Rick Sperling - creator and founding artistic director of the Mosaic Youth Theater of Detroit - approached her for an interview for a play he wanted to write about the Marvelettes. At work, Watts adds, she even developed a fan club of her own: “She was known for her smile, and she would go the extra mile to help you.” Grateful Dead, Tower of Power, Santana and More Feature in 'San Francisco Sounds: A Place in Time'Īnd while music fell out of her own life, Dobbins filled it with family and a passion for gardening. You don’t need to deal with that.’ And I left it at that.” Watts says her mother told her not to mention it to anyone either: “She said, ‘When you have that type of fame, you have fake friends. Postman.” For 35 years, she worked as a cashier at Farmer Jack, a now-defunct Detroit-area supermarket chain, and never told anyone about the song. The Man interpolated it on their sleeper hit, “Feel It Still” - a testament to the original’s incredible staying power.īut for decades, Dobbins wanted nothing to do with “Please Mr. The Beatles recorded a version in 1963, the Carpenters took the track back to Number One in 1974, and in 2017, Portugal. Not only did the song effectively launch Motown, paving the way for one of the most prolific, significant and groundbreaking runs in music history, but it became a pop standard in its own right. Postman” was released in August 1961, hit the charts the following month, and after a 14-week climb, finally reached Number One on December 11th. In 1961, Gordy officially signed the Marvels and rechristened them the Marvelettes it was Dobbins who found her own replacement, tapping Wanda Young to join the group. Postman.” And while Watts says there were some folks at the label who wanted Dobbins to stick around, she ultimately left the industry. After he forbade her from continuing with the group, Dobbins - with a little help from her mother - was still able to slip away to Motown to help out with the completion of “Please Mr. Dobbins’ father, Watts says, worked a graveyard shift and was completely unaware of his daughter’s budding career until she approached him about the Motown deal. She was the oldest of seven children, and the only girl, and she secretly slipped the money she made gigging around town to her mother. Music wasn’t just a teenage passion for Dobbins, but a way to make some extra money for her family. It was later sent to a crew of Motown songwriters - Freddie Gorman, Brian Holland and Robert Bateman - for a final punch-up. Postman” originally had a slower, bluesier feel, which fit Dobbins’ singing style more than the group’s de facto leader Horton. Watts says Dobbins wrote the rest of the song in three days, inspired by the pangs of waiting for a letter from her then-boyfriend, who was enlisted in the Navy. One of their teachers, however, convinced the principal to let them go as well, and while Berry Gordy and Smokey Robinson were impressed, they requested the Marvels come up with an original song.ĭobbins turned to a bandmate from another group, William Garrett, a piano player, who’d come up with a melody and a title - “Please Mr. According to the 2006 book American Singing Groups, the Marvels came in fourth place at a high school talent show, just missing out on a top three prize: an audition at Motown. As a teenager growing up in the Detroit suburb of Inkster, Michigan, Dobbins was part of several singing groups including a quintet known as the Marvels with Gladys Horton, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart and Katherine Anderson. Georgia Dobbins Davis was born May 5th, 1942. When she got married and I came along - I’m an only child - it was, ‘OK, I wrote a song, and that’s it, that’s all you need to know.’” “She told me that she didn’t listen to the radio she pretty much became a hermit,” Watts says. Postman” encapsulates the extent of her music career, and Watts says her mother long refused to acknowledge or discuss her contribution to pop history. But by the time the Marvelettes recorded it in 1961, Dobbins left the group to look after her ailing mother and because her father forbade her from touring or getting involved in the music industry.ĭobbins’ writing credit on “Please Mr. The track became Motown’s first Number One hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Postman,” Dobbins played an integral role in the history of Motown and pop music. Dobbins’ daughter, Kimberly Ann Watts, confirmed her death to Rolling Stone, adding the cause was cardiac arrest. Georgia Dobbins Davis, an original member of the Marvelettes and the co-writer of their classic 1961 hit, “Please Mr.
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