Tammi Terrell, the voice that carried Marvin Gaye's best duets

Born Thomasina Montgomery in Philadelphia on April 29, 1945, she became Tammi Terrell after a name change at twelve, when she saw the film Tammy and the Bachelor and fell for its theme song. By 1960 she had signed to the Wand label, discovered by Luther Dixon, recording under the name Tammy Montgomery. After another single she left, joined James Brown's Revue as a backing singer, and in 1963 charted at No. 99 on the Hot 100 with “I Cried”, released on Brown's Try Me Records.

Next came a stint with Checker Records and a semi-retirement from music. She enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania as a pre-med major and stayed for two years, until Jerry Butler asked her to sing with him in nightclub shows, after arranging that she could continue her schooling. In April 1965, at the Twenty Grand Club in Detroit, Berry Gordy spotted her. She signed with Motown on April 29, 1965, her 20th birthday.

“I Can't Believe You Love Me” became her first R&B top 40 single, and in 1966 she recorded the original versions of two future classics, Stevie Wonder's “All I Do (Is Think About You)” and The Isley Brothers' “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)”. Her real fame came paired with Marvin Gaye: together they scored seven Top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100, among them “Ain't No Mountain High Enough”, which entered the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999, and “You're All I Need to Get By”.

On October 14, 1967, during a concert at Hampden–Sydney College, she collapsed into Gaye's arms. She was later diagnosed with a brain tumor and had eight unsuccessful surgeries. Tammi Terrell died on March 16, 1970, at the age of 24. Her duets with Gaye, along with songs like “Your Precious Love” and “California Soul”, are the lasting record of a short career.