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Martha Reeves recently sang the national anthem at a professional women’s baseball game. Ms. Reeves’ voice didn’t sound good. The sound was bad. She and her back up singers were unrehearsed. It was not a good performance. Martha Reeves performance went viral on social media. Martha Reeves was lambasted across social media.

Martha Reeves deserves better. Most people commenting on her didn’t know who she was two weeks ago so I will share some facts about her.

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas had six top ten songs on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts.

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas had ten people top tens on the US R&B charts. Two were number ones.

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas was a foundational act that helped established the success of Motown. Motown laid the foundation for American pop music. American pop music is global. Without the contributions of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas Motown among other early Motown acts there wouldn’t have been later Motown acts like the Jackson 5. The contributions of Martha Reeves and early Motown altered human history. Show some respect.

Like most talents, gifts and abilities, singing diminishes with age. I’m unsure what anyone expected from an eighty five year old woman. No one would expect Joe Montana to suit up and play in a Superbowl and be competitive but Martha Reeves is supposed to sing like she did in the 1960s. Ozzy Osbourne became a mainstream pop culture icon in his later years. His reality show became a hit because audiences thought Ozzy was cute and charming past his prime. When are we going to talk about Willie Nelson. He’s looked old as long as I can remember and his voice has the same quality as current day Martha Reeves. They expectations and standards for Martha Reeves are unrealistic and ridiculous.

I don’t understand why Martha Reeves wasn’t given some help. It’s well known that the music industry uses tools like autotune. It’s now accepted that well known acts lip sync in order to offer a better presentation. I don’t know why the same couldn’t be done for Martha. At least she’s proven and her prime was in am era with no autotune or lip syncing. Martha doesn’t have anything to prove to anyone at this stage in her life and career.

Martha could have also had better back up singers who did the heavy lifting and she just added some flare. Eighty seven year old gospel singer Shirley Caesar does the same. There are ways that Martha’s poor performance could have been avoided. Unfortunately, the organizers of Martha’s performance and her management did not protect Martha’s best interest.

This is the kind of support Martha Reeves needed.

I didn’t even know there was a women’s pro baseball league. It’s interesting to me that this obscure event went viral. I first heard about Ms. Reeves’ appearance on a FOX News outlet. The choices made in this matter are questionable.

Martha Reeves is a living legend. She made her impact and participated in influencing global pop music culture. Without Motown acts like Martha Reeves and the Vandellas there probably would not have been acts likes the Jackson 5 and Michael Jackson’s solo career. There wouldn’t be K Pop and acts like BTS.

Martha Reeves is still active in the music industry and has released music this year. If I knew how to buy music these days I would support her. Martha deserves better treatment that what she’s getting from FOX News and internet naysayers.  An eighty five year old woman should be afforded more grace.