Unsung is a documentary series that examines the lives and careers of once well-known R&B and soul artists and groups who achieved national chart success and fame but have become under-appreciated by later generations.

Note: This title comes on two discs.

UNSUNG MOTOWN - Volume 1

FLORENCE BALLARD
Florence Ballard was a founding member of the Supremes—one of the biggest girl groups of the 1960s. Originally called the Primettes, Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diane Ross enlisted neighborhood friend Smokey Robinson to help them secure a record deal with Motown Records. At this stage all three members took turns singing lead.

Barry Gordy signed the group but after several singles that didn't break the Top 40, he shuffled Diana Ross into the lead position. With the success of hits like "Where Did Our Love Go," Ross became the star. Ballard grew frustrated with her new role in the group and fell into depression and alcoholism, factors that weighed heavily in Gordy's decision to dismiss her from the group in 1967.

THE MARVELLETTES
In 1961, five teen-age girls from the Detroit suburb of Inkster, Michigan, took a meteoric rise to fame that revolutionized Motown, and created a catalog of popular songs. Plucked from the obscurity of a high school talent show, they were signed on the strength of an original song titled "Please Mr. Postman."

Within months, the song became Motown's first number one pop single. But despite an impressive array of follow-up hits including "Beechwood 4-5789," "Too Many Fish in the Sea," and the Smokey Robinson-penned classic "Don’t Mess with Bill," the Marvelettes never achieved the stature of rival acts like Martha and the Vandellas or the Supremes.


UNSUNG MOTOWN - Volume 2

MARY WELLS
Before the Supremes, Marvin Gaye or the Temptations, Mary Wells was Motown's reigning star. Signed to the label at age 17, she had instant success with Smokey Robinson songs like "You Beat Me to the Punch," "Two Lovers" and "My Guy," making her the first artist to bring Motown a Grammy nomination, and garnering an invitation to tour with the Beatles, at the height of their own success.

Then in a stunning move, Mary walked away from the label in a dispute over money just as her career was peaking, the first major artist to leave Motown.

TAMMI TERRELL
Tammy Montgomery had a record deal by the time she was 14. She was a featured vocalist with James Brown at 17. Berry Gordy signed her to Motown Records three years later. In 1967 Tammi Terrell teamed up with Marvin Gaye to record a series of classic romantic hits "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Your Precious Love," "Ain't Nothin Like The Real Thing," and others that remain the gold standard for romantic duets.

Ironically, Tammi's actual love life was not nearly as perfect as the romance in her songs. She was in abusive relationships with both James Brown and David Ruffin. And the magic of her career ended abruptly when she collapsed on stage from a brain tumor while singing with Marvin Gaye in the fall of 1967.

Note: This title comes on two discs.

UNSUNG MOTOWN - Vol.1 & 2 on DVD

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