LOS ANGELES — Gladys Horton, former lead singer of one of Motown’s first female groups The Marvelettes, died at the age of 66, the Detroit Free Press reported Thursday.

Horton died late Wednesday night at a Sherman Oaks, Calif., nursing home, where she moved after suffering a stroke in 2010.

“My mother died peacefully,” Horton’s son, Vaughn Thornton, said in a statement issued Thursday by the Motown Alumni Association. “She fought as long as she could.”

The Detroit native and friends from her high school glee club came together to form The Marvelettes, releasing their first single “Please Mr. Postman” under the Motown label in 1961.

The group later went on to release hits including “Playboy,” “Beechwood 4-5789” and “Too Many Fish in the Sea.”

Horton left the girl group in 1967.