Tammi Terrell

Tammi Terrell was a luminous soul singer whose brief career produced some of the most cherished recordings of the Motown era. Gifted with a warm, expressive voice, she signed with the label in the 1960s and found her greatest success in a celebrated series of duets that have endured as classics of romantic soul.

Paired with Marvin Gaye, she recorded a string of beloved songs including Ain't No Mountain High Enough, Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing, and You're All I Need to Get By. The two voices blended with such natural tenderness that the partnership became one of the most fondly remembered in popular music, even though the singers were collaborators rather than a couple.

Terrell's life was tragically short. She collapsed during a performance and was found to have a brain tumor, and after a long illness she died in 1970 while still very young. The loss cast a shadow over her former duet partner and over the label that had nurtured her. Readers remember a singer whose joyful, soaring voice still brightens the songs she left behind.