1 of 1- Lorne
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Motown singer Bertha Barbee-McNeal of The Velvelettes dies
(December 16, 2022) She was a part of one of the great early Motown acts, and went on to a career helping other artists find their voices. Tonight we mourn the passing of Bertha Barbee-McNeal, co-founder of the Velvelettes.
Barbee-McNeal grew up in Flint, Michigan, where she was a child prodigy who was adept at playing both piano and organ. And her love of music led her to the music school at Kalamazoo’s Western Michigan University. While there, Barbee-McNeal and Mildred Gill formed The Velvelettes, recruiting Gills’s sister Carolyn and friend Betty Kelly, as well as Bertha’s cousin Norma Barbee. Their singing around campus caught the attention of Robert Bullock, nephew of Motown CEO Berry Gordy, Jr, who signed the group 1962.
- mroldies
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Re: Motown singer Bertha Barbee-McNeal of The Velvelettes dies
But how is it possible to find out if it is really the day of death or just the day when the death was announced?
I would like to write the correct date in my musical calendar of births and deaths of musical personalities.
- Lorne
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Re: Motown singer Bertha Barbee-McNeal of The Velvelettes dies
If I were trying to do this, I would wait at least a couple of days and then see if I could find an official obituary, e.g. on a funeral home website or a site like legacy.com, which I would consider to be the best source of info as it would come from those who were closest to the deceased. Failing that, I would see if I could find multiple reputable sources that had obituaries stating the date of death. I just tried doing a search, and found multiple sources which I would personally consider to be trustworthy that are giving the date as December 15. I did not find an official obituary, but it has only been four days since the reported date of death and so this may still be to come.
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