Gladys Horton

One of two lead singers of the American girl group The Marvelettes. Her most famous lead is on the 1959 smash hit "Please Mr. Postman". Horton was also the lead singer on follow-up hits such as "Beechwood 4-5789," "Playboy" and "Too Many Fish In The Sea" before losing her lead role to Wanda Young in 1965. Horton departed the group in 1967 and moved to the Los Angeles area in the early 1970s. She performed in later years as Gladys Horton of the Marvelettes, though she complained that her ability to tour was hampered by other "Marvelettes" incarnations with dubious ties to the original group. Her example was frequently cited amid legislative attempts to protect the naming rights of original artists. She retired from the music business in 2009, a year before suffering a stroke that eventually led to her death in a Sherman Oaks, California nursing home on January 26, 2011 at the age of 66.