The Motown Girl Group That Scored The Label's First No. 1 Pop Hit While Still In High School

Motown Records is one of the most iconic and influential labels of all time, with over 50 No. 1 hits to its name, and it owes the first one to a group of high school girls from the suburbs of Detroit. The Marvelettes' 1961 single "Please Mr. Postman" is a testament to the fact that success isn't always a straight shot.

Started by a 15-year-old Gladys Horton with her 17-year-old friends Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart, Katherine Anderson, and Wanda Young, the group was originally called the Casinyets (a play on "can't sing yet"). Although Motown was only two years old in 1961, an audition for the budding label was presented as a prize for their Inkster high school's talent show. While the girls only came in fourth place, a teacher saw real potential and arranged their audition regardless of the loss. They changed their name to the Marvels and brought in fellow student Georgia Dobbins, who co-wrote "Please Mr. Postman" with William Garrett working on the instrumentals.

Their original piece definitely caught the attention of the label, and after Motown founder Barry Gordy Jr. signed them and tweaked their name to the Marvelettes, it would only be a matter of months before they shot to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 with their debut single. Gordy also arranged for rising artist Marvin Gaye to play the drums on the track, turning "Please Mr. Postman" into a launchpad for serious superstardom.

Modern audiences may find the lyrics of the Marvelettes' "Please Mr. Postman" to be archaic, but the singers truly had their finger on the pulse of the early '60s. When she wrote the song, Georgia Dobbins' boyfriend was deployed overseas in the U.S. Navy, and without international calls, needed to wait for his letters regularly. Additionally, the Korean and Vietnam Wars in the '50s and late '60s kept military employment high –– Elvis Presley had only just returned from his deployment in Germany a year before the Marvelettes' hit.

Therefore, lyrics such as "There must be some word today / From my boyfriend who's so far away / Please, Mr. Postman, look and see" meant a lot more to early '60s youth than a long-distance relationship does today. Young people were also quickly becoming a target market for most media, and the fact that bands as influential as the Beatles started their career by recording a cover of "Please Mr. Postman" was testament to just how deeply the song's sentiment resonated with audiences everywhere.

Although the Marvelettes should have been on the fast track to success, issues such as rehearsing around school schedules and Dobbins' parents pulling her out of the group made it difficult to maintain their momentum. "Please Mr. Postman" would go No. 1 again 13 years later thanks to a Carpenters cover, and the Marvelettes will forever be remembered for changing the course of Motown history.