THERE are moments in life that you won't easily forget. Having Martha Reeves sing the chorus of Jimmy Mack down the phone to you must come into that category.

Martha is currently in the UK with Dancing in the Streets, a spectacular celebration of the sound of Motown, which also features Edwin Starr and Freda Payne and which ends at the London Palladium.

On Thursday the show comes to Preston's Guild Hall.

I got the opportunity to speak to Martha in her hotel room in London at the start of the tour.

Immediately she threw me by thanking me for taking the time to ring her.

Yes, THE Martha Reeves, with a back catalogue as impressive as anyone in the music business sounds grateful that I've called!

"This is the second time I've done this kind of show with Edwin Starr," she says.

"Edwin rang me and said he was putting on the show and said he could not have a Motown show without Martha Reeves.

"I've never workd with Freda Payne before but she is the most beautiful, talented woman -- we're having quite a time."

Whenever the story of Motown is told, the name of Martha Reeves always crops up somewhere. Her life story reads like a film script - the keen singer who got a job as a secretary with a fledgling record label which went on to produce songs which would change the world.

Although promised an audition, young Martha was always too busy typing to take up the offer before Berry Gordy, the man behind the Motown sound, heard a demo she had made and the rest - as they say - is history.

With the Vandellas, Martha Reeves recorded some of the finest songs ever laid on vinyl including Heatwave, Nowhere to Run, Dancing in the Street and Jimmy Mack.

"Motown gave us music which softened the world," she says. "Even now whenever I sing songs like Heatwave I still get excited by the song.

"The day I don't, then I'll give up," she laughs before launching into the chorus of Jimmy Mack. "I think the songs we did then are as relevant today. Motown has the quality to heal and bring people closer together and with what has been happening around the world recently, that is something which we definitely need.

"Through the current show we are reaching out to people of all ages which shows that the music still has a hold over people.

"I remember a sweet little child coming up to me after one show and saying 'I didn't know my dad could dance until you started singing on stage'.

"Those songs are my children and I suppose you could say they're pretty good kids!"

Motown was much more than a sound. Artists on the label were part of a family atmosphere.

"They taught me how to walk, how to talk and generally how to carry myself," says Martha. "It was a great education."

Back home in Detroit (where else?), Martha has begun producing records and developing her own 'stable' of talented artists.

"I appreciate Berry Gordy more than ever having seen what's needed to produce a record," she says.

"Once they are ready I'll put our artists out on our own label. You can't make money if you're the middle man," she laughs.

But for the moment, spreading the word of the Motown gospel is Martha's aim.

Details from the Preston Guild Hall box office on 01772 258858