Written and produced by the legendary Smokey Robinson of The Miracles, the backing music was produced by the equally legendary The Funk Brothers, the Stax Records studio musicians. Stax was a subsidiary of Motown Records.
In 1959, Berry Gordy started his first record label, Tamla Records, running it out of a house he purchased at 2648 West Grand Blvd. in Detroit, Michigan — a location better known as Hitsville, USA. In 1960, 17-year-old Mary Wells approached Tamla Records founder Berry Gordy at Detroit’s Twenty Grand club with a song she had intended for Jackie Wilson to record, since Wells knew of Gordy’s collaboration with Wilson. However, a tired Gordy insisted Wells sing the song in front of him. Impressed, Gordy had Wells enter Detroit’s United Sound Systems to record the single, titled “Bye Bye Baby”. After a reported 22 takes, Gordy signed Wells to his newly-formed Motown subsidiary of his expanding record label and released the song as a single in September 1960; it peaked at #8 on the R&B chart in 1961, and later crossed over to the pop singles chart, where it peaked at #45.
Though she was hailed as “the first lady of Motown“, Wells was technically Motown’s third female signed act: Claudette Rogers, of Motown’s first star group the Miracles, has been referred to by Berry Gordy as “the first lady of Motown Records” due to her being signed as a member of the group, and in late 1959 Detroit blues-gospel singer Mable John had signed to the then-fledgling label a year prior to Wells’ arrival. Nevertheless, Wells’ early hits as one of the label’s few female solo acts did make her the label’s first female star and its first fully successful solo artist. She was also the first Motown artist to be nominated for a Grammy and the first Motown artist to perform outside the US. “Bye Bye Baby” was the very first chart success for the Motown label (to this point, Tamla Records is Berry’s primary imprint) in 1961. In 1962, Wells earned her first and Motown’s first top 10 hits with the Smokey Robinson-penned “The One Who Really Loves Me,” “You Beat Me To The Punch” and “Two Lovers.” And then in 1964, she earned her first #1 with Robinson’s “My Guy.”
“My Guy” was one of the first Motown songs to bring international exposure for the label, eventually peaking at #5 on the UK chart and making Wells an international star. Around this time, the Beatles stated that Wells was their favorite American singer, and soon she was given an invitation to open for the group during their tour of the United Kingdom, thus making her the first Motown star to perform in the UK.
Mary Wells’ ascent was a beautiful thing. Growing up in Detroit with an absent father and a domestic-worker mother, she went through both spinal meningitis and tuberculosis. To deal with the pain of her various illnesses, she lost herself in the church and in music. And by the time she was out of her teens, she was the biggest star of Motown’s early years. Shortly after signing Mary Wells, Berry Gordy transformed her from a songwriter to a performer of other writers’ material. In this capacity, she was one of the first singers in the Motown stable to record a song by the now-legendary Holland/Dozier/Holland songwriting team. That song, “You Lost the Sweetest Boy” (1963), featured the Supremes and the Temptations singing backup to Wells—an indication of where she stood in the Motown hierarchy at the time. It was the songs of Motown Vice President and chief Miracle William “Smokey” Robinson, however, which brought Wells her greatest successes.
But while “My Guy” should have opened the door to even greater achievements for Mary at Motown, it proved to be her last solo hit for them. The duets album with Marvin Gaye delivered singles success with both ‘Once Upon A Time’ and ‘What’s The Matter With You Baby,’ but her 21st birthday gave Wells the opportunity to get out of her deal and, unwisely, she took it. Her career was never the same again. A hit like this probably should’ve led to great things from Wells, but that’s not what happened. Egged on by her husband at the time and upset by the way the label used the money she thought she’d earned to promote the Supremes, Wells demanded to be let out of her Motown contract. (Many years later, when she was battling cancer without health insurance, she sued Motown for missing royalties and got a settlement.) Berry Gordy allegedly coerced radio stations into keeping Wells’ new records off the airwaves.
Soon enough, Wells signed with 20th Century Fox for more money. But while she kept releasing charting singles into the early ’80s, she never got anywhere near the top 10 again. She went through bad marriages, publicized affairs, temporary retirements, and cancer.
After moving to several labels over the years, and not returning to the success she had once enjoyed, in 1990 Wells recorded an album for Motorcity Records, but her voice began to fail, causing the singer to visit a local hospital. Doctors diagnosed Wells with laryngeal cancer. Treatments for the disease ravaged her voice, forcing her to quit her music career. Since she had no health insurance, her illness wiped out her finances, forcing her to sell her home. As she struggled to continue treatment, old Motown friends, including Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, members of the Temptations and Martha Reeves, made donations to support her, along with the help of admirers such as Dionne Warwick, Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin and Bonnie Raitt. In the summer of 1992, Wells’ cancer returned and she was rushed to the Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital in Los Angeles with pneumonia. With the effects of her unsuccessful treatments and a weakened immune system, Wells died on July 26, 1992, at the age of 49.
Though Wells has been eligible for induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, being nominated twice in 1986 and 1987, she has yet to achieve it. She earned one Grammy Award nomination during her career, and in 1999 the Grammy committee inducted “My Guy” into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Mary Wells was given one of the first Pioneer Awards by the Rhythm and Blues Foundation in 1989 and inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame in 2006.
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