont Dozier said that they were often used to fill in the lead singer\u2019s parts and to, \u201cgive the harmony more substance.\u00a0 If I had some very intricate background parts and the harmonies didn\u2019t have the sound that I wanted, I would tell the famous singer, \u2018It\u2019s OK – we\u2019ll fix it in the mix.\u2019\u00a0 They would take a break and I\u2019d have the Andantes come in the back door. We liked to call them the \u2018cleanup girls\u2019. They could always come in and fix whatever we couldn\u2019t fix with the big acts.\u201d\u00a0 Some of the acts they worked their magic for were none the wiser, but a few were miffed to have these women buffing up their tracks. When asked if they sensed any resentment from stars such as Diana Ross, Hicks replied, \u201cSometimes there was a little ill feelings.\u00a0 But hey, it was what it was. It wasn\u2019t our choice. [Producers liked us because] we could walk in that studio and lay that stuff down in five or ten minutes. If you had anybody else, it would take you a few hours.\u201d It sure did not hurt the artists and songwriters when a little buffing up translated into hit records.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hicks and Barrow didn\u2019t plan to become professional singers.\u00a0 When a local bandleader who wanted to record with them came looking for them, they were hiding, at least until Hick\u2019s mother told him, \u201cThey are hiding in the closet.\u201d\u00a0 When Hicks asked her mother why she ratted on them, she simply replied, \u201cHow much money are you making in that closet?\u201d Demps parents wanted her to sing opera while she dreamed of singing pop music professionally:\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m not saying that I wanted to be a star, but I wanted more. I just wanted more.\u201d The trio wanted to have their own shot at the big prize, but their time never arrived. When they asked about recording their own tracks, they were always told to be patient and their time would come.\u00a0 The Andantes did release one jump tune (<\/span>Like a) Nightmare<\/span><\/i> in 1964, but without the full on artist support Motown was known for, it faded fast.\u00a0 Most historians figure that Gordy really didn\u2019t want them to be a successful recording group on their own because, according to journalist Adam White, \u201cBerry Gordy was very protective of what he had.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want the names of the musicians to be out there so they could get offers that might tempt them to leave.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0During the <\/span>Motown 60:\u00a0 A Grammy Celebration <\/span><\/i>special taped in the spring of 2019, Gordy said, \u201cMy dream came true.\u00a0 I want to thank all of you fans, and your parents, and their grandparents.\u00a0 All around the world. I could say their great grandparents, but that would make me older than I want to be.\u201d\u00a0 Diana Ross, one of Gordy\u2019s earliest superstars with The Supremes, gushed at the same event, \u201cThis is your legacy.\u00a0 I want you to know that you have been a gift to us all.\u201d Now that I know a little more about the Motown creation story, I find the omission of The Funk Brothers and The Andantes a glaring hole in the <\/span>Motown 60 <\/span><\/i>celebration.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Did the Andantes have an inkling in 1972 that the label was getting ready to move to Los Angeles lock, stock, and barrel?\u00a0 In 2007, Barrow explained in the book <\/span>Motown from the Background <\/span><\/i>how they found out:\u00a0 \u201c We had heard it in the air.\u00a0 We would ask them repeatedly if it was true.\u00a0 They would deny it.\u201d When Barrow and Hicks weren\u2019t able to collect their mid-January paychecks, they contacted Demps and the three of them and demanded their pay.\u00a0 After finally being informed of the move, they made the label\u2019s quality and control head drive them to the bank just to be sure the checks didn\u2019t bounce. According to Demps, \u201cThat is how we found out.\u00a0 I guess if they hadn\u2019t owed us money, they might not have said a word.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hicks and Barrow told <\/span>AARP Magazine (Motown at 60:\u00a0 Hidden Figures of Hitsville<\/span><\/i> January 2019) they weren\u2019t overly upset about it at the time:\u00a0 \u201cThey were trying to get into the movie thing. They were going in a different direction.\u201d\u00a0 Neither continued pursuing music as Hicks took a job with the Detroit Water and Sewage Department and Barrow found work with the Michigan Department of Labor.\u00a0 Demps was a divorced mother of two and took the label\u2019s departure much harder. \u201cFor me it was devastating. I just couldn\u2019t adjust,\u201d Demps says now. \u201cOur songs would come on the radio and I would cry.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Demps relocated to Atlanta and began working with disabled children, a move that she said, \u201cSoftened my heart and pulled me out of the dumps.\u00a0 There is a passage in the Bible that says, \u2018and when he came to himself\u2026\u2019<\/span> You know, when I came to myself, that\u2019s when I realized I had wasted time being depressed when I should have been happy.\u201d\u00a0 She got back into singing again both in church and commercially. The group was joined by another Detroit singer named Pat Lewis when they made a stab at a reunion in the early 1990s for Motorcity Records.\u00a0 They enjoyed tracking an album worth of material, but the company folded and their final work together was never released.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Before Barrow passed away, the three had come to accept the fact that the more recent recognition they have received has been a blessing.\u00a0 Visiting the Motown Museum in Detroit in 2013, they were pleased to see The Andantes enshrined next to the \u2018big\u2019 acts like The Supremes, The Marvelettes, and the Vandellas – groups that sold records with The Andantes help.\u00a0 New reissues of Motown hits now list the women by name, right where they probably should have been from the beginning. The Andantes were paid a flat rate for their work back in the day. Now the supporting artists are paid on-going residuals for their work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hicks appreciates the new found attention, but would also have been fine with remaining in the background:\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ve always been proud of myself and thankful to the Lord to have allowed me to do that. I don\u2019t care how high anybody goes, it does not lower me any lower.\u00a0 Because I know what I did.\u201d Next time a classic Motown hit comes on the radio, think about The Andantes and the Funk Brothers. The part they played making Motown Records a mover and a shaker in the music business may not have been common knowledge back then, but at least they are now getting their due credit.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top Piece (no) Video:\u00a0 I could not find any video of The Andantes singing, but this is (Like a) Nightmare,\u00a0<\/em>The one and only single recorded and released by The Andantes.<\/p>\n