Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American soul, R&B, and pop singer. Most famous for her 1964 hit "My Guy", she was the first, female signature voice of Motown and its first star.
Wells was born near Detroit's Wayne State University and grew up in a poor Detroit, Michigan neighborhood without a father. Her mother worked tirelessly in domestic work to support Mary and her two siblings. When Wells was two, she caught spinal meningitis. She managed to survive the often fatal disease, but temporarily lost her sight, her hearing, and was temporarily paralyzed. Eventually her hearing and eyesight returned, but it took her some time to learn to walk again. From an early age Wells had a love of music and singing, and was a member of the Northwestern High School choir. She also sang at local clubs and competed in various talent contests.
In 1959, she met Tamla Records chief Berry Gordy's assistant, Robert Bateman, telling him about a song she had written for R&B star Jackie Wilson. Bateman arranged an audition for Wells and her song with Gordy, and she sang the song for Gordy acapella. However, instead of buying the song for Wilson, Gordy offered Wells a contract as an artist. The song Wells had sung, "Bye Bye Baby" became her first single after some polishing and was released in December of 1960. The song ended up a top ten R&B hit in 1961, and eventually crossed over to pop radio where it peaked at #45.
With Mary Wells' debut success, Gordy, who was at the time expanding Tamla Records into the Motown Record Corporation, immediately brought her back to the studio. Their work produced the follow-up hit, "I Don't Want to Take a Chance", which equaled her first single's success. Her third single, "Strange Love," met indifferent reception at radio and failed to chart. In 1962, Gordy decided to bring Wells together in the studio with Smokey Robinson, Motown's star songwriter and lead vocalist with the popular group The Miracles.
In early 1962, "The One Who Really Loves You" swept across the nation. The ballad broke into the top ten on both Pop and R&B radio, eventually peaking at #2 at R&B and #8 on Billboard magazine Pop charts. Gordy immediately followed with the release of "You Beat Me to the Punch", a light-hearted tune that reached #1 at R&B and replicated its predecessor's success at Pop. The string of hits continued with "Two Lovers", a tune that brought Wells her second R&B #1 and her third Pop top ten in a row. When the album The One Who Really Loves You was released, it broke the top ten at the album chart and became the best selling Motown album to that point.
The year 1963 brought another string of hits and a premature greatest hits compilation. "Laughing Boy" broke the R&B top ten and the top twenty on the pop side. "Your Old Standby" peaked at #8 at R&B and broke the Pop top forty. Wells rounded out the year with both sides of her next single producing more R&B top ten hits. "You Lost the Sweetest Boy" with the The Supremes and the Temptations singing backup, peaked at #22 on the pop chart, while "What's Easy for Two is So Hard For One" also made the pop top 30.
A new song for 1964 became Wells' signature song and her most successful. "My Guy", which featured the yearning voice of Wells and Robinson's infectious lyrics and arrangement, became Wells' only #1 pop hit. Though the song started off slowly, it broke up The Beatles run at the top of the pop charts in May of 1964. "My Guy" ruled the Cashbox magazine R&B list for seven weeks, becoming the number one song of its kind that year. The song became one of Motown's classics, and today is used in many films and commercials.
With a smash hit riding the airwaves of summer, Gordy decided to team the two stars of his label, Wells and Marvin Gaye, who had gradually built up momentum on the charts. Together, the result of their work, became a hit album and featured two simultaneous top twenty hits, "Once Upon a Time" (#17 Pop) and "What's the Matter With You Baby (#19 Pop).
It was at this time that The Beatles openly called Wells their favorite American singer, and invited her to tour with them throughout the United Kingdom. Wells accepted their invitation, and, after she had left Motown, was inspired to record Love Songs to the Beatles, an album which featured several songs penned by the British stars.
Wells, upon her twenty first birthday, decided to invoke a clause which would allow her to break her contract with Motown. With encouragement from her former husband, singer/producer Herman Griffin, and a lucrative contract with 20th Century Fox Records for $500,000 which, also, promised a film career, Mary Wells sued Motown. She argued not only for larger royalties, but to dissolve the original contract she'd signed at age seventeen. Wells won the lawsuit and was awarded a fair settlement. Gordy tried to prevent other labels from signing the successful singer to no avail.
Wells immediately began recording material for her new self-titled album. Despite her first three singles at the label being relative successes, the album brought in disappointing sales. The label began having second thoughts and pulled promotion for the album. They also failed to fulfill the film agreements, and the contract was dissolved in mid-1965 with Wells walking away with a small settlement.
Next, Wells signed with Atco Records, a subsidiary of Atlantic Records. Working with established Chicago producer Carl Davis, Wells saw her first single with the label, "Dear Lover," hit #6 at R&B radio, and just miss breaking the top fifty at pop. However, all of the following singles failed. The Two Sides of Mary Wells album with the label was even less successful than her previous. A two-year contract in 1968 with Jubilee Records brought two minor hits, "The Doctor" and "Dig the Way I Feel," but ended the same as her previous contracts. Wells retired from performing after her contract with Jubilee ended.
Afterwards she recorded a few singles for Reprise Records in the 1970s that found little success. In 1981, Wells ended a seven-year retirement releasing the disco-infused album, In and Out of Love, releasing the dance hit, "Gigolo", which Wells experienced a slight career rebirth, briefly put Wells back on the musical map where it peaked at #2 on the Billboard disco chart and crossing over to the R&B chart where it eventually peaked at a respective #69.
In 1960, a 17-year-old Wells married musician Herman Griffin. Three years later, Wells divorced Griffin. In 1966, Wells married Cecil Womack, musician and younger brother of R&B singer-songwriter Bobby Womack. Together, the couple had three children and produced music together during their eleven-year marriage, which ended in 1977. Afterwards, Wells had a child with Cecil's brother Curtis. The couple would split by 1980.
With newfound fame, Wells continued touring, and re-recorded some of her hits and some new material for an Allegiance Records album, I'm a Lady: The Old, New & Best of Mary Wells. In 1990, she released another album, Keeping My Mind on Love, for Motorcity Records. That same year, Wells, a longtime smoker, was diagnosed with larynx cancer. She immediately began treatment and was forced to sell her house, possessions, and eventually could not afford health insurance. The treatments ravaged her voice, which forced Wells to quit touring. With no way to continue treatment, Wells' friends Diana Ross, Mary Wilson and Martha Reeves financially supported her, with the help of many artists who looked up to Wells, including Rod Stewart, Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, and Bonnie Raitt.
Wells was honored by Stevie Wonder, Little Richard, and others on an episode of The Joan Rivers Show in 1990. The following year, she testified for the United States Congress to encourage government funding for cancer research. In the summer of 1992, Wells was hospitalized for pneumonia at the Kenneth Norris Jr. Cancer Hospital in Los Angeles, California. Still suffering the effects of her cancer, and a weakened immune system, Wells died on July 26, 1992 at the age of forty-nine.
See Mary Wells discography
