Rosalind Ashford-Holmes, an original member of Martha and the Vandellas, died Tuesday at her home in Redford, Michigan, of natural causes. She was 83.
The Detroit Free Press first reported her death.
Ashford-Holmes was part of the group from its beginnings, singing alongside Martha Reeves and Annette Beard. The three had performed together earlier as the Del-Phis, later the Vels, before the lineup found its way to Motown and became one of the label’s defining acts.
The run of hits that followed is among the most recognizable in American popular music: “Dancing in the Street,” “Heat Wave,” “Nowhere to Run,” “Jimmy Mack” and “Come and Get These Memories.” The group charted close to two dozen Top 40 R&B hits. Ashford-Holmes remained with the Vandellas through 1969.
Martha and the Vandellas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.
In a tribute, Reeves said Ashford-Holmes had played an important part in the group’s early years, and that her voice would live on through their recordings.
She was a Detroit native, and spent her later years in Redford, just outside the city where those records were made and where the Motown sound she helped build first took shape.
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