11/2/2022 0 Comments Motown recordsGordy helped shape Smokey’s ideas about writing and it paid off when The Miracles started landing hits. The label’s first group was The Miracles, featuring a kid called William “Smokey” Robinson who not only had an unusual, oddly vulnerable high tenor voice, but also wrote his own songs. Motown had an apparently endless supply of talent on its doorstep in Detroit, and, once established, artists beat a path to the company’s door, knowing they’d get a hearing. Gordy had written hits for Jackie Wilson in the 50s and knew something about what made great records, so his A&R instincts were strong. The label quickly signed artists who would make a huge impact. Motown put talent at the top of its agenda, then set about directing it. And even that affected the way you felt about the world. Even if you didn’t care about its function in society and its message, wow, you could dance to it. It was a good time, a social commentator, and an observer of hard times and injustice. So Motown was groovy, funky, fashionable a statement, an intention, and an outcome. While Gordy was protective about his corporate baby, he recognized the changing times of the 60s, and not only followed those changes but attempted to influence them and document them. Gordy led from the front, and the people he employed followed his example – to the point where some wanted record companies of their own. Its founder, Berry Gordy, Jr, was a giant among African-American businessmen, a boss who could do most of the jobs within his organization – and frequently did, be it songwriting, record production, marketing, and promotion, or scouting talent. But Motown had become a major corporation, its success built on talent, drive, and internal competition. By the end of the 60s, however, Vee-Jay was a distant memory, Atlantic was chiefly focused on hard rock and Chess had failed to turn its undeniably brilliant soul and blues artists into superstars. Large companies focused on R&B and jazz – two of the foundation stones of soul music – already existed, such as Atlantic, Vee-Jay, and Chess, and were already established by the time Motown came along. Some sprouted from a single record store or nightclub. Numerous small record labels that specialized in soul and R&B were launched in the early 60s. Listen to the best of Motown on Apple Music and Spotify.Ī success built on talent, drive, and competition If a record label could establish itself, the world was its oyster. There were still battles to be fought, arguments to win, wars to stop, injustices to put right. Across the Atlantic in Europe, influential bands became fans of soul and R&B, including four lads from Liverpool who were admirers of The Marvelettes and The Miracles and the bands that followed The Beatles, such as The Who and The Dave Clark Five, included soul songs in their repertoire. White people began to appreciate R&B and soul, a new expansive music that had grown out of it, providing free-spending fans. The Civil Rights movement meant that black people’s interests were being voiced and white people were beginning to listen – and music would be a medium for that message.Īs the new decade dawned, an emerging black middle class had disposable income to spend on records – some of which was refined, smooth, “uptown” music that record labels began to target. African-American singers would soon reach a bigger audience than ever before. In the early 60s, the music industry was rapidly expanding. Gordy, who sold the label in 1988 and announced his retirement earlier this year, will turn 90 on Thursday.Ī vegan cake appeared, and Stevie Wonder led the dancing crowd in a joyful rendition of “Happy Birthday.” It was Wonder’s version of the song, of course, which was released by Motown in 1980.Motown was founded in 1959 as Tamla Records, and it acquired the name Motown in April 1960 – the ideal time to launch a record company built on black music. And downtown is home to a long list of official namesake squares, including John Fante Square near Central Library and Frances Hashimoto Plaza in Little Tokyo.īack in the newly named Berry Gordy Square, Gordy’s family was turning the end of the dedication ceremony into an impromptu birthday celebration. Squares dedicated to Carmen Miranda and Raymond Chandler are also in Hollywood. fashion, I Love Lucy Square is named for Lucille Ball, who filmed her eponymous show across the street, and for Lucy Casado, the late matriarch of Lucy’s El Adobe Cafe, a Hollywood institution on the other side of Melrose). I passed a plaque for I Love Lucy Square on Melrose Avenue outside of Paramount on my way west to the assignment (in truly fantastic L.A.
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