Motown Icon Dead at 83

Rosalind Ashford, the soprano in the original lineup of Martha and the Vandellas, died on September 15, 2026, at 83. She died of natural causes in Redford Township, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Ashford sang on some of the most played records Motown ever released, including "Dancing in the Street," "(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave," "Nowhere to Run," "Quicksand," "I'm Ready for Love" and "Jimmy Mack." She appeared on nearly two dozen Top 40 singles on Billboard's R&B chart.

Martha Reeves, who fronted the group, wrote in a tribute posted to Instagram: "I am deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Rosalind Ashford. Rosalind played an important part in the early days of Martha and the Vandellas. Her voice will forever be with us through our great recordings together, and she will be missed but never forgotten. Our Motown family has just gotten a little smaller. My heart is heavy."

The high voice riding above Martha Reeves

The Vandellas split their harmonies three ways. Reeves sang brassy alto, Annette Beard sang deep contralto, and Ashford took the high soprano that became one of the group's defining vocal signatures.

That mix is what separated them from their labelmates. Where The Supremes and The Marvelettes were polished, the Vandellas were rougher, brassier and grittier, and Ashford's soprano was part of the reason the records had that edge.

A YMCA audition in 1957 started everything

Ashford was born September 2, 1943, in Detroit to John and Mary Ashford. She sang in church choirs, learned to dance at local community centers, then joined the glee club and mixed chorus at Wilbur Wright High School.

In 1957, by Ashford's account, her mother and sister helped her land an audition at a Detroit YMCA club. A man named Edward "Pops" Larkins recruited her, Annette Beard and Gloria Williams to form a sister act to an existing male vocal group. They called themselves The Del-Phis.

The Del-Phis sang wherever a Detroit teenager could get a booking: benefit parties, YMCA events, high school functions. Martha Reeves was not one of the founding members, contrary to how the story often gets told. She was singing with a different group and did not join until 1960, which is roughly when the group started taking music seriously.

Three names, zero national hits

Their first record came out in 1961. "I'll Let You Know" was released on Checkmate, a subsidiary of Chess Records, and it went nowhere. A single under a new name, The Vels, did the same. "There He Is (At My Door)" came out on Motown's Mel-O-Dy label in 1962 and failed to draw any national interest.

Work still came in. The singers became Marvin Gaye's background vocalists on early hits including "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" and "Hitch Hike," which put them inside Motown's building before anyone offered them a contract of their own.

A demo meant for Mary Wells got them signed

Reeves, then working a secretarial job at the label, recruited Ashford, Williams and Beard to back her on a demo titled "I'll Have to Let Him Go." The song was intended for Mary Wells.

Motown president Berry Gordy heard the recording and offered Reeves and her singing partners a contract of their own. They took the name Martha and the Vandellas and signed with Motown in September 1962. The demo became their debut single. Gloria Williams had left before the signing, and the group carried on as a trio.

1963 delivered three hits in a row

A standout performance at the Motortown Revue set up their second single, "Come and Get These Memories," one of the earliest hits written by the Holland-Dozier-Holland team. It reached No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 6 on the R&B chart.

"(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave" came next and went bigger, peaking at No. 4 on the Hot 100 and earning a Grammy nomination. "Quicksand" followed as the group's third top 40 pop hit in a very short stretch.

Beard then left to start a family. Reeves brought in Betty Kelly, formerly of The Velvelettes, to replace her, and the trio kept moving.

"Dancing in the Street" and the songs that outlived the label

In the summer of 1964, the group cut the record that fixed them in music history. "Dancing in the Street" climbed to No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Other acts kept returning to it for decades. The Mamas & the Papas covered it. So did Van Halen, which is a strange and permanent piece of trivia for a song recorded by three women from Detroit inside a converted house on West Grand Boulevard.

With Kelly in the lineup, the Vandellas hit their commercial peak on signature songs including "Nowhere to Run," "I'm Ready for Love" and "Jimmy Mack." The group's singles run also included "Live Wire," "In My Lonely Room," "Wild One" and "My Baby Loves Me."

She left in 1969 and went to work for the phone company

Ashford stayed with the group through another lineup change, when Kelly was replaced in 1967 by Martha's sister, Lois Reeves. She departed in 1969 and was succeeded by Sandra Tilley, yet another former Velvelette.

She married, took the surname Holmes, and started a career at the local Detroit telephone company. For years afterward she worked for Michigan Bell, trading tour buses and television spots for a regular paycheck, while still turning up to sing with former Vandellas.

The reunions kept happening, just not often with Martha

In 1978, Ashford joined Reeves and Beard for a benefit concert honoring actor Will Geer. The three regrouped again in 1989 for a United Kingdom tour and new recordings for Ian Levine's Motorcity label, including the single "Step Into My Shoes."

The original trio performed together at the group's Vocal Group Hall of Fame induction in 2003.

Ashford and Beard went on performing periodically as "The Original Vandellas," often with lead vocalist Roschelle Laughhunn. Reunions with Reeves herself grew rare.

Pat Cosby, a former Motown colleague, recalled the get-togethers the two attended at a Detroit-area restaurant in later years. "The memories are still precious," she said. "We had good times while we could."

The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, class of 1995

Martha and the Vandellas were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, becoming only the second all-female group to receive the honor. Ashford went in as a member of the group.

Fred Schneider and Kate Pierson of the B-52s presented the induction, and Ashford's name sits among the signatures on the group's induction plaque.

The rest of that year's performer class was stacked: the Allman Brothers Band, Al Green, Janis Joplin, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young and Frank Zappa. The Vandellas were inducted as five members: Ashford, Annette Beard, Betty Kelly, Lois Reeves and Martha Reeves.

What she leaves behind

Ashford is survived by her son, Damon Holmes, four grandchildren and a daughter-in-law. Funeral arrangements were pending at the James H. Cole Funeral Home on Schaefer Highway in Detroit.

Her recorded work covers a seven-year stretch at Motown, from the September 1962 signing to her exit in 1969, and it includes some of the most durable singles the label ever cut. The handclaps on "Dancing in the Street" and the churning backbeat of "Nowhere to Run" still turn up at weddings, ballparks and oldies stations across the country.

Ashford was 83 when she died in Redford, Michigan. The YMCA audition that put her together with Annette Beard and Gloria Williams happened in 1957, nearly seven decades before her death.