Marvelous Ray

Cleveland, 1963-6

Barely into her teens when she recorded her first record, Marvelous Ray had a voice that was well suited for the Detroir style soul/R&B recordings that she released during her too brief recording career. 
 
Marvelous - her true name - recorded four 45s for the Abner label, a Cleveland label run by James Abner. The first Abner 45 was by Leon Brown, but rest of the label's releases were by Marvelous. Some of them were recorded in Cleveland, using Billy Wells' band, and others were recorded in Detroit using session players. Abner also wrote many of the songs.

Marvelous lived in Cleveland's Lee/Miles neighborhood and performed shows during her high school years with other local groups such as the Tam-A-Las (with future members of Sly, Slick, and Wicked, and the Out-Of-Sites). After high school, she no longer did any recordings. She has been involved with community service for most of her life, including the large philanthropic Cleveland Foundation.

Discography:
I Know The Secret  / Just You - Abner 1001
I Want To Cry / I'll Wait For You - Abner 1002
I Believe In Miracles / I Know the Secret - Abner 1003 (different recordings of "I Know The Secret")
Whirlpool / Tears - Abner 1004