Biography
Cash flow troubles beset the early days of Motown just as they do any fledgling venture, prompting Raynoma Liles, known professionally as Miss Ray, to launch Rayber Music Writing Company as a practical solution. Blending her own name with Berry Gordy’s first name, Rayber offered paid services to anyone hoping to cut a record. Promotion on a local radio station drew their first customer, Louvain Demps. Raynoma Liles and Berry Gordy soon married. Louvain joined forces with Jackie Hicks and Marlene Barrow to form the Andantes, whom historians credit with appearing on more than 20,000 recording sessions.
At the outset the Andantes remained secondary to the Rayber Singers, whose lineup included Raynoma, Berry, Robert Bateman, Brian Holland, and assorted others who happened to be present. Once Motown’s daily operations grew more demanding, Louvain stepped into Miss Ray’s spot, and the Rayber Singers disbanded around 1962 as the Temptations and the Supremes began handling session duties. The Supremes, still performing as the Primettes, had already recorded for Lupine Records; at Motown they lent their voices to tracks by Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Sammy Ward, and Bob Kayli, among others. Kayli was in fact Robert Gordy, Berry’s brother, and the Supremes appear on his “Small Sad Sam,” a playful response to Jimmy Dean’s “Big Bad John.” The Temptations supplied added drive to Stevie Wonder’s “Contract on Love” and Mary Wells’ “Everybody Needs Love,” and both groups are heard on Wells’ “You Lost the Sweetest Boy.”
With the Supremes’ breakthrough, the Andantes became Motown’s primary studio backing group. Like the Funk Brothers, the label’s core rhythm section, they also worked for other Detroit and out-of-town labels. While in Chicago, Mickey Stevenson needed singers for Marvin Gaye’s “Stubborn Kind of Fellow,” so secretary Martha Reeves summoned the Andantes, who helped shape Gaye’s first hit before stepping out on their own. Skilled background singers are expected to invent parts on the spot, and the Andantes did precisely that on Mary Wells’ “My Guy,” Stevie Wonder’s “For Once in My Life,” and countless other dates. They supported Diana Ross on “Love Child” and backed Martha Reeves on every Martha & the Vandellas recording made after Annette Beard’s departure. Holland-Dozier-Holland relied on the Andantes to steady the Marvelettes’ spirited yet sometimes uneven harmonies and to supply high-end texture for the Four Tops, a device Thom Bell would later use with the Spinners and other groups in the 1970s. Their refined, full chorale sound was considered so indispensable that Motown never allowed them to release records under their own name. A scheduled single, “Like a Nightmare,” remained in the vault because the company wanted the singers available around the clock rather than out promoting a release.
Years afterward Ian Levine featured the Andantes on his Motorcity series, recording a remake of the Fascinations’ “Girls Are Out to Get You” along with “Two Sides to Love,” “Hurricane,” “Lightning Never Strikes Twice,” and a new version of “Like a Nightmare.” Levine also captured Louvain as a solo artist. The group accompanied Kim Weston on “Just Loving You,” preserved on The Motortown Revue Live, Vol. 2. Louvain’s brother, Larry “Squirrel” Demps, sang with the Dramatics.
At the outset the Andantes remained secondary to the Rayber Singers, whose lineup included Raynoma, Berry, Robert Bateman, Brian Holland, and assorted others who happened to be present. Once Motown’s daily operations grew more demanding, Louvain stepped into Miss Ray’s spot, and the Rayber Singers disbanded around 1962 as the Temptations and the Supremes began handling session duties. The Supremes, still performing as the Primettes, had already recorded for Lupine Records; at Motown they lent their voices to tracks by Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Sammy Ward, and Bob Kayli, among others. Kayli was in fact Robert Gordy, Berry’s brother, and the Supremes appear on his “Small Sad Sam,” a playful response to Jimmy Dean’s “Big Bad John.” The Temptations supplied added drive to Stevie Wonder’s “Contract on Love” and Mary Wells’ “Everybody Needs Love,” and both groups are heard on Wells’ “You Lost the Sweetest Boy.”
With the Supremes’ breakthrough, the Andantes became Motown’s primary studio backing group. Like the Funk Brothers, the label’s core rhythm section, they also worked for other Detroit and out-of-town labels. While in Chicago, Mickey Stevenson needed singers for Marvin Gaye’s “Stubborn Kind of Fellow,” so secretary Martha Reeves summoned the Andantes, who helped shape Gaye’s first hit before stepping out on their own. Skilled background singers are expected to invent parts on the spot, and the Andantes did precisely that on Mary Wells’ “My Guy,” Stevie Wonder’s “For Once in My Life,” and countless other dates. They supported Diana Ross on “Love Child” and backed Martha Reeves on every Martha & the Vandellas recording made after Annette Beard’s departure. Holland-Dozier-Holland relied on the Andantes to steady the Marvelettes’ spirited yet sometimes uneven harmonies and to supply high-end texture for the Four Tops, a device Thom Bell would later use with the Spinners and other groups in the 1970s. Their refined, full chorale sound was considered so indispensable that Motown never allowed them to release records under their own name. A scheduled single, “Like a Nightmare,” remained in the vault because the company wanted the singers available around the clock rather than out promoting a release.
Years afterward Ian Levine featured the Andantes on his Motorcity series, recording a remake of the Fascinations’ “Girls Are Out to Get You” along with “Two Sides to Love,” “Hurricane,” “Lightning Never Strikes Twice,” and a new version of “Like a Nightmare.” Levine also captured Louvain as a solo artist. The group accompanied Kim Weston on “Just Loving You,” preserved on The Motortown Revue Live, Vol. 2. Louvain’s brother, Larry “Squirrel” Demps, sang with the Dramatics.
Albums
