|
COPYRIGHT 2000 Gale Group, COPYRIGHT 2005 Thomson Gale, a part of The Thomson Corporation
Motown
Motown is a record company, a musical style, and a corporate conglomerate with several subsidiary labels. The company was founded in Detroit in 1959 by Berry Gordy, Jr. A black entrepreneur and songwriter, Gordy built a successful black-owned, independent company that became a formidable phenomenon in the music business. Motown racked up an enviable number of releases that posted on both pop and rhythm and blues (R&B) charts. At the company's height, an overwhelming 75 percent of Motown's releases charted, where the industry average was about 10 percent. By Gordy's estimation, 70 percent of the buyers of a million-seller Motown record were non-black. Between 1960 and 1969, Motown issued a total of 535 singles, 357 of which became hits. Motown issued 56 number one pop and R&B songs in a decade. The most important Motown asset was not the solid gold records or the millions earned in revenue, but its talented and diverse artists, songwriters, producers, and musicians.
Motown derived its name from the a popular slang contraction of motortown. Detroit, called the motortown for its automobile production, also spawned a number of fine musicians, among them rock and roll stars Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, distinguished jazz artists such as Milt Jackson and Yusef Lateef, bluesman John Lee Hooker, soul singers Little Willie John and Jackie Wilson, gospel diva Aretha Franklin, and many others who became Motown artists. But prior to Motown, Detroit had no major recording company.
One of eight children, Berry Gordy, Jr., was born in Detroit on November 28, 1929. His father, Berry "Pops" Gordy, Sr., and mother, Bertha Gordy, owned several businesses. A high school dropout, Gordy, Jr. became an average boxer who fought in the bantamweight class. He abandoned boxing and, after serving in the army, decided to pursue a musical career. In 1953, an infatuation with jazz prompted Gordy and singer Marv Johnson to open the 3-D Record Mart, a retail store dedicated to jazz. The store folded in 1955, and Gordy went to work for Lincoln-Mercury. But while installing upholstery in cars, he began humming tunes and writing lyrics.
Gordy developed an instinct for recognizing what made a hit song, and he became a master tunesmith. When he heard that Jackie Wilson's manager was looking for new material, he proceeded to write four hits for Wilson. His first song, "Reet Petite," hit the charts in 1957, and several other hits followed. Gordy married Raynoma Liles in 1958. Their union was short lived, though Liles continued to work for the company after the divorce. Her musical and technical skills were...
Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.
|
Bookmark this article
Print this article
Link to this article
Email this article
Digg It!
Add to del.icio.us
RSS
