Dancing in the Street: Confessions of a Motown Diva [Hardcover]

Martha Reeves (Author), Mark Bego (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1994

A soul music great chronicles her career, which included such hits as "Heat Wave" and "Nowhere to Run," offering a backstage glimpse of the tensions, passions, triumphs, and tragedies behind the legend of Motown. 50,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo. Tour.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the early '60s Martha and the Vandellas were among the most successful female pop acts in the world; by the end of the decade they had largely been upstaged by Motown labelmates Diana Ross and the Supremes. Writing with Bego ( Madonna: Blonde Ambition ), Reeves here recounts both the excitement and energy of Motown in its heyday and her frustrations in making a comeback after she was abandoned by music industry moguls. Although she proclaims to set the record straight about her alleged feuds with Diana Ross and Motown president Berry Gordy, Reeves tends to soft-pedal these issues, and her feelings about Gordy are so obviously conflicted as to leave readers befuddled about their true relationship. Consequently, the book is of interest more as an account of a career in the entertainment industry than as an expose of the Motown scene. Reeves's story of her exploitation by her managers, her ongoing drug addiction and a string of relationships gone sour is poignant, and she emerges as a stoic and likable survivor. Photos not seen by PW. Author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

The Motown group Martha and the Vandellas hit it big in the 1960s with songs like "Dancing in the Street" and "Heat Wave," but they never achieved the superstardom of the Supremes. So it's interesting to hear head Reeves's perspective in this candid and touching reminiscence. After moving to Detroit at an early age, Reeves pursued her driving desire to be a singer and soon found herself at Hitsville U.S.A. with the likes of Smokey Robinson, James Brown, and Diana Ross, all young and dreaming of stardom. She attained her dream but paid the price of many who start so young: drug addiction, financial problems, and mental illness. Reeves openly relates all this as well as her rivalry with Ross, reigning Motown diva. She gets in her digs, but there is a compelling honesty about this book that transports the reader. Her autobiography is much less self-serving than Mary Wilson's Dreamgirl (LJ 12/86) or Ross's puff piece Secrets of a Sparrow (Random, 1993). Recommended.
Rosellen Brewer, Monterey Bay Area Cooperative Lib. System, Cal.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 286 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Books; 1st edition (August 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786860243
• ISBN-13: 978-0786860241
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #828,026 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #20 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Arts & Literature > Composers & Musicians > Rhythm & Blues

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Martha Reeves--Motown's Other Diva Supreme!!, January 9, 2002

By 

Miss DTP "upper_echelon" (San Antonio, TX USA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Dancing in the Street: Confessions of a Motown Diva (Paperback)

Martha is Motown's other Diva Supreme. It still bothers me that she does not receive the recognition she so truly deserves.

At a show in Britain--were only Reeves was asked to sing with Dusty Springfield--Berry told her that The Supremes were now "His Girls" now and that she was on the "Bottom Level" now. How devastating!!

Martha and the Vandellas still made hit records with little or no promotion and remained popular even without Berry's guidance. Martha talks about her relationship with her friends (The Tempts, Gaye and Wells) as well as her money trouble with Motown. (It seems that EVERYONE had problems with Motown's "FINANCIAL DEPT"). She also discusses her breakdowns and her struggle to keep the group together.

At the end of the book she talks about Mary Wells. Mary apparently would ask Martha to "get her some drugs" WHOA! This went on in front of Mary's baby girl Sugar. Since no one at Motown ever talks about Motown's FIRST Diva, this came as a shock to me.

Please pick this one up. Reeves's bio is entertaining and a good read...it struck me like a 'Heat wave'.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Grand Dame of Motown: Martha Reeves, February 10, 2001

By 

Oliver Penn - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dancing in the Street: Confessions of a Motown Diva (Hardcover)

The music of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas truly represents the "sound of Motown Records". "Dancing in the Street" is, of course, mentioned whenever "the Motown sound" is brought up. The song is truly Motown's Anthem. Martha was the best female voice on the label and sang with the strongest soul exponents, save Gladys Knight, later on.

The book is very interesting. I was pleased that it was not a "pile on Diana Ross" sort of book. Ross comes out smelling like last year's cheese in all of these books (how wicked can one person be?) Reeves concentrates on HER career and her experiences during this ride to stardom.

It's funny how people don't understand how Reeves, Knight and other Motown alumni felt when they were pushed aside for Berry Gordy's maniacal push to make Ross a solo star. He had promised the same to the others who believed him and tirelessly produced the hits he craved. To sink the money THEY made into the Supremes and later, Ross, was devastating to them.

Gladys told her brother and cousins "I told you we shouldn't have signed with Motown" (something to that effect). With the stakes being as high as they were, I'm surprised that the majority of Motown's artists didn't end up on drugs. This was war. There were many casualties in the battle: Tammi Terrell, Flo Ballard, Paul Williams, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Wanda Rogers, etc.

Martha Reeves is a survivor. It's a joy to see her interviewed on tv today. She's extremely articulate, funny and is, obviously, a born actress (why producers don't see it is beyond me!) She'd make a fabulous lawyer on a primetime show.

I felt she was very frank in the book describing her drug bouts, the attempted rape, failed relationships, money problems and all around career frustrations.

She gave insight into the personalities of Marvin Gaye, Ross and the many Vandellas. This is a "tell all" book on Martha Reeves. Like Mary Wilson, she did not write a novel, she's telling you what actually happened. And I like that.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting, but perhaps only for the die-hard fan, November 4, 2004

By 

Chad Sosna "Doo-Lang Love" (Chicago) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dancing in the Street: Confessions of a Motown Diva (Paperback)

I came into this book with high hopes, and certainly there is a lot of interesting material here. But a good co-writer would have made a world of difference. Mark Bego is mentioned in one of Mary Wilson's books and has also written about Aretha Franklin. But what did he do on this book? The entire manuscript needed to be tightened. There are places when the story drifts on and on. Also, some terrible errors. For example, on page 176, one paragraph ends with the line, "Somehow I felt lost in the shuffle." The end of next paragraph: "I felt lost in the shuffle"! Did anyone read this before publication?

There are phrases in the book like, "came back for more, time and time again." Yikes.

On the good side, Martha's story is fascinating, and seemingly complete about the earlier years. The parts about her "instant" job at Motown as a secretary were funny. It shows very well the "inside scene" of early Motown and how she eventually was with a group and began recording with Motown.

The most exciting chapter is chapter 3, the Motown Revue, when in Fall 1962, numerous Motown groups went on the road for the first time in a major tour. Diana Ross' total ambition to herself and nobody but herself is shocking--but does agree with everyone else's accounts of this time.

After the excitement of hits, "Dancing in the Street" (7/64) and "Nowhere to Run" (2/65), the story is kind of sad. You probably have to be a fan or deeply love Motown to get through the rest of the story. We know it's going to be a decline from there in fame.

The incidents with drugs (except for an admission of being dependent on uppers and downers at one time) are in a sort of whoops-I-did-it-again fashion, as if the issue was being skirted. One wants to know more about how prevalent drugs were in her circle, and if this was an ongoing thing to try hard drugs, or just a party thing. This could have lifted the last third of the book to a more interesting read.