Postman, Brian Holland and Robert Bateman, selected several songs previously cut by other Motown artists. “All we did was record tunes, and then they put them together to make an album.” With Motown still in the early stages of its development, the producers of most of Please Mr. Why: “We had no idea of an album, per se,” added Schaffner. “We’d do a few days in the studio whenever we were in town and record a bunch of songs,” said former group member Katherine Anderson Schaffner, quoted in liner notes for the Marvelettes’ Forever: The Complete Motown Albums Volume 1, released in 2009. The drummer is thought to have been Benny Benjamin, although there are claims that a young Marvin Gaye was wielding sticks for that particular track. Where: The album’s 11 tracks were recorded at Motown’s own, now-historic studio at 2648 West Grand Boulevard, Detroit, with the cadre of house musicians who later became known as the Funk Brothers.

Postman LP was issued in late November 1961, containing material recorded by the Marvelettes during the course of the year. ( The Miracles’ “Shop Around” had stalled at No. When: As a single, this album’s title track debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 during early September 1961 and made its way to Number One by December, thus becoming Motown’s first claim on the peak of the pop charts. What: The debut album by Motown Records’ first hit-making girl group, and one of the first half-dozen LP releases (on the Tamla label) in the storied music company’s history.

The marvelettes please mr. postman