Martha Reeves’ Home

The voice that told a nation to dance in the street lived here, on LaSalle, through the Vandellas’ hottest years. Martha Reeves came up inside Motown the hard way — as a secretary in the A&R department who grabbed a microphone when a session needed a singer and never let go. As the lead of Martha and the Vandellas, she cut a run of immortal sides — “Heat Wave,” “Nowhere to Run,” “Jimmy Mack,” and the anthem “Dancing in the Street” — with a brassy, gospel-reared power that plenty of Detroiters will argue out-sang everyone on the label.

Reeves and her group first made their mark singing backup on Marvin Gaye‘s early singles before their own hits came; this was her home from 1967 to 1972, the group’s prime, and she’d later serve her city as an elected councilwoman. One of the great overlooked figures on the Motown map. On our list.