Kim Weston
My previous Motown artist overview was on Brenda Holloway, so why not go ahead and check out yet another female singer on the label who didn’t get much pay dirt: Kim Weston!
Whereas Holloway at least got one major LP release, Weston got nothing on Motown. Except a duet album with Marvin Gaye. But nothing solo. A shame considering she had enough good songs to fill up at least one LP.
Weston, like the vaaast majority of Motown’s early artists, was from Detroit. She signed to the label in 1961. Eventually, she also married the superb producer and songwriter William “Mickey” Stevenson. Weston’s first chart action came in 1963 when “Love Me All The Way” reached #24 R&B and #88 pop. A duet with Gaye (“What Good Am I Without You”) followed in 1964 making an equally decent splash (#28 R&B, #61 pop).
Finally, in 1965 Weston got a big hit and this is when Kim should have had that major album release to follow.
“Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” is a tremendously fun dance song that Weston still sang in her standard ballad-style. It stormed all the way up to #4 R&B. Although it stalled at #50 pop, Motown had released albums for other artists who had lesser success than this.
Looking at you, early-era Supremes.
Now in some defense of the label, Motown actually planned an album (Take Me in Your Arms) to cash in on the single, but never released it. I’m not sure of the proposed track listing but it could have been a banger.
Some of Weston’s other top tracks by this point included “Helpless” (#13 R&B, #56 pop), “Still Loving You” and the delightfully dramatic “A Thrill A Moment”.
By 1966, Weston and Stevenson pretty much had enough of Motown’s bullsh*t disputing their share of royalties; similar complaints to the Holland-Dozier-Holland production team. The husband and wife left the label never to find any success akin to what they had in the Motor City.
So it is with a cruel twist that in 1967, Motown finally put out a Weston album: her set of duets with Marvin Gaye. Titled Take Two, the album featured the almost-title track “It Takes Two” which became the biggest hit of her career (#4 R&B, #14 pop, #16 UK) and has been a stone-cold American pop classic since.
Motown in 2005, like they did with Holloway, finally released a bevy of Weston songs that had sat in the vaults or were single-only tracks in a double-CD anthology.
So my playlist here basically collects the 21 best songs from that anthology and from her duets with Marvin Gaye. Enjoy.