Motown Legends The Vandellas Lead Music Fest at UT

Listen Up Toledo  |  09/01/2010 7:00 am

Martha Reeves and the Vandellas are the quintessential Motown girl group. In fact, their 1963 single "(Love is Like a) Heatwave" is often credited as one of the first songs to define "the sound of young America," Motown's infamous slogan. Topped now, perhaps, only by ever inimitable, yet, softer, Supremes, Martha and the girls held down a niche in early '60s pop as the only female group with a raw, rocked-up, hard R&B edge. Cutting some of the biggest hits of the decade, their singles "Heatwave," "No Where to Run," "Jimmy Mack," and "Dancing in the Streets," have become American classics. In just nine years the trio nailed 26 hits onto the Billboard charts, and rode the Hitsville heatwave right to its mass-popularity end in 1972.

The legendary Motown trio will be among the top of the bill at the University of Toledo's Music Fest 2010 this Thursday, September 2. The event is free and open to the public.

Headlining the event is Florida power-pop quartet We the Kings. Also on the bill is local rock band MAS FiNA, reggae outfit Universal Xpression, and hot live jazz by Alexander Zonjic & Friends.

The party takes place in Centennial Mall on UT's Main Campus, starts at 3 p.m. and ends at 10 p.m. with a fireworks display. A 5:30 p.m. Pep Rally is also planned.

For info, www.utoledo.edu

Music Line-up:
- Mas Fina (Student Rock Band)
- Universal Xpression (Reggae)
- Alexander Zonjic & Friends (Jazz)
- Martha Reeves and the Vandellas (Motown)
- We the Kings (Headliner/ Pop)