Katherine Anderson Schaffner was a singer with the Marvelettes, known for such hits as “Please Mr. Postman.”
- Died: September 20, 2023 (Who else died on September 20?)
- Details of death: Died at a hospital in Dearborn, Michigan, of heart failure at the age of 79.
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Katherine Anderson Schaffner’s legacy
Schaffner was one of five schoolmates who formed a girl group to sing in a talent show in 1961. She was already a veteran of the Inkster High School glee club in Inkster, Michigan, and the talent show offered a Motown audition to the winners. Schaffner and her friends came in fourth, but they managed to finagle an audition anyway in a move that was as auspicious for Motown as it was for the young women. The label signed the group, renamed them the Marvelettes, and almost immediately released their debut single, “Please Mr. Postman,” while they were about to start their senior year of high school. The song became Motown’s first No. 1 pop hit and has remained a classic of the era.
The Marvelettes continued releasing hits, including “Playboy,” “Beechwood 4-5789,” “Too Many Fish in the Sea,” “Don’t Mess with Bill,” and “The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game.” The group’s membership evolved over the course of the 1960s, but Schaffner remained one of its core members, along with Wanda Young (1943–2021) and Gladys Horton (1945–2011). When the group disbanded in 1969, Anderson continued working as a songwriter for Motown for a short time, then left the music business to focus on her family.
Notable quote
“In the late ’50s, when I was a teen, as soon as you stepped outside you could hear music coming from every different house. I listened to all kinds of music then—rock and roll, Etta James, Dinah Washington, Little Willie John, Bo Diddley, Bill Doggett—you name it. But I didn’t start buying records until after I was a Marvelette. Records were too expensive.” —from a 2011 interview for All About Jazz
Tributes to Katherine Anderson Schaffner
Full obituary: Detroit Free Press
