Marvelettes Lead Singer On Classic Pop Hit ‘Please Mr. Postman’ Dies

Gladys Horton, 66 co-founder of Motown group

Please Mr. Postman was certified gold in 2004, 43 years after it hit the charts . Motown founder Berry Gordy during the 1960s did not release sales information on songs from his record labels. So, Gladys Horton, 66  ( lead singer and co-founder of the Motown group “Marvelettes”) and others gathered sales records for the purpose of getting the necessary  500,000 in sales  in or for RIAA to certify ‘Please Mr. Postman’ gold.  Motown  presented the Marvelettes with gold records for the 1961 hit “Please, Mr. Postman” during a ceremony at the Marvelettes’ alma mater, Inkster High School in Detroit MI.

The Marvelettes were honored in December 2010 when “Please, Mr. Postman” became part of the Grammy Hall of Fame collection, which honors “recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance that are at least 25 years old.

From National Public Radio:

Gladys Horton, a founding member of the Marvelettes, one of Motown’s first girl groups, died Wednesday night in a nursing home in Sherman Oaks, Calif. According to a statement from her son, Horton suffered a stroke last year. She was 66 years old.

Horton was just 15 when “Please Mr. Postman” rocketed onto the charts in the summer of 1961 — bringing Motown Records its first number one pop hit. She sang lead on the song. Her group, The Marvelettes, were signed to Tamla Records, a label owned by Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, after the group came in fourth in a singing competition at Inkster High School, in a suburb of Detroit.