Newsmakers

Newsmakers

Marvelettes founder Gladys Horton dies

LOS ANGELES

Gladys Horton, who co-founded the 1960s Motown group The Marvelettes and sang on hits including “Please Mr. Postman,” has died in Los Angeles at age 66. Her son, Vaughn Thornton, said Horton died Wednesday night in a Sherman Oaks nursing home where she had been recovering from a stroke.

Horton was a teenager in the Detroit suburb of Inkster when she and some friends formed a group they called “The Casinyets,” which was short for “can’t sing yet.”

When Georgia Dobbins had to leave, Horton became lead singer. The group changed its name to The Marvelettes, and Horton was 15 when Motown released “Please Mr. Postman” in 1961. It was a hit, and the group had many others. Horton was replaced as lead singer in 1965 and left the group two years later.