Motown royalty at the city’s Rialto
MOTOWN legends Martha Reeves and the Vandellas will be performing live in Coventry next week.
The group, best known for their signature hit Dancing in the Street, will be coming to the stage at Rialto Reborn, based on Moseley Avenue, on Saturday, March 10.
Martha Reeves and the Vandellas enjoyed a meteoric rise to fame in the 1960s as part of the Motown music label and boast a music career spanning more than 60 years.
They were the label’s second most successful all-female vocal group after The Supremes, and were known more for their Southernstyled soul.
Not limited just to R&B, they recorded in doo-wop, pop, blues and soul – and even sang back-up vocals for the ‘Prince of Soul’ Marvin Gaye in their early career.
They scored multiple hit singles including Jimmy Mack, Nowhere to Run, Heat Wave and 1964’s Dancing in the Street – which went on to be covered by Mick Jagger and David Bowie in 1985.
Original Vandellas Rosaland Ashford and Betty Kelley have since left the group, with Martha’s younger sisters Lois and Delphine Reeves now singing backing vocals.
In 1995, Martha and Lois were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside the original Vandellas.
The event is being promoted by Coventry-based Showtime Promotions, which is also behind the Stepback 90s concert to the Ricoh Arena on October 13.