h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

a friend of mine once kissed Martha.do Parliament & Funkadellic come under the auspices of mowtown?
i once met Barry White he said after missing out on motown he headed for l.a.....any plans for a Phil Spectre entry?

The Parliments was a group that was under the Golden World label, and the group was just starting out. But during this time the owner Eddie Wingate was ill and his hospital bills mounting. So the Golden World company was sold to Motown for six figures. The Parliments recorded on Golden World GW-46 "That Was My Girl/Heart Trouble" there were two other releases in Dec 1966 which were the final GW releases. Going over to Motown was not so smooth for some artists and trademarked group names was now property of Motown. The Parliments disputed this, and initially lost the court battle and this spawned the Funkadelic's, P-Funk, Parlettes and other George Clinton incarnations.

-- THE LABELS --
Golden World 25 Artists
Ric-Tic 21 Artists
Wingate 16 Artists
J & W 3 Artists

With this purchase of Golden World that brought other noted artists into the Motown fold as well as the recordings.

-- THE ARTISTS --
Edwin Starr - Ric Tic
Carl Carlton - Golden World
Andre Williams - Wingate
Dramatics - Wingate

Though in direct competiton to Motown this 'small' label had used some of the Funk Brothers and other musicians (being paid under the table) and produced a number of hits with that same driving beat that made Motown famous. There are stories about Gordy finding out. Many of the GW/Wingate/Ric Tic artists did not make the transition to Motown and went on to other labels or retired.

Golden World had also distributed Groovesville records before the Motown purchase. The GW/Wingate/RicTic labels are highly sought after on eBay. Much of this information is in "The Complete Motown Software" which is now free for persons researching Motown's first 20 years.