Unlike other successful labels of that time such as Island Records, Warner Bros
Records, or Epic Records, Motown associated music with black civil rights
movement and managed to bridge the gap of racial discrimination by producing
music that appealed to all people, regardless of the color of their
skin.Berry Gordy Jr., a former professional boxer, Korean War veteran
and automobile worker was a promising songwriter when he took the decision to
establish Motown Records. Under the urging of Smokey Robinson, a prominent
songwriter and producer and founding member of the Miracles (at that time known
as The Matadors), Gordy began building a portfolio of talented
artists.On January 12, 1959, he founded Tamla Records, an R&B label
with an $800 family loan. In the same year, he purchased the property that would
become Hitsville U.S.A. studio at 2648 West Grand Blvd. Originally being a
photographer's studio, the property was converted into Motown's administrative
building and mixing, mastering, recording and rehearsal studio. On April 14,
1960, Motown Records was launched and was incorporated with Tamla Records into
Motown Record Corporation.Over the next decade, a great number of
chart-topping artists produced by Motown captured the audience and the critics.
Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Temptations, The Jackson Five, Gladys Knight
and The Pips, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops,
Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, The Commodores, all became part of what
would become known as the Motown Sound. Featuring great melodies, unique soul
sounds, chord and percussion sections, tambourines, hand-clapping, bass lines,
horn grooves, foot-slapping drums, all orchestrated in revolutionary pop
production techniques, the Motown Sound became recognizable and
memorable.Between 1961 and 1971, Motown had 110 top-ten hits. The Motown
Corporation operated several labels that featured releases in other genres such
as Workshop Jazz for jazz, Mel-o-dy for country and R&B, and Rare Earth for
rock aiming to enjoy widespread popularity among black and white audiences
alike.It is believed that Gordy modelled Motown after the Detroit car
assembly line with which he was so familiar. He manufactured a good end-product,
and then he made something similar really quickly with the valuable assistance
of the golden trio of songwriters Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Brian
Holland, widely known as Holland-Dozier, Holland, or H-D-H. Besides, Smokey
Robinson was the basic songwriter of The Temptations, while he contributed to
some of the greatest hits by The Marvelettes ('Please Mr. Postman', 1961),
Brenda Holloway ('When I'm Gone', 1965), Marvin Gaye ('Ain't That Peculiar',
1965), The Contours ('First I Look at the Purse', 1965) and The Four Tops
('Still Water (Love)', 1970).Throughout the 1960s, Motown produced a
barrage of unparalleled songs.'Where Did Our Love Go' (1964), 'Baby
Love' (1964), 'Stop! In the Name of Love' (1965), 'You Can't Hurry Love' (1966),
'You Keep Me Hangin' On' (1966), and 'Love Is Here and Now You're Gone' (1967)
by Diana Ross and The Supremes.'Shop Around' (1960), 'You've Really Got
a Hold on Me' (1962), 'Tracks Of My Tears' (1965), 'Baby, Baby Don't Cry' (1968)
and 'The Tears of a Clown' (1970) by Smokey Robinson and The Miracles.'I
Heard It Through The Grapevine' (1967), 'Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)' (1971),
'What's Going On' (1971), 'Trouble Man' (1972), and 'Sexual Healing' (1982) by
Marvin Gaye.'Fingertips - Part 2' (1963), 'Uptight (Everything's
Alright)' (1965), 'For Once In My Life' (1967), 'I Was Made To Love Her' (1967),
'Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours' (1970), 'Higher Ground' (1973), 'You Are
the Sunshine of My Life' (1973), 'Boogie On Reggae Woman' (1974), 'Sir Duke'
(1977), 'Ebony and Ivory' (1982) and 'Part Time Lover' (1985) by Stevie
Wonder.'The Way You Do The Things You Do' (1964), 'My Girl' (1965), 'Get
Ready' (1966), 'Ain't Too Proud to Beg" (1966), 'All I Need' (1967), 'I Could
Never Love Another (After Loving You)' (1968), 'I Can't Get Next To You' (1969),
'Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)' (1971), and 'Papa Was A Rolling
Stone' (1972) by The Temptations.'Baby I Need Your Loving' (1964), 'I
Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)' (1965), '(Reach Out) I'll Be There'
(1966), 'Standing In The Shadows Of Love' (1966) and 'Bernadette' (1967) by The
Four Tops.'I Want You Back' (1969), 'ABC' (1970), 'The Love You Save'
(1970), and 'I'll Be There' (1970) by The Jackson Five.'Fancy Dancer'
(1976), 'Brick House' (1977), 'Easy' (1977), 'Say Yeah' (1978), and 'Three Times
A Lady' (1978) by The Commodores and the list goes on.Simple,
straightforward love songs that told simple stories in a happy or a
heartbreaking way; yet they all focused on the pride of Detroit and the pride of
African-Americans echoing the 'Sound of Young America', the usual stamp on the
label's vinyl.In 1967, Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown over royalty
payment disputes. Under the production on Norman Whitfield, The Temptations,
Gladys Knight & the Pips and Marvin Gaye had some major hits, while Gordy
established a television subsidiary, the Motown Productions for the produciton
of TV specials for the Motown artists. In 1971, Motown released Marvin Gaye's
'What's Going On', the album that changed the setting of R&B scene by
featuring a social view about racism, war, drug addiction, police brutality,
environmentalism and urban disintegration in America.In 1972, Gordy
decided to leave Detroit for Los Angeles. The main objective of Motown's
relocation was to expand into the motion picture industry. To that end, Motown
Productions released two films starring Diana Ross: the Billie Holliday
biographical film 'Lady Sings the Blues' (1972), and 'Mahogany'
(1975).Because Motown was losing money, in 1988, Berry Gordy Jr. sold
Motown Records to Music Corporation of America (MCA) for $61 million. In 1989,
Motown Productions was sold to Motown executive Suzanne de Passe who renamed it
to de Passe Entertainment and runs it until today. In 1994, Motown Records was
purchased by PolyGram and in 1998, PolyGram was acquired by Seagram leaving
Motown Records officially to Universal Music Group, the current owner.
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