Remembering a Motown superstar on what would've been here 77th birthday.

Tammi Terrell was born in PHL. In 1960, she signed to Wand Records, where she released a single and did some demo work with The Shirelles. She created her own group, The Sherrys, but was kicked out after creative disputes. In 1963, she scored her first hit with "I cried."

I was only the first of several singles to chart.

Later, after signing to Checker Records and going nowhere, Terrell decided to leave music and enrolled in college.

While in school, she sang with Jerry Butler at a few shows. Ultimately she joined him on tour. It was here that she met Motown founder Berry Gordy.

She signed to the famed label on her 20th birthday.

Once at Motown, her career took off.

Terrell scored two hits almost immediately. Riding this wave, she joined the Motown Revue, opening for The Temptations and becoming involved in a torrid affair with lead singer David Ruffin.

Her personal life might've been a mess, but her career was on fire.

The label then had her record several duets with Marvin Gaye.

At first, each singer recorded different versions of the songs. However, the label decided to mix the two while eliminating the backing vocals.

The result was gold, and the two scored no less than 7 hits together.

It was all over too soon.

Terrell had suffered from headaches most of her short life, but these became increasingly worse. She collapsed into Gaye's arms on stage during a concert. The resulting news: a brain tumor. She recovered just enough to sing one time, recording "You're All I Need to Get by" with Gaye, but her condition worsened.

Terrell passed away on 3/16/1970. She was just 24.