Katherine Anderson (Schaffner), co-founder of Motown’s The Marvelettes, has died at 79.
Her daughter, Keisha Schaffner, announced the death on Facebook, writing: “Some called her Kat – some called her Sis, Gamma- Momma K but my sister and I called her MOM.”
Anderson was a founding member of the group that scored Motown’s first No. 1 pop hit, “Please Mr. Postman.” The Marvelettes went on to a nearly decade-long run of hits that included “Don’t Mess With Bill,” “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game” and “Too Many Fish in the Sea.”
Anderson sang primarily background vocals as the lineup and lead singers rotated through the 1960s. The group split in 1970.
Born in Ann Arbor and raised in Inkster, Anderson began singing early. In 1961, while at Inkster High School, she joined fellow glee club members Gladys Horton, Georgeanna Tillman and Juanita Cowart, along with Georgia Dobbins (soon replaced by Wanda Young). They first called themselves The Casinyets — a joke for “can’t sing yet” — then The Marvels.
After a talent-contest audition, Motown asked them to return with an original song. They brought Dobbins’s “Please Mr. Postman,” were signed, and became The Marvelettes.
When Horton later sought a 1970s reunion, Anderson declined. She stayed in Detroit, working with at-risk teenagers and raising her family. She later rejoined surviving members for Motown’s 50th-anniversary events and the group’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction.
Anderson helped shape Motown’s early sound and Detroit’s rise as a pop-music capital. Her recordings remain part of that history.