She Recorded Hits While Dying—Motown Kept Exploiting Tammi Terrell was only 24 when she died from brain cancer on March 16, 1970. But her story isn't about the cancer—it's about the men who broke her before it did. She was brutalized by James Brown while still a teenager, then savagely abused by David Ruffin of The Temptations. In 1967, while performing "Your Precious Love" with Marvin Gaye, she collapsed onstage—a brain tumor was found. Over the next two years, through EIGHT brain surgeries, we

Tammi Terrell sang with a ferocity and joy belying her youth and personal tragedies. A soulful and energetic singer, she suffered abusive relationships and a devastating medical diagnosis before her death at the tender age of 24. How she endured these struggles, and was still able to leave us with such stirring and uplifting music, is her legacy. Tammi Terrell ws born Thomasina Winifred Montgomery on 29 April 1945 in Philadelphia. According to her sister, Ludie, Tammi was raped by three boys whe