Customer Reviews

Dancing in the Street: Confessions of a Motown Diva

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4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
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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'.

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.

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.

I bought this book hoping to gain more of a behind the scenes look at Motown and I think she delivered. There are alot of things in this book that made me realize how STRONG of a woman Martha Reeves is and how she is also very dedicated to her career, I mean sticking to singing after not receiving a royalty check for 13 years is pretty dedicated. I really enjoyed her small tidbits about other Motown artist such as Marvin Gaye, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks and Diana Ross (who I think she secretly hates lol). I do think this book says a whole lot about Barry Gordy and the way he treated with his artist. Overall, any Motown fan most read this book! I am reading Mary Wilson's next.

"The lead singer of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas tells all. Reeves started out as a secretary at Motown and while she sang she observed what it took to be successful in the music business. Play her records(or CDs) while reading this great book."

This was my first Motown book and I am glad to say that. I enjoyed Dancing in the Streets more than I did Mary Wilson's books. Now we all know that all of the spurned Motown artist feel burned and are out to get what's owed them, but in reading this book, I did not feel like that was the driving force behind its conception. Martha tells it like it is! I commend her for this effort! I hope she writes another one!!

I highly recommend this one!

Martha Reeves is about as far from Diana Ross as can be. She's always been in love with the music while Ross so often has seemed consumed with being endlessly reassured she is the best, she is the greatest star who ever lived, she is a living legend but, on the other hand, has never been bright enough to see that if you have to tell people to call you "Miss Ross" so you'll get the respect you deserve all you're getting back is people going through the motions (which, in the end, is indeed the respect you deserve). All this has never been part of Reeves' life. She's enjoyed her success, she's enjoyed the fame but she's never needed to constantly gobble up adoration. This has freed her to be down to earth, realistic and truly soulful as both a performer and a person. If you've ever met Martha you know she is intelligent, articulate, wise and humorous and she long, long ago left behind all about Motown that might have made her an angry old woman. In fact, there is nothing old about her--Martha looks great, sounds great and is still full of enthusiasm for her work. In England and Europe she is big big star, greatly adored. Wherever she works she is a consummate professional--she always looks terrific and gives a great show. This book is interesting start to finish--you get the Motown story for real. And, true to her own life, Martha is dignified beginning to end. No cheap shots or dirty gossip here. Martha can be VERY proud of this very successful book.

Thanks, Martha for telling your story. So many books about Motown are written by outsider's looking in and most don't have a clue to the real story. Also, many can't get their facts straight. But you were there and you know the true facts and I'm glad you shared yours. You truly contributed so much to the "MOTOWN SOUND-The Sound of Young America"

Martha Reeves is about as far from Diana Ross as can be. She's always been in love with the music while Ross so often has seemed consumed with being endlessly reassured she is the best, she is the greatest star who ever lived, she is a living legend but, on the other hand, has never been bright enough to see that if you have to tell people to call you "Miss Ross" so you'll get the respect you deserve all you're getting back is people going through the motions (which, in the end, is indeed the respect you deserve). All this has never been part of Reeves' life. She's enjoyed her success, she's enjoyed the fame but she's never needed to constantly gobble up adoration. This has freed her to be down to earth, realistic and truly soulful as both a performer and a person. If you've ever met Martha you know she is intelligent, articulate, wise and humorous and she long, long ago left behind all about Motown that might have made her an angry old woman. In fact, there is nothing old about her--Martha looks great, sounds great and is still full of enthusiasm for her work. In England and Europe she is big big star, greatly adored. Wherever she works she is a consummate professional--she always looks terrific and gives a great show. This book is interesting start to finish--you get the Motown story for real. And, true to her own life, Martha is dignified beginning to end. No cheap shots or dirty gossip here. Martha can be VERY proud of this very successful book.

I always liked Martha Reeves - until I read this book. It's easily the most self-absorbed, preening, everyone's-at-fault-but-me autobiography I've ever seen. Every hit the Vandellas had is entirely credited to her (she even claims to have helped write every single through 1967) while every flop is attributed to Motown's bad promotion. Reeves catalogs her myriad hospitalizations for drug overdoses and frequent changes in personnel while blaming the collapse of her career on a Diana Ross/Berry Gordy plot. Martha, did it ever occur to you that while you were taking every pill that came near you, Diana was working on her career? Plus, Reeves seems not to have noticed that she lost her voice circa 1968. I won't even start ripping into the Hallmark-style poems that open each chapter. Whoever the hell Mark Bego is, he's no fact checker: among the numerous errors, James Jamerson is alleged to have died in 1974 rather than 1983, and Idi Amin is mentioned as being in charge of Egypt (which Reeves toured in the late 70's) rather than Uganda. It must be said that there is a decent amount of background info on obscure Motownies like Richard Morris, great pictures and a solid discography. Of the multiple Motown tell-alls I've read, though, this is the only one that left a sour taste in my mouth.