I know Monday is still a few days to go but I can't help but start this shit early! That's how excited I'm at about Mary's episode. This tells me this is going to be as good as the other Motown Unsungs (DeBarge, Florence Ballard, Teena Marie, Tammi Terrell, Spinners, etc). Probably the best one considering not a lot of people knew what she went through during her short 49 years of existence (yeah you read it right, she died at 49 ).

• She had spinal meningitis as a toddler.
• She lived in a very poor Detroit residential neighborhood where her mother basically had to work as a domestic and Mary herself worked at cleaning nasty places.
• She, like many classic R&B artists, learned how to sing in church and oddly by ten, she was allowed to sing at local nightclubs, so this started her career in a way (maybe they'll explain that part better lol).
• She wrote her first song at 16 in hopes to get the song to Jackie Wilson, whom Berry Gordy was working with. It was also the song that got her a Motown deal. Mary sung the song to Berry and was signed to Motown and recorded the song, which became "Bye Bye Baby", recorded and released when Mary was 17.
• The first major Motown solo superstar to emerge (she had eleven top ten R&B hits and tentop 40 pop hits - four of them top ten).
• Of course the Beatles considered her "their favorite American singer" and she opened for them for their UK tour, making her the first Motown act to have UK success.
• First husband Herman Griffin was considered one of the main people in convincing Mary to leave Motown in 1964 but was also abusive and tried to control every aspect of her career upon her finally exiting. Herman was also the result of Mary having miscarriages with several babies she was carrying with him.
• Upon signing with 20th Century Fox, speculation came that Motown tried to keep Mary under contract from Motown so she went to war with them alleging because she was a minor when she signed with them, that that make any attempt of resigning her or keeping her under contract as invalid. Motown allegedly played a role in Mary not getting played on a lot of radio stations as a result but as far as I know it's still a rumor.
• Mary had tuberculosis while recording for 20th Century Fox, which took her about two months to recover. After that, Mary divorced from Herman Griffin.
• Mary then got involved with Cecil Womack of the Valentinos and Womack encouraged Mary to write more. Cecil was 18 when Mary and her first got involved. They'll marry a year later in 1966 and Mary and Cecil would have three children together. Mary also moves to Los Angeles around this time.
• Mary signs with Jubilee Records but the label struggles to promote her. Disillusioned and except for a couple of records with Reprise (with records produced by Bobby Womack), Mary leaves the business choosing to raise her three children. Apparently Cecil cheated on Mary with Linda Cooke and Mary filed for divorce in 1977.
• A year later, Mary returns on the road. Within a couple years, she gets involved with another Womack brother, Curtis. By this point, Mary has developed a heroin addiction, which isn't helped by Curtis, who turns out to be abusive.
• Mary allegedly tried to attempt suicide a few times.
• Mary releases her "comeback" album, In and Out of Love, in 1981. But it bombs, some say due to Motown, others say due to Mary's own personal problems, and others say due to lack of promotion from Epic Records, who had signed her in 1979.
• Mary resorts to performing on oldies circuits for the rest of her career to pay the bills.
• Encouraged by an appearance on "Motown 25", Mary carries on a mild resurgence as a concert performer until around 1988 when her voice starts losing momentum.
• Curtis leaves Mary in 1988, just two years after the birth of her fourth and youngest child (only child with Curtis). Mary tries quitting her heroin habit and also tries quitting smoking cigarettes.
• Signs with Motorcity Records in 1989 and records a new album.
• A year later she develops lung cancer and surgery causes her voice to become mute. This in turn ends her music career, it also leads to, because Mary didn't have medical insurance, sell her home and file for bankruptcy.
• In 1991, she sues Motown in a multi-million dollar lawsuit alleging the label had failed to pay her royalties from recordings following her exit 27 years early. That same year, she opens about her ordeal with cancer on Entertainment Tonight. Motown settles for a six figure sum. Later that year Mary goes to Congress to talk about cancer research.
• Mary's cancer, which she thought was in remission, returns after she catches pneumonia. Her last two months are at the Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital. She finally dies in her sleep on July 26, 1992.

I think this is one fascinating story that if done right in 60 minutes could be a great Unsung episode. Your thoughts?

UPDATE: Show's gonna be on in two hours!

[Edited 8/15/11 17:05pm]

Ok this is a lot to take in. I'm still trippin' off her dying at 49.

What do you mean Herman was the result of her having multiple miscarriages. Did he beat her? Give her a disease?

Dayum...spinal meningitus, TB, Cancer, pneumonia! Lawd that's too much for one person to suffer.

HotGritz said:

Ok this is a lot to take in. I'm still trippin' off her dying at 49.

What do you mean Herman was the result of her having multiple miscarriages. Did he beat her? Give her a disease?

Dayum...spinal meningitus, TB, Cancer, pneumonia! Lawd that's too much for one person to suffer.

I think Herman beat her yes. I heard she also was forced into an abortion at one time but I don't know how true that is.

Also to add more drama: apparently Mary also left Motown because all the money she had made off her hits was used to boost the Supremes. Don't know how true that is either... it should also be noted that Mary was the Supremes' biggest idol during this time. Mary Wilson would recall years later how they would see Mary with her mink fur coat and her entourage looking cool and Mary, Diana and Flo would look at her and wish they were in her shoes. They also sung background on some Mary tunes. I loved their background on "My Heart Is Like a Clock" for instance, a song from an unreleased Mary album, The Second Time Around.

Oh yeah and her spinal meningitis caused her to be blind for a minute, near paralysis in her legs and partially deaf in one ear.

Wow, that was a heartbreaking read. I had no idea Mary had suffered so much or that she died at age 49.

I don't have TVOne, but I really hope TVone's website has the full video up of Mary's episode like they did for Tammi Terrell's episode a few months ago, so i'll be able to see it.

Cinnamon234 said:

Wow, that was a heartbreaking read. I had no idea Mary had suffered so much or that she died at age 49.

I don't have TVOne, but I really hope TVone's website has the full video up of Mary's episode like they did for Tammi Terrell's episode a few months ago, so i'll be able to see it.

They will. I truly believe it.

Timmy84 said:

I know Monday is still a few days to go but I can't help but start this shit early! That's how excited I'm at about Mary's episode. This tells me this is going to be as good as the other Motown Unsungs (DeBarge, Florence Ballard, Teena Marie, Tammi Terrell, Spinners, etc). Probably the best one considering not a lot of people knew what she went through during her short 49 years of existence (yeah you read it right, she died at 49 ).

• She had spinal meningitis as a toddler.
• She lived in a very poor Detroit residential neighborhood where her mother basically had to work as a domestic and Mary herself worked at cleaning nasty places.
• She, like many classic R&B artists, learned how to sing in church and oddly by ten, she was allowed to sing at local nightclubs, so this started her career in a way (maybe they'll explain that part better lol).
• She wrote her first song at 16 in hopes to get the song to Jackie Wilson, whom Berry Gordy was working with. It was also the song that got her a Motown deal. Mary sung the song to Berry and was signed to Motown and recorded the song, which became "Bye Bye Baby", recorded and released when Mary was 17.
• The first major Motown solo superstar to emerge (she had eleven top ten R&B hits and tentop 40 pop hits - four of them top ten).
• Of course the Beatles considered her "their favorite American singer" and she opened for them for their UK tour, making her the first Motown act to have UK success.
• First husband Herman Griffin was considered one of the main people in convincing Mary to leave Motown in 1964 but was also abusive and tried to control every aspect of her career upon her finally exiting. Herman was also the result of Mary having miscarriages with several babies she was carrying with him.
• Upon signing with 20th Century Fox, speculation came that Motown tried to keep Mary under contract from Motown so she went to war with them alleging because she was a minor when she signed with them, that that make any attempt of resigning her or keeping her under contract as invalid. Motown allegedly played a role in Mary not getting played on a lot of radio stations as a result but as far as I know it's still a rumor.
• Mary had tuberculosis while recording for 20th Century Fox, which took her about two months to recover. After that, Mary divorced from Herman Griffin.
• Mary then got involved with Cecil Womack of the Valentinos and Womack encouraged Mary to write more. Cecil was 18 when Mary and her first got involved. They'll marry a year later in 1966 and Mary and Cecil would have three children together. Mary also moves to Los Angeles around this time.
• Mary signs with Jubilee Records but the label struggles to promote her. Disillusioned and except for a couple of records with Reprise (with records produced by Bobby Womack), Mary leaves the business choosing to raise her three children. Apparently Cecil cheated on Mary with Linda Cooke and Mary filed for divorce in 1977.
• A year later, Mary returns on the road. Within a couple years, she gets involved with another Womack brother, Curtis. By this point, Mary has developed a heroin addiction, which isn't helped by Curtis, who turns out to be abusive.
• Mary allegedly tried to attempt suicide a few times.
• Mary releases her "comeback" album, In and Out of Love, in 1981. But it bombs, some say due to Motown, others say due to Mary's own personal problems, and others say due to lack of promotion from Epic Records, who had signed her in 1979.
• Mary resorts to performing on oldies circuits for the rest of her career to pay the bills.
• Encouraged by an appearance on "Motown 25", Mary carries on a mild resurgence as a concert performer until around 1988 when her voice starts losing momentum.
• Curtis leaves Mary in 1988, just two years after the birth of her fourth and youngest child (only child with Curtis). Mary tries quitting her heroin habit and also tries quitting smoking cigarettes.
• Signs with Motorcity Records in 1989 and records a new album.
• A year later she develops lung cancer and surgery causes her voice to become mute. This in turn ends her music career, it also leads to, because Mary didn't have medical insurance, sell her home and file for bankruptcy.
• In 1991, she sues Motown in a multi-million dollar lawsuit alleging the label had failed to pay her royalties from recordings following her exit 27 years early. That same year, she opens about her ordeal with cancer on Entertainment Tonight. Motown settles for a six figure sum. Later that year Mary goes to Congress to talk about cancer research.
• Mary's cancer, which she thought was in remission, returns after she catches pneumonia. Her last two months are at the Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital. She finally dies in her sleep on July 26, 1992.

I think this is one fascinating story that if done right in 60 minutes could be a great Unsung episode. Your thoughts?

dang...the episode is already on heah

funkpill said:

Timmy84 said:

I know Monday is still a few days to go but I can't help but start this shit early! That's how excited I'm at about Mary's episode. This tells me this is going to be as good as the other Motown Unsungs (DeBarge, Florence Ballard, Teena Marie, Tammi Terrell, Spinners, etc). Probably the best one considering not a lot of people knew what she went through during her short 49 years of existence (yeah you read it right, she died at 49 ).

• She had spinal meningitis as a toddler.
• She lived in a very poor Detroit residential neighborhood where her mother basically had to work as a domestic and Mary herself worked at cleaning nasty places.
• She, like many classic R&B artists, learned how to sing in church and oddly by ten, she was allowed to sing at local nightclubs, so this started her career in a way (maybe they'll explain that part better lol).
• She wrote her first song at 16 in hopes to get the song to Jackie Wilson, whom Berry Gordy was working with. It was also the song that got her a Motown deal. Mary sung the song to Berry and was signed to Motown and recorded the song, which became "Bye Bye Baby", recorded and released when Mary was 17.
• The first major Motown solo superstar to emerge (she had eleven top ten R&B hits and tentop 40 pop hits - four of them top ten).
• Of course the Beatles considered her "their favorite American singer" and she opened for them for their UK tour, making her the first Motown act to have UK success.
• First husband Herman Griffin was considered one of the main people in convincing Mary to leave Motown in 1964 but was also abusive and tried to control every aspect of her career upon her finally exiting. Herman was also the result of Mary having miscarriages with several babies she was carrying with him.
• Upon signing with 20th Century Fox, speculation came that Motown tried to keep Mary under contract from Motown so she went to war with them alleging because she was a minor when she signed with them, that that make any attempt of resigning her or keeping her under contract as invalid. Motown allegedly played a role in Mary not getting played on a lot of radio stations as a result but as far as I know it's still a rumor.
• Mary had tuberculosis while recording for 20th Century Fox, which took her about two months to recover. After that, Mary divorced from Herman Griffin.
• Mary then got involved with Cecil Womack of the Valentinos and Womack encouraged Mary to write more. Cecil was 18 when Mary and her first got involved. They'll marry a year later in 1966 and Mary and Cecil would have three children together. Mary also moves to Los Angeles around this time.
• Mary signs with Jubilee Records but the label struggles to promote her. Disillusioned and except for a couple of records with Reprise (with records produced by Bobby Womack), Mary leaves the business choosing to raise her three children. Apparently Cecil cheated on Mary with Linda Cooke and Mary filed for divorce in 1977.
• A year later, Mary returns on the road. Within a couple years, she gets involved with another Womack brother, Curtis. By this point, Mary has developed a heroin addiction, which isn't helped by Curtis, who turns out to be abusive.
• Mary allegedly tried to attempt suicide a few times.
• Mary releases her "comeback" album, In and Out of Love, in 1981. But it bombs, some say due to Motown, others say due to Mary's own personal problems, and others say due to lack of promotion from Epic Records, who had signed her in 1979.
• Mary resorts to performing on oldies circuits for the rest of her career to pay the bills.
• Encouraged by an appearance on "Motown 25", Mary carries on a mild resurgence as a concert performer until around 1988 when her voice starts losing momentum.
• Curtis leaves Mary in 1988, just two years after the birth of her fourth and youngest child (only child with Curtis). Mary tries quitting her heroin habit and also tries quitting smoking cigarettes.
• Signs with Motorcity Records in 1989 and records a new album.
• A year later she develops lung cancer and surgery causes her voice to become mute. This in turn ends her music career, it also leads to, because Mary didn't have medical insurance, sell her home and file for bankruptcy.
• In 1991, she sues Motown in a multi-million dollar lawsuit alleging the label had failed to pay her royalties from recordings following her exit 27 years early. That same year, she opens about her ordeal with cancer on Entertainment Tonight. Motown settles for a six figure sum. Later that year Mary goes to Congress to talk about cancer research.
• Mary's cancer, which she thought was in remission, returns after she catches pneumonia. Her last two months are at the Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital. She finally dies in her sleep on July 26, 1992.

I think this is one fascinating story that if done right in 60 minutes could be a great Unsung episode. Your thoughts?

dang...the episode is already on heah

It depends on how much of it they will talk about. But I reckon they'll cover some of it in seconds explanation like they always do.

I'm so curious about all of those Womack connections

I mean how she did ended up being with Curtis and such....

Hope they stretch that one

Those Womacks, I tell ya

[Edited 8/11/11 15:09pm]

funkpill said:

I'm so curious about all of those Womack connections

I mean how did end up being with Curtis and such....

Hope they stretch that one

Those Womacks, I tell ya

I hope they will too.

Oh yeah Bobby Womack's got an episode after Mary's I believe.

Timmy84 said:

funkpill said:

I'm so curious about all of those Womack connections

I mean how did end up being with Curtis and such....

Hope they stretch that one

Those Womacks, I tell ya

I hope they will too.

Oh yeah Bobby Womack's got an episode after Mary's I believe.

I wonder if that was intentional

HotGritz said:

Timmy84 said:

I hope they will too.

Oh yeah Bobby Womack's got an episode after Mary's I believe.

I wonder if that was intentional

Might be. Bobby could be interviewed for Mary's...

Timmy84 said:

Also to add more drama: apparently Mary also left Motown because all the money she had made off her hits was used to boost the Supremes. Don't know how true that is either... it should also be noted that Mary was the Supremes' biggest idol during this time. Mary Wilson would recall years later how they would see Mary with her mink fur coat and her entourage looking cool and Mary, Diana and Flo would look at her and wish they were in her shoes. They also sung background on some Mary tunes. I loved their background on "My Heart Is Like a Clock" for instance, a song from an unreleased Mary album, The Second Time Around.

Based on what i read it is true.

phunkdaddy said:

Timmy84 said:

Also to add more drama: apparently Mary also left Motown because all the money she had made off her hits was used to boost the Supremes. Don't know how true that is either... it should also be noted that Mary was the Supremes' biggest idol during this time. Mary Wilson would recall years later how they would see Mary with her mink fur coat and her entourage looking cool and Mary, Diana and Flo would look at her and wish they were in her shoes. They also sung background on some Mary tunes. I loved their background on "My Heart Is Like a Clock" for instance, a song from an unreleased Mary album, The Second Time Around.

Based on what i read it is true.

I can believe it in a way too...

So Berry Gordy did Mary wrong then? Sounds like she got ripped off financially if her money was going to the Supremes careers.

Man the music biz has always been dirty.

HotGritz said:

So Berry Gordy did Mary wrong then? Sounds like she got ripped off financially if her money was going to the Supremes careers.

Man the music biz has always been dirty.

Pretty much.

Cinnamon234 said:

Wow, that was a heartbreaking read. I had no idea Mary had suffered so much or that she died at age 49.

I don't have TVOne, but I really hope TVone's website has the full video up of Mary's episode like they did for Tammi Terrell's episode a few months ago, so i'll be able to see it.

[Edited 8/11/11 15:56pm]

Bumping this since the countdown's almost over for Mary's episode...

I purposely keep my TV off until I know when a show I like is coming on. I'll turn it on an hour from now because usually post past episodes from this season as a warm-up. So it'll be Sylvers followed by Mary.

Timmy84 said:

phunkdaddy said:

Based on what i read it is true.

I can believe it in a way too...

Yes, it's true.... I'll leave it at that.

If there's a hell Gordy should be in line to enter the second he draws his last breath on this earth.... lowlife. I'm not sure I can bear to watch this so, I'll wait to hear what all of you have to say afterwards.

TD3 said:

Timmy84 said:

I can believe it in a way too...

Yes, it's true.... I'll leave it at that.

If there's a hell Gordy should be in line to enter the second he draws his last breath on this earth.... lowlife. I'm not sure I can bear to watch this so, I'll wait to hear what all of you have to say afterwards.

Oh you know I'll comment but yeah this should be real interesting.

ms trina, to be fair, there's some bigger sobs than berry-ike turner, don king, the list goes on

scriptgirl said:

ms trina, to be fair, there's some bigger sobs than berry-ike turner, don king, the list goes on

I'm not one to equate ones mis deeds against what others do or don't. Wrong is wrong and right is right, this isn't about measuring wretchedness on a scale of 1 to 10.

Gordy is a lowlife and as I've said, if there's a hell...

ms trina, to be fair, there's some bigger sobs than berry-ike turner, don king, the list goes on

As Always Ms. Trina, you are right, wrong is wrong. I guess I just know more about the others.

Timmy84, i'm watching it now. Thanks for this thread via posting chronology of her life.

Mary Wells is a lot passed over as far as her spearheading the "motown sound."

free2bfreeda said:

Timmy84, i'm watching it now. Thanks for this thread via posting chronology of her life.

Mary Wells is a lot passed over as far as her spearheading the "motown sound."

No problem.