Tammi Terrell

Tammi Terrell was a gifted singer whose short life was marred by personal tragedy and illness, with her untimely death at the age of 24 leaving behind a string of hit singles as a legacy to her talent. She was originally discovered by James Brown and spent some time touring with him in the late 1960s. The song 'I Cried', released on Brown's label Try Me Records, was Terrell's first charting single scraping in at number 99 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1967 Motown's Berry Gordy hired Terrell to sing duets with rising star Marvin Gaye and several hits followed, most notably 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' written by Ashford & Simpson. The song was a major success reaching number three in the R&B charts and crossed over into the Hot 100 at number 19. Terrell became the glamorous foil to Gaye's shy reticence and the pair's first album 'United', in addition to the success of 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' yielded two top ten hits in 'Your Precious Love' and 'If I Could Build My Whole World Around You'. The duo released two more albums and became one of Motown's top acts. Sadly, just as Terrell was consolidating her career she was struck down with cancer in the form of a brain tumour and by 1969 she was too ill to perform live. She died in March 1970.

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