Mary Wells

Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s.

Signing with Motown at the age of just 17, Wells' best-known hit singles include "The One Who Really Loves You", "Two Lovers" and "You Beat Me to the Punch". Her signature hit, "My Guy" (1964), was her biggest international hit single and her only number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. During Wells' Motown tenure, she was nicknamed "the Queen of Motown".

Wells' early success with Motown led to her becoming part of the charge in black music onto radio stations and record shelves of mainstream America, "bridging the color lines in music at the time".

Wells left Motown shortly after "My Guy" peaked at number one and she subsequently struggled with releases through big and small labels until her death from cancer in June 1992. Wells was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and was later inducted into the National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame.

Mary Esther Wells was born near Detroit's Wayne State University on May 13, 1943, to Geneva Campbell Wells, a mother who worked as a domestic, and Arthur Wells, an absentee father. One of three children, she contracted spinal meningitis at the age of two and struggled with partial blindness, deafness in one ear and temporary paralysis. At age 10, Wells contracted tuberculosis. During her early years, Wells lived in Black Bottom and struggled with poverty. By age 12, she was helping her mother with house cleaning work.

Wells used singing as her comfort from her pain, first singing in a Detroit Baptist church at the age of ten. By her teen years, she participated in talent shows. But Wells initially had no plans to be a professional singer until Detroit-based artists Little Willie John, Jackie Wilson and The Miracles began having mainstream hits. By the late 1950s, R&B and doo-wop groups formed all over the city and Wells unsuccessfully tried joining several groups. Wells eventually was discovered by Johnnie Mae Matthews in 1960, who signed her to her Northern Records label. Despite the promise of producing her, Wells left after Matthews failed to book a session due to Matthews' attention on the Distants, led by future Temptations founder Otis Williams.

Following her graduation from Northwestern High School in June 1960, Wells sought to be a songwriter and penned a song titled "Bye Bye Baby" in the hopes of her idol Jackie Wilson singing it. With the help of Robert Bateman, who was working with Wilson's former songwriter and Tamla Records founder Berry Gordy, Wells spotted Gordy at Detroit's 20 Grand nightclub the following month, where he was busy with his acts Marv Johnson and the Miracles and eventually presented the song to a weary Gordy who ordered her to sing the song, to which Wells did.

Impressed by Wells' performance, he offered Wells a record deal with his recently formed Motown imprint, a subsidiary of his first label, Tamla. Wells signed the following day on July 8 with her mother present and recorded 22 takes of "Bye Bye Baby" at United Sound Systems. The song was released in December 1960 and became Wells' first chart hit, reaching number 8 on the Billboard Hot R&B Sides chart in January 1961 and crossed over to number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in April of the same year, prior to Wells turning 18.