Mary Wells: The Queen of Motown who left the label at the height of fame and disappeared
The Motown label is now seen as a crucial moment in music. It brought soul and gospel-style music into a brand new light and formed the careers of several musical legends who are still considered some of the best artists to ever take to the stage. These include the likes of Smokey Robinson, Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye; however, one artist who was fundamental in the label’s success often falls under the radar – this is the story of Mary Wells.
Motown is known as the hit machine, but it wasn’t always like that; in fact, there were a lot of misses before Berry Gordy and the rest were able to find success. The label was at risk of going under quite frequently, and getting a record in the charts for longer than a week seemed like a faraway dream for them, that was until Wells came along.
At 17, Wells’ potential as a singer and songwriter was already evident. She auditioned for Berry Gordy, playing an original song ‘Bye Bye Baby’ which Gordy liked so much that he signed her on the spot, and they released her song as her first single. It scored a top ten on the R&B charts, but Wells struggled to hit that same high after that.
Eventually, she and Smokey Robinson teamed up to form the first-ever Motown collaboration. This turned out to be a brilliant move, as the two complemented one another in writing, production and singing. Wells also had some work done with other Motown writers, but what she created with Smokey stood out amongst the crowd and had an undeniable sound. The only way was up for the two of them.
All of a sudden, Wells was one of the biggest artists attached to the Motown label. She was headlining shows, making hits and was the inspiration of many other young women who wanted to make it as a singer. She even managed to have a hit, ‘Two Lovers’, that knocked The Beatles from the top of the charts.
Motown capitalised on all this, labelling Wells as “The Girl Who Beat the Beatles” and putting her on tour throughout the US and the UK. If she had carried on in this trajectory, her name would have been as high up as those who found fame within Motown, but it wasn’t meant to be. Shortly after reaching stardom, Wells left the record label and sued them.
Despite Motown being an undeniable force in music, they are also subject to controversy, as the amount they used to pay their artists is commonly under contention. This was the issue with Wells; as though she could see how high her songs were charting and how many people she was playing to, the amount she was paid did not reciprocate the numbers she was pulling in. On top of that, she was never credited or given her dues as one of the people responsible for essentially saving Motown. As such, she was not interested in staying at the label and wanted compensation for her work.
Apparently aware of how much of a treasure she was, Gordy tried his best to convince her to stay at label. He even offered her 50% of the shares in Motown. Granted, this might sound like a pretty good deal, but the label was smaller than it would eventually become, and these shares weren’t worth much at the time. If Wells had been offered that deal now, she would have no doubt taken it. Motown would become one of the most profitable businesses, not just record labels, businesses in America, but hindsight is a wonderful thing. She had had enough of working for them. Instead, she took a $30,000 payout and looked elsewhere for work.
Her career never quite took off in the same way that it did with Motown. After settling the legal case, she went to 20th Century Fox, but they were always much better for their movie production than their music. On top of that, she thrived when working with Smokey Robinson, so not having them as a duo impacted her career, too. With Mary Wells, instead of another hitmaker on the list of those who came from Motown, we are left with a few songs and a lingering image of what might have been.
