Music / Film & TV
Barbara Randolph
1942–2002 · singer, actress
Detroit-born singer and actress, adopted by actress Lillian Randolph, who recorded the northern soul favorite "I Got a Feeling" for Motown and toured with Marvin Gaye.
- Born
Detroit, Michigan- Died
aged 60- Also known as
- Barbara Ann Sanders
- Detroit years
- 1942, late 1960s
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Randolph was born in Detroit and adopted by actress Lillian Randolph; as a child she appeared in the 1953 film Bright Road, and from 1957 she sang with her mother in Steve Gibson's Red Caps. She recorded for RCA, spent a year in the Platters in 1964, and played Dorothy in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). That year Motown signed her as a possible standby for Florence Ballard in the Supremes; when Cindy Birdsong got the job, Randolph released two singles on the Soul label, "I Got a Feeling" and "Can I Get a Witness". Neither charted, but Motown sent her on tour with Marvin Gaye in place of the ailing Tammi Terrell, and with the Four Tops and Gladys Knight & the Pips. Her Motown recordings later became northern soul favorites in Britain. She married producer Eddie Singleton and retired from singing.
Highlights
- Motown singles "I Got a Feeling" and "Can I Get a Witness" (1967–1968)
- Toured with Marvin Gaye in place of Tammi Terrell
- Played Dorothy in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
- Member of the Platters (1964)
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Buried here · 2002
Woodlawn Cemetery
Her grave (per Wikidata).