She started in Detroit while she was still in high school, singing with friends under names that did not yet belong to history. They called themselves the Del-Phis, then the Vels. They sang behind bigger stars first, including Marvin Gaye and Mary Wells, until a label founder heard what they already knew about their own sound. After one member left, the remaining voices became a trio. The records that followed did not sound like background work. They sounded like summer coming through an open window.

In 1963 the first national hit arrived, then a bigger one the same year, a heat-wave song that climbed the pop chart and earned a Grammy nomination. Another single followed so quickly that radio barely had time to cool down. The next summer they cut the record that made them unforgettable: a street-dance anthem that reached No. 2 and later traveled through other artists’ mouths, from folk-rock singers to a hard-rock cover that introduced the groove to a new generation.