tammi terrell profile

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The beautiful and tragic Tammi Terrell was born 'Thomasina Montgomery', on the 29th of April 1945 in Philadelphia Pennsylvania, USA. Known as 'Tommy' to her family, Tammi was the oldest of two children born to Thomas Montgomery [who was the brother of Bob Montgomery the Boxer] and his wife Jennie who was an actress. At the age of eleven she won a talent contest in New Jersey which led her to perform as Tammy Montgomery in various theatres and clubs until she was 15 when she was discovered by Producer Luther Dixon in 1960 and subsequently signed for Wand/ Scepter records.

Tammi had her first recording {'If you see Bill / It's mine'} under the name 'Tammi Montgomery' on scepter and followed up with another single the next year {'voice of experience / I want'cha to be sure'} on the Wand label. Tammi was invited on the James Brown revue tour in 1963 by James Brown himself after he spotted her performing at the Uptown theatre in Philadelphia, Tammi accepted the offer.

The Beautiful Tammi Terrell

Tammi became James Brown's girlfriend and toured with him on the 1963 revue tour during which time he produced 'I cried / If you don't think' for her and it was released on his own 'Try me' label. It is rumored that James Brown had often violently abused her during their relationship and this caused her family to strongly object to the liaison. Their constant objection coupled with the constant abuse she suffered finally ended the affair.

I'm sorry but I have to say it "how could anyone hit a woman like this"???

In 1964 Tammi released her last single as 'Tammi Montgomery' with a Bert Berns produced song Called {'If I would marry you / This time tomorrow'} on the Checker label. She spent two years as a pre-med Student and during this time there were rumors that Tammi married boxer 'Ernie Terrell' brother of Supreme 'Jean Terrell' but this was not true, She just used his name as a stage name because Quite simply it was shorter and sounded better.

The Sexy Tammi Terrell

Tammi had her biggest break in 1965 when she was performing at the Twenty grand club in Detroit with Jerry butler, A certain "Berry Gordy jr" heard her sing and offered her a contract. She only recorded four singles and one LP as solo artist at Motown and never really achieved great success with her highest position in the R&B charts only reaching No 25.

During this time it is said that she became romantically involved with 'David Ruffin' of the Temptations who was rumored to have also been very violent toward her, but for obvious reasons, this relationship only lasted a short time. With Motown she had several small hits in various R&B chart positions between 25 and 31 but she really started to get the bigger hits when, thanks to producers 'Harvey Faqua' and 'Johnny Bristol' Tammi became the latest in a string of duet partners with the Late great 'Marvin Gaye'.

It became apparent that these two singing together were meant to be, the chemistry was perfect and they were an instant hit. The hits started with "Aint no mountain high enough" "If I could build my world around you" and "You're all I need to get by" these were recordings that created the magic and the impression of these two being lovers which added to the magic of the duets they sang together.

But this was to be the beginning of a tragic end when after complaining of headaches, Tammi collapsed in Marvin Gayes arms while performing on stage at Hampton-Sidney College in Virginia.