A founding member of one of Motown‘s most enduringly popular acts has passed away.
Rosalind Ashford, who backed up lead singer Martha Reeves in Martha and the Vandellas, was 83 years old.
A Sad Loss
The sad news was shared by Reeves via social media.
“I am deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Rosalind Ashford,” Reeves wrote in the caption accompanying a photo of Ashford.
“Rosalind played an important part in the early days of Martha and the Vandellas. Her voice will forever be with us through our great recordings together, and she will be missed, but never forgotten. Our Motown Family has just gotten a little smaller. My heart is heavy.”
Motown Legends
As SoulTracks reminds, Rosalind “Roz” Ashford was one of the original members of Martha and the Vandellas, one of the top vocal groups to emerge from the Detroit music scene during the early 1960s.
Born September 2, 1943, in Detroit, Ashford sang in church and various school groups before she joined Reeves, Annette Beard and Gloria Williams in a vocal group called the Del-Phis.
The Del-Phis recorded a few singles, but success proved elusive. Eventually, Ashford, Reeves and Beard wound up working as background singers at Berry Gordy’s Motown label, backing Marvin Gaye on several of his early recordings.
Knowing a good thing when he saw it, in 1962 Gordy signed the trio to Motown under a new moniker: Martha and the Vandellas.
GettyIt didn’t take long for this trio to land a hit, with “Come and Get These Memories” charting in 1963, followed by “(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave.”
Over the next few years, more hits kept on coming, including some of the most memorable Motown tracks of all time. These include “Dancing in the Street,” “Nowhere to Run,” “I’m Ready for Love” and “Jimmy Mack.”
A Temporary Exit from Music
Ashford’s impressive soprano remained an integral part of Martha and the Vandellas’ sound throughout their mid-1960s heyday, remaining through several personnel changes.
She exited the group in the late 1960s, amid tensions with Reeves. As the Detroit Free Press reported, “bad blood” between Ashford and Reeves lingered for decades, but the two eventually buried the hatchet and rekindled the friendship they’d enjoyed in their younger years.
After getting married — taking the name Rosalind Ashford-Holmes — she exited the music business, and wound up working for the Michigan Bell Telephone Company.
However, she didn’t stop pursuing music entirely, and returned to various musical pursuits periodically over the years.
In 1989, she reunited with Reeves and Beard to revive the original lineup of Martha and the Vandellas. The trio recorded the single “Step Into My Shoes,” while Ashford and Beard also performed together at various points, calling themselves The Original Vandellas.
In 1995, Ashford and the other members of Martha and the Vandellas were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Pat Cosby, a former Motown staffer and longtime friend of Ashford, told the Detroit Free Press that the late singer and other Motown associates would regularly get together at a Detroit-area restaurant to reminisce about the good old days.
“The memories are still precious,” Cosby said. “We had good times while we could.”
