born agatha nathalia weston in detroit, michigan, she was signed to motown in 1961, scoring a minor hit with "love me all the way" (r&b no. 24, pop #88). weston's biggest solo hits with motown were "take me in your arms (rock me a little while)" (r&b no. 4, pop no. 50, 1965, later covered by the isley brothers, blood, sweat & tears, jermaine jackson , the doobie brothers and phil collins, and "helpless" (r&b no. 13, pop no. 56, entered cashbox march 26, 1966, previously recorded by the four tops on their "second album" lp). her biggest claim to fame was singing the classic hit "it takes two" with marvin gaye in 1966 and her later recording of the black national anthem, "lift every voice and sing". it was the success of "it takes two" that caused motown to partner gaye with tammi terrell, spawning even more success for the label.