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Kim Weston (born Agatha Natalie Weston, December 20 , 1939 , in Detroit, Michigan ) is a Motown Records alumna . She was signed to the record label in 1963 , scoring a minor hit with "Love Me All the Way (R&B #24, Pop #88). Her largest solo hits with Motown were "Take Me In Your Arms (Rock Me A Little While)" (R&B #4, Pop #50, 1965; later covered by The Isley Brothers and The Doobie Brothers ) and "Helpless" (R&B #13, Pop #56, 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 " with Marvin Gaye that caused Motown to seek Tammi Terrell to replace her as his singing partner, which spawned even mor e success for the label.
Weston left Motown in 1967 and later sued the label over disputes about royalties . She and her then-husband, Mickey Stevenson (former A&R head at Motown) both went to MGM Records . Weston cut a couple of singles for MGM, "I Got What You Need," and "Nobody," which went largely unnoticed due to lack of airplay and promotion . She made an album for the label, This Is America, which included her popular version of the Black National Anthem, "Lift Every Voice and Sing ," was released as a single and featured in the movie Wattstax . All the money from the single was donated to the United Negro College Fund .
She recorded several more albums for various labels, Stax/Volt t among them, and also made an album of duets with Johnny Nash . None of these recordings charted, and Weston reportedly relocated to Israel , where she worked with young singers.
Along with many of her fellow Motown alumni/alumnae, she signed with Ian Levine's Motorcity label in the 1980's , re-recording a number of her Motown songs and some new material. These recordings also failed to garner much notice.
Today she is a disc jockey on a local Detroit, Michigan radio station, where she sponsors the summer events at Hart Plaza. She also tours sporadically, often alongside former Motown colleagues Mary Wilson, Martha Reeves and Brenda Holloway . She is also featured on the 2006 4 CD release of the Motortown Revue series.