"Locking Up My Heart" is a 1963 single released by

Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

girl group A girl group is a music act featuring two or more women in music, female singers who generally vocal harmony, harmonize together. The term "girl group" is also used in a narrower sense in the United States to denote the wave of American female p ...

The Marvelettes The Marvelettes were an American girl group formed in Inkster, Michigan, Inkster, Michigan in 1960, consisting of schoolmates Gladys Horton, Katherine Anderson, Georgeanna Tillman, Juanita Cowart (now Cowart Motley), and Georgia Dobbins, who was ...

on the

Tamla Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''motor'' ...

record label. The first charting single written and produced by

's main production team

Holland–Dozier–Holland Holland–Dozier–Holland, often abbreviated as H-D-H, was a songwriting and production team consisting of Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland. The trio wrote, arranged and produced many songs that helped define the ...

,¹ "Locking Up My Heart" was also the first single to feature

Wanda Young Wanda LaFaye Rogers, née Young (August 9, 1943 – December 15, 2021), was an American singer, known for being a member of the Motown all-female singing group the Marvelettes, and after 1965, the lead singer. Biography Early life Young was ...

as lead vocalist on the

A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

, albeit in a split lead vocal with main lead vocalist

Gladys Horton Gladys Catherine Horton (May 30, 1945 – January 26, 2011) was an American R&B and pop singer, notable for being the founder and lead singer of the all-female vocal group the Marvelettes, the first successful Motown girl group. Biography Early ...

. The track was recorded 8 January 1963 in Studio A

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and released 15 February 1963; the B-side: "Forever", was a cut from the 1962 ''

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'' album, written and produced by

Holland Holland is a geographical regionG. Geerts & H. Heestermans, 1981, ''Groot Woordenboek der Nederlandse Taal. Deel I'', Van Dale Lexicografie, Utrecht, p 1105 and former provinces of the Netherlands, province on the western coast of the Netherland ...

– Dozier–

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( H-D-H's predecessor), and also featured Young as lead vocalist. On the single's initial A-Side, Horton, as the main lead and narrator, tells the audience that she's giving up love, as she's "tired of being abused" and "mis-used". The flip-side, narrated by Young, tells us she's so devoted to her love that she'll endure any pain and suffering for it. The second single of the group where both sides charted, it would be promoted as if it were a "

double A-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of vinyl records and cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a single usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or ...

" by the label. This is also one of the last Marvelettes' singles to feature member Juanita Cowart (in the background) on either side. By the time of the single's release, Cowart, who had already ceased performing on stage, would permanently leave the group and had retired from both performing and recording. "Locking Up My Heart" broke out in Baltimore and San Francisco to enter the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 dated 23 March 1963 at #83; Motown considered the track to be significant enough to re-press it with adjusted instrumentation that April. However "Locking Up My Heart" lost its strong initial momentum as disc jockeys in some markets - including Pittsburgh - began to play the intended B-side: "Forever", and the Hot 100 dated 4 May 1963 showed "Locking Up My Heart" stalled at #44 as "Forever" debuted at #100; subsequently "Locking Up My Heart" would abruptly drop from the chart while "Forever"'s popularity would fail to coalesce into major hit impact with the track peaking at #78.

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/ref> Both sides of the single ranked in the R&B Top 30 where "Locking Up My Heart" (#25) was succeeded by "Forever"(#24). ''

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'' described "Locking Up My Heart" as "a sensational shuffle-rocker...that the femmes and their musical accompaniment ‘lock up’ in solid chart style." ''

'' described Marvin Gaye's 1964 cover of "Forever" as "a slow-shufflin' tradition-styled blues lament rendered with loads of authority and feeling." *¹The first Holland-Dozier-Holland production was "Dearest One" an overlooked 1962 release by

Lamont Dozier Lamont Herbert Dozier (; June 16, 1941 – August 8, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer from Detroit. He co-wrote and produced 14 US '' Billboard'' number-one hits and four number ones in the UK. Career Dozier was a ...

Personnel

*Lead vocals by

(verses - A-side) and

(choruses, outro - A-side; B-side), *Background vocals by Gladys Horton, Wanda Young,

Georgeanna Tillman Georgeanna Marie Tillman Gordon (February 6, 1944 – January 6, 1980) was an American singer and an original member of the Motown girl group the Marvelettes. Life and career Tillman was born and raised in the Detroit suburb of Inkster, Mich ...

, Wyanetta ("Juanita") Cowart, and

Katherine Anderson Katherine Elaine Anderson Schaffner (January 16, 1944 – September 20, 2023) was an American singer best known as a member of the Marvelettes. Biography Anderson was born in Inkster, Michigan, United States, and was raised in a housing proj ...

*Instrumentation by

The Funk Brothers The Funk Brothers were a group of Detroit-based session musicians who performed the backing to most Motown recordings from 1959 until the company moved to Los Angeles in 1972. Its members are considered among the most successful groups of stud ...

References

{{authority control 1963 singles The Marvelettes songs Songs written by Holland–Dozier–Holland Tamla Records singles 1963 songs Song recordings produced by Lamont Dozier Song recordings produced by Brian Holland