Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
Jan 28, (THAINDIAN NEWS) The beautiful singer of the retro era, Gladys Horton left her last breathe at the age of sixty six, on Wednesday. According to the sources, she has been suffering from poor health for quite sometime, and did not recover after she succumbed to a stroke, for which she was admitted to a hospital in Sherman Oaks in California, where she left her last breathe. She was also suffering from pneumonia.

Gladys Horton got her first share of fame as a singer, after she gathered a few of her high school friends to establish the popular girl band of the 60s, Marvelettes. Her first popular number, “Please Mr. Postman”, not only made her band popular, but also gave the first hit to Motown Records. During an era, when girl bands struggled to make a mark, the Marvelettes made it big, on their own rights, to be named as “The Sound of Young America” by Motown. The other hits delivered by the band includes, “Beechwood 4-5789″, “Playboy”, “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game” and “Don’t Mess With Bill”. After her death, one of the singers of her band said that the Marvelettes was formed only because of her and all of then started singing only because Gladys Horton asked them to. She recalled, that before the band was formed, she, along with her high school friends used to gather at Georgeanna Tilman’s home, and played Canasta. It was only because of late Gladys Horton, that they all decided to take up their passion seriously.

No details has been traced regarding Gladys Horton’s background and upbringing. However, sources say that she was an orphan, born in Detroit or in Inkster. However, her son says that she was born in Gainesville and was grew up in a foster care in Michigan. She went through a divorced and is now survived by her two sons, Vaughn Thornton and Sammy Coleman. She also has two grand children.