Wild, Raw, and Beautiful

Tammi was an honor student at Philadelphia's Germantown High School in the early 60s. Shortly after graduation, she enrolled at the University of Pennsylvania where her high marks in high school brought her a full scholarhip grant. The decision to attend the univeristy was a compromise between Howard University, where she wanted to go, and Johnson C. Smith University, which her father wanted her to attend. ammi's college career came to an abrupt halt during her sophmore year when she dropped out to embark on a singing career under the personal management of Philadelphia promoter Babe Chivian. During her illness Tammi said she wish she wouldn't have wasted so much time and she wish she wouldn't had done some when she had her health, she wanted to do a lot of things but she couldn't due to her health, one of those things she wanted to do was go back to college and get her college degree but that didn't happen, being sick taught her that you can be young and get sick. Right after her first operation she was so anxious to get back to work that she accepted a club engagement despite the warning of her doctor that she wasn't ready. She weighed less then 100 pounds and she looked as pale as a ghost. Just before she began to sing she heard a woman at a front row table tell her friends that she knew this wasn't Tammi Terrell on stage because she had heard that Tammi died in the hospital. That really shook her up! Her illness and long confinement had made Tammi all the more grateful to be alive. Tammi Terrell, bound for Detroit and her first recording date in nearly two years, was, in fact, returning to show business from near death. Only two months earlier she had been released from Philadelphia Graduate Hospital after surviving six brain operations performed over a span of 18 months. The fact that she had lived at all was a miracle of sorts. Now she was on her way to Detroit for an attempt at pulling off a second miracle: proving she still had the voice and talent which had made her a Motown recording star and one of the nation's most popular singers before a near-fatal illness interrupted her career at its peak. Her long illness had exacted a terrible tool both physically and mentally. When she was released from the hospital after her final operation, Tammi weighed only 93 pounds- a loss of nearly 40 pounds from her once curvacious figure. Even more discouraging was the effect of the disorder- a brain tumor- upon her muscular coordination. She was unable to lift one arm more than a few inches and dragged one foot as she walked. She had difficulty remembering things, particularly song lyrics. Yet, despite these handicaps and the skeptics' doubts, Tammi tentatively returned to show business. Through all that Tammi kept her faith in God and she kept strong, she didn't want people crying over her and feeling sorry for her, and she didn't want to submit to people's "I TOLD YOU SO'S" OR "I KNEW SHE'LL GET IT SOONER OR LATER". Tammi came back and forth to Detroit throughout 1969, she didn't stay long because people from Motown would send her home because she was too ill, even though she would argue with them that she was fine, they saw she wasn't. She did some shows in Detroit, but a lot of them are best left forgotten, a lot of people would attend her shows just to see if she really did look sick, but one show Tammi did left everyone in the audience with tears in their eyes, she sung a song "Stand By Me"(which was a numeber 1 hit and recorded by Ben E. King), she sung the song and she put her heart and soul into it, because she really did at the time need someone to stand by her, she wasn't in the best singing voice, but she sung from the heart and that's the best singing anyone can do, she was singing as if to say, I'm not gone yet, I'm still got something more to give. Through the illness she always kept her fun-loving attitude and kept a smile on her face but inside she really was hurting. Tammi Terrell wanted to be an actress once her singing career got up, she adored Dorothy Dandridge, Lena Horne. Because Tammi died young, sometimes people look at her as a tragic figure, but she lived a full life, she had more adventure, troubles, good times and bad then a 40 or 50 year old woman, if she would of lived longer we all know she would of been a Diana Ross, or another Lena Horne, she would be a icon a legend, no ifs or buts about that, she had it. Tammi passed away on March 16, 1970 she buried at Mount Lawn Cementary in Philadephia and her parents are buried there close by her also. Until her death Tammi Tammi undergo 8 brain operations, and all of them were paid by Berry Gordy Jr. Tammi is survived by her sister Ludie Montgomey and numerous cousins, and nephews. When Tammi died, a piece of him died and he was never the same again, he loved Tammi a lot and he was so devastated by her death he didn't record for awhile and he learned that because your young that doesn't mean you can't die,he also attended her funeral and whenever he would go on stage and have concerts and tours, he would hold the microphone out to the audiences and say "Give a hand for Tammi, Go On She Can Hear You".

That can't be Tammi Terrll. She's Dead! The half-whispered remark, made by one of two teenage girls occupying a seat near the front of a Detroit-bound jet-liner, was loud enough to be heard by the pretty young woman in dark glasses who had boarded the plane at Philadelphia and taken a seat directly ahead of them.. "She's too thin," insisted the chubby, freckled girl to her companion. "And besides, I read somewhere that Tammi died in the hospital." Then she challenged, "If you're so sure it's her, why don't you ask her?" The second girl rose hesitantly from her seat and timidly touched the young woman on the shoulder. "Excuse me, lady," she said. "Are You Tammi Terrell?" The attractive young woman removed her dark glasses and turned around with a smile. "You look a lot like her," the girl continued, "but..." "But you had heard that Tammi Terrell was dead. Is that what you were about to say?" Tammi said". Embarrassed by the question, the girl offered no reply. "Well, if Tammi Terrell is dead, you girls are looking at a ghost," Tammi laughed. The remark actually came nearer to the truth than either of the teenagers realized.