Martha Reeves Recalls Being 'in Awe' During Marvin Gaye Recording Session — and How He Caught Her Staring

The Motown artist reveals why she had a crush on the legendary R&B singer during an appearance on the latest episode of SiriusXM’s Fierce: Women In Music

Martha Reeves will forever be in awe of a fellow music icon.

During an appearance on the latest episode of SiriusXM’s Fierce: Women in Music, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, 82, revealed she had a crush on Marvin Gaye that left her "overwhelmed" during a recording session with Martha and the Vandellas.

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"Marvin Gaye was singing it, 'Callin’ out around the world. Are you ready for a brand new beat baby?”' And I'm standing there in awe, 'cause I followed him around. I love Marvin Gaye. I thought he was the finest man God ever put on this earth," she revealed of the performer singing the group's 1965 classic, "Dancing in the Street."

According to Reeves, Gaye wanted to "be a balladeer" which made singing background vocals on the performer's 1963 track "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" even more special.

"We sang behind him on 'Stubborn Kind of Fellow.' she recalled. "That was when there was only four tracks and the four of us, Gloria, Annette, Rosalind, and myself. And we could touch him. One mic we went, 'Do, do. Ow. Yeah. Yeah.' He would [say], 'I try to put my arms around you.'"

The artist shared that Gaye caught her sneaking a peek at him during the recording session, which was something she couldn't help doing because he was "just so fine."

"He looked over there and saw me just admiring him, just standing there," she explained. "I can't help it. He was just so fine. And when he sang, he would close his eyes. So he didn't know that I was looking at him."

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Reeves explained that she and the fellow Motown artist were trained to open their eyes during their performances, and Gaye would often close his eyes to sing.

"And I heard him sing and he looked up and saw me in awe of him," she continued. "And he said to Mickey Stevenson and Ivy Hunter, the co-writers on the song, ‘Hey man, try this song on Martha.' I'd done everybody else's demos, so I was ready 'cause I had learned the song listening to him, but I didn't feel it where he felt it. And I know how to take a song if it was a man's key — to sing the same keyboard on the third of the chord. So instead of going, 'Callin’ out around the world,' I went, 'Callin’ out around.' Cause the intro reminded me of the bullfights in Spain.'"

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Speaking about the recording experience she added, " If you do something wrong, get a wrong note, or you ain't got the right inflection, they'll say, 'Do it again.' Uh, make that better. No stopping, no nothing. That's next tape is what you hear on that record. That's why it sounds like I'm overwhelmed. And I was."

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