Motown legend Martha Reeves came to Ottawa Wednesday for a musical lesson with a local high school.
The leader of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, who performed hits like "Heatwave" and "Dancing in the Street", gave singing lessons to a group from Holy Trinity Catholic High School in Kanata.
The 70-year-old said it's music that keeps her going almost 50 years after her hits started coming.
"There is a fountain of youth in the Motown sound," she said.
The process of bringing Reeves to Ottawa began when she became friendly with B.C.'s Victoria High School band when they played in Detroit,
When that band came to Ottawa to meet up with the Holy Trinity band, Reeves came too.
"It's something that you could really jive to and really feel in your system," said Rachel Ciolfi. "It was really fun to listen to and even better to perform to."
"It was a lot more upbeat than a lot of the stuff nowadays," said Cole MacPhee. "More swing than we're used to hearing and really fun."
Reeves' advice went beyond music as she mentioned the recent death of troubled music star Whitney Houston.
"They don't need to get high," she said of the students. "Get high on what the talent that God gave them projects."
With a report from CTV Ottawa's Norman Fetterley
