She is a , original Martha and the Vandellas singer, dies at 83**
A true Motown legend has died. Rosalind Ashford, an original singer with Martha and the Vandellas, has passed away at age 83.
Ashford, one of the three original members of the group behind Motown classics such as “Dancing in the Street” and “(Love Is Like a) Heat Wave,” died Tuesday, September 15, 2026, of natural causes in Redford Township, a suburb of Detroit.
“I am deeply saddened to hear about the passing of Rosalind Ashford,” Martha Reeves told the *Detroit Free Press*. “Rosalind played an important part in the early days of Martha and the Vandellas. Her voice will forever be with us through our great recordings together, and she will be missed but never forgotten. Our Motown family has just gotten a little smaller. My heart is heavy.”
