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Martha Reeves |
Politician Martha back on stage
A WRITER, a soul icon and now a politician, Martha Reeves is not one to rest on her laurels.
The former lead singer of Motown soul band Martha & the Vandellas, responsible for legendary hits such as Nowhere to Run and Jimmy Mack is destined to be evergreen.
At 67, as a councillor for Detroit City Council, she wants to erect statues of the likes of Stevie Wonder and Aretha Franklin to commemorate the influence of Motown across the world.
And at the weekend she will be bringing her silky tones, as well as her sisters Lois and Delphi and pianist Al McKenzie to the Jazz Café. Camden, she says, is a magic place.
“You can feel it as you are walking around,” she says. But then most things in life, for Martha, are a spiritual experience.
The grand-daughter of a Methodist minister, she and her 10 siblings went to church three or four times a week.
A born-again Baptist who has struggled with prescription drug addiction, smoking and liquor, she says: “I can’t sing unless I pray. I never open my mouth without asking, ‘may I?’ ‘can I?’ and ‘thank you’.
“Now I have a clear head and a clean body I know I can make a difference in this city,” she says, speaking from her apartment in Detroit. “I think I want to help and that’s why I’m a politician and an asset to this council.”
And the grandmother of soul is not afraid of blowing her own trumpet.
She says: “There’s nothing that compares with Motown. If a Motown act was ever on the stage we stole it. We were trained and we had a whole psychology.”
Having musicians on stage is paramount but most of all she says she cannot play without her horns.
She says: “I mean, imagine Nowhere to Run without the horns! A part of the musicians on stage becomes entwined with me. I come prepared to do my very best.”
Sara Newman
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