Motown was a little hit factory, and I got the idea from the assembly line that I worked in at an automobile plant.

- Berry Gordy Jnr

Situated in Detroit, Michigan, Motown¹ Records was one of the most influential record labels of all time. It was the brainchild of an enthusiastic black man who wanted to make his mark in a white-dominated music industry. Determined to make his ambitious dream become a reality, Berry Gordy Jnr (born 1929), funded with an $800 loan from his family, created the first major black-owned record company in the world in January 1959.

Gordy scouted for talent and also wrote songs for Jackie Wilson (1934 - 84), although he was never signed to the Motown label. Record producers and other songwriters were signed up and Gordy continued to search Detroit for artists to join the rapidly expanding 'family'. By 1964 Motown Records, originally called 'Tamla Records', was the largest and most successful independent record company in the United States. By the mid-1970s it was the largest independent record company in the world.

Gordy's two sisters Esther and Loucye looked after administration and sales, brother Robert was studio engineer, and father Berry 'Pops' turned up most days to lend a hand.

Gordy did not have a business outlet in the UK to distribute his records so he used other record companies like Stateside. Eventually the Tamla Motown Record Label was created for the lucrative UK market in 1965.

The Motown Sound

Motown's unique sound mostly stemmed from trial and error. Recording equipment was very basic and in order to create a distinctive sound, some unorthodox methods were used. A toilet annexed to the studio at 2648 West Grand Boulevard doubled as an echo chamber. Chains were rattled, tin cans were banged against each other or kicked around the studio (which was nicknamed 'the Snakepit' because it was so small) and clerical staff provided hand-claps or additional back-up vocals. The 'Motown sound' became popular the world over as the resulting albums combined soul and R&B with Gospel undertones to celebrate their roots.

Raw Talent

Some Motown artists were recruited from talent shows, others caught Gordy's attention while busking on street corners. Youngsters with dreams of singing careers turned up at the Motown offices requesting auditions, having heard about the company through word-of-mouth. Some of the backing singers and musicians were locals grateful to be earning a living wage.

Polished Gems

The secret of Motown wasn't just raw singing and dancing ability, but a disciplined pursuit of showbiz excellence. The young and enthusiastic artists practised choreography, taught by experienced tutors like Maxine 'Miss' Powell, who owned a modelling and finishing school, and, 'the Man with the Moves', Charles 'Cholly' Atkins (1913 - 2003), to give original stage performances. They were trained to hold a microphone properly, how to ad-lib between songs, how to walk on stage correctly, and, for the groups, how to dance in synch. This free tuition was greatly attended and acts were polished and honed to perfection.

Hitsville USA

'The Sound of Young America' was plastered over Motown's record sleeves and the studio building had a sign outside saying 'Hitsville USA'. That prompted Memphis-based record company Stax to brand itself 'Soulsville USA'.

Motown's first successful group was a teenage girl quartet called The Marvelettes. They had written and performed their own song, Please Mr Postman (backed by the Funk Brothers), and it hit the top spot in the American chart in the autumn of 1961.

Motown churned out collective albums of hits, Motown Chartbusters, numbered 1 - 9 with no obvious thread running through them, containing possibly two recordings from different artists on each LP.

Rebellion

Talented performers such as the singer/songwriters Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder were frustrated by this state of affairs and wanted to release their own material on their own albums, but were bound by contract to do as they were told, not what they wanted.

For pioneering Gaye's first solo album What's Going On, he had to negotiate with the Motown producers for total creative control of his music, and it was ground-breaking because he had written and produced it himself. Stevie Wonder followed suit and a new musical concept was born, the Motown baby was growing up and rebelling. Other artists followed Gaye's lead as they noted his success and it gave them the confidence to negotiate their own contracts when they came up for renewel.

Duets

Gordy experimented with teaming up individual artists to create new sounds. Marvin Gaye (who was married to Gordy's sister Anna from 1961 to 1975) released singles with Tammi Terrell, Mary Wells and Kim Weston, but when he got together² with Diana Ross the resulting album Diana & Marvin was a best-seller. Other joint projects were planned but they were thwarted by Gaye's murder. Diana Ross also duetted with Lionel Richie, who was then the lead singer with The Commodores; and Michael Jackson.

Stevie Wonder teamed up with Syreeta (they were also married from 1970 to 1972), and she later duetted with Billy Preston. Diana Ross and The Supremes and The Temptations enjoyed joint success at the end of the Sixties with I'm Gonna Make You Love Me and following this, Gordy even got The Supremes and The Four Tops to sing together as 'The Magnificent Seven' on the 1971 smash-hit River Deep, Mountain High.

Holland/Dozier/Holland

If we didn't get the goose bumps or the hair standing on the neck, then something was missing.

- Lamont Dozier.

Tamla Motown's top songwriting team Holland/Dozier/Holland wrote over 40 hits (25 top ten hits, 14 of those being number ones) from 1961 onwards for artists such as The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Supremes, Jr Walker and the All Stars and Martha Reeves.

The songwriters, brothers Brian and Edward Holland and Lamont Dozier, departed Motown together in 1967 to found their own companies Invictus Records and Hot Wax Records, launching the careers of Chairmen Of The Board and Freda Payne. They operated as independent producers in the mid-seventies and wrote hits for the Jackson Five, The Supremes and The Originals.

The Detroit Riots

The Detroit riots were a massive wake-up call for the Motown company, which now seemed embarrassingly out of the loop. As the mood of the American nation changed with the rise of the civil rights movement and protests over the Vietnam War, it was in Chicago that music with a social conscience was first heard. Up till then Curtis Mayfield (1942 - 99) of The Impressions had been trying to keep up with the Motown runaway train by introducing similar styles into his own writing; by 1967 he was already writing and singing about racial and social problems in what became known as the 'Chicago Sound'.

Changes

After a dispute over money, producer Mickey Stevenson walked out and Supremes member Florence Ballard was dropped and replaced by Cindy Birdsong. (Florence was depressed and exhausted and did not live much longer.) Gordy, who had served in the Army in Korea from 1951 - 1953 and was a professional boxer prior to that, now fought for his company. He was determined to prove that Motown was built on firm foundations, could survive change and move with the times. Gordy released Love Child by Diana Ross³ and the Supremes, a heart-rending song which carried a deep social message, and it became one of the biggest-selling recordings in Motown's history.

Producer Norman Whitfield and songwriter Barratt Strong became the architects of Motown's psychedelic soul years and the hit machine was back on track.

Expansion, Growth and Takeover

In 1972 the Motown company moved to Los Angeles, California, and the following year it became Motown Industries. Gordy expanded the company out into film and television outlets as well as recording. Whole groups of different artists toured the US as the 'Motortown Revue', which became popular as one show and as the Motown sound's popularity grew, they toured abroad.

In June 1988, MCA and Boston Ventures bought Gordy's interest in Motown records for just over $60 million. In 1993 Boston Ventures bought out MCA's interest and sold Motown Records to the Dutch-based Polygram conglomerate for $325 million.

The Motown Sound Lives On

Motown's legacy continued with successful new artists such as BoyzIIMen who were signed to Motown Records from 1990 to 2000. Their 1994 platinum-selling hit I'll Make Love To You won a Grammy for Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal and two American music awards; and also won songwriter Kenneth 'Babyface' Edmonds a Grammy for Best R&B Song. When it was knocked off the number one spot after fourteen weeks, I'll Make Love To You set a joint⁴ record in the US for the most weeks spent at the top of the chart.

Today the Motown sound is in safe hands with artists such as India.Arie, whose mother Joyce Simpson is a former singer who once opened for Stevie Wonder; rapper Q-Tip; and soul diva Queen Latifah. Multi-platinum recording artist Brian McKnight, a talented singer, songwriter, musician and producer, (who has worked with performers such as Mariah Carey, Vanessa Williams, Justin Timberlake, Willie Nelson and Nelly), has sales of over 16 million records to his name. The living legend Stevie Wonder, who has won 21 Grammy awards (a record for most Grammy awards) continues to perform his music in a career spanning over 40 years.

The dilapidated ten-storey building which was the home of Motown Records from 1968 until 1972 was bulldozed in January 2006, with the area to be resurrected as a parking lot for the facility called 'Ford Field' which housed the Super Bowl XL in Detroit. Normally it is home to NFL Detroit Lions football.

Universal Motown Records Group continues to be known as the largest music company in the USA, and in 2006 its chairman Mel Lewinter is overseeing a division into two separate companies: Universal Motown Records and Universal Republic Records. The UMRG will continue to share the legal, finance and sales departments but will have separate marketing policies, publicity drives and promotional material.

The artists will be divided between the two: Stevie Wonder, India.Arie, Nelly, the Mars Volta, Blue October, Erykah Badu, Akon, Chamillionaire and Lindsay Lohan will go with Universal Motown Records, with Sylvia Rhone (since 2004 she was president of Motown Records and executive Vice President of Universal Records) as President.

Monte Lipman (former President of Universal Records and co-founder of Republic Records) will be President of Universal Republic Records, which will represent British Knight of the Realm Sir Elton John, Tamar, Damian Marley, Godsmack, Don Omar, 10 Years, Prince, Jack Johnson, and 3 Doors Down. Despite things you might hear on the grapevine, credible sources reveal that the UMRG split is a business move - not as a result of personal differences between Lipman and Rhone.

When I think of Motown, I think of Smokey Robinson putting poetry to music, Stevie Wonder's heartbreaking lyrics of lost love, The Supremes' big hair and dazzling mini-dresses, and Marvin Gaye mourning the loss of the young soldiers in Vietnam.

- A Motown fan.

The singers and musicians that Berry Gordy Jnr brought together to perform under the umbrella 'The Motown Sound' created a unique genre. The 'family affair' left its mark upon generation after generation and the old recordings sound as fresh today as they did in the early Sixties when hit after hit was churned out of The Snakepit⁵, backed by The Funk Brothers.

Smokey Robinson

Through his friend Jackie Wilson, Gordy met William 'Smokey' Robinson (born 1940), a young songwriter and composer from Detroit with similar ambitions to Gordy. As well as singing with his own group The Miracles, Robinson was an in-house producer, songwriter, auditioner and talent scout, basically he was Gordy's right-hand man. One of Robinson's biggest discoveries was Diana Ross (see below). Robinson wrote and produced songs for numerous Motown artists including Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells, The Temptations and The Marvelettes, earning him the accolade 'America's greatest living poet' from Bob Dylan.

By the time Smokey Robinson and The Miracles had split in 1972, they had scored 27 US top forty hits, including The Tracks of my Tears and Tears of a Clown which had been penned by Robinson. America's 'poet laureate of love' also wrote My Guy, a smash-hit for Mary Wells; My Girl, the first British number one for The Temptations; and the soulful Still Water for The Four Tops.

Robinson embarked upon a solo singing career and enjoyed several top ten successes in the Seventies and Eighties, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He was vice-president of Motown until the company was sold in 1988, and left Motown as an artist in 1990. During his 40-year music career, Robinson has written or contributed towards over 4,000 songs.

Smokey Robinson has two children with his first wife Claudette Rogers (a member of The Miracles). They are named Tamla and Berry.

Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye (whose nickname was 'the Prince of Soul') was what can only be described as a tortured genius. Gaye (he added the 'e' as a tribute to his idol Sam Cooke) was notoriously difficult to work with, yet could be so laid back he was practically horizontal. When he sang it was like having liquid gold poured into your ears, he was that good. Couples have fallen in love dancing to his love songs, his music was and still is a sure-fire aphrodisiac. Gaye was also a gifted songwriter. With his wife Anna Gordy, who composed the music, he wrote the song Baby I'm For Real, a haunting soulful melody about a man expressing his devoted love for his woman. It was recorded by The Originals and later covered by Michael McDonald in 2004.

Gaye refused to take the stage tuition offered to all Motown artists, something he later regretted. However he did allow Maxine 'Miss' Powell to teach him to sing with his eyes open, so he didn't look like 'he was singing in his sleep'.

Gaye was generous with his time and his money, employing homeless people and leaving waitresses $50 tips. He adored his mother but his relationship with his father was volatile, culminating in physical violence. Like lots of his fellow artists, Gaye dabbled in the drug scene. After she collapsed in his arms during a concert, Gaye took two years 'time out' to recover from his devastation at the death of his singing partner Tammi Terrell (1945 - 70).

Gaye recorded the song Abraham, Martin and John as an album track. He poured his heart into the poignant song which reflected on the lives of the assassinated American presidents Abraham Lincoln and John F Kennedy, and civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Martin Luther King Jr. The recording was issued as a single only in Great Britain, where it scored a top ten hit in May 1970, as it was deemed unsuitable for the American market due to its political overtures.

It is somewhat ironic that this unique, haunting tribute record about three men who had been shot was performed by an artist who was later shot to death himself, by his own father, on the eve of his 45th birthday. Marvin Gaye's life story, narrated by Smokey Robinson, was broadcast in six parts on BBC Radio 2, from 24 January to 28 February, 2006.

Marvin Gaye will be remembered in history as a true genius for expressing his inner feelings in song. When he sings it's like painting a canvas.

- Motown songwriter Leon Ware.

The Supremes

What did The Supremes mean for young black women in particular? They gave us a tremendous amount of pride and hope. They were young girls from the Projects who became world superstars and they let young women know that they, too, could reach the top. It was especially important for black artists because you never heard us speak much, and here were these young women, barely out of their teens, making their mark.

- Claudette Rogers Robinson, wife of Smokey and member of The Miracles

The Primettes: Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Barbara Martin⁶ were introduced to Motown by Smokey Robinson. Between 1964 and 1967, The Supremes had ten singles which hit the number one spot, making them the most successful black group of the decade. Gordy renamed the group Diana Ross and The Supremes and they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show 17 times between 1964 and 1969.

I consider myself the original Supremes-aholic. We would wait to see them on The Ed Sullivan Show like a junkie waiting for a fix. It was amazing, because in addition to what they sang, we were always dying to see what they would wear.

- Luther Vandross, Supremes-aholic

Cindy Birdsong had taken over from the depressed Florence Ballard (1943 - 76) in July 1967, and the group had two more number one hits before Ross went solo in 1969. Jean Terrell took over from Diana Ross, and with Mary Wilson, they carried on performing as The Supremes, scoring hits with Up The Ladder To The Roof, Stoned Love, Nathan Jones and Floy Joy. Lynda Laurence took Cindy Birdsong's place and sang on Automatically Sunshine and Bad Weather. Jean Terrell then left, and was replaced by Scherrie Payne. Cindy Birdsong returned in October 1973, but things did not work out and she left again. The final line-up of The Supremes was Susaye Greene, Scherrie Payne and Mary Wilson but they could not capitalize on past success.

The Supremes were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. The 2000 Supremes Reunion Tour, with Diana Ross the only original member, was cancelled due to poor ticket sales.

The Jackson Five

Behind the scenes at the end of the Sixties, Gordy and his staff were preparing, training and grooming a group of young brothers who were managed by their ambitious father Joseph. The family from Gary, Indiana, were destined to monopolise the Seventies in the same way that The Beatles had ruled the Sixties. The Jackson Five, comprising of four musicians/backing singers and the youngest, Michael⁷, as lead singer, were launched to superstardom on the back of a publicity stunt. Gordy persuaded Diana Ross to introduce the brothers at a Hollywood party and on television as her own discovery. The public were captivated by the talented group's lively singing, intricately choreographed energetic dance routines and their bold colourful outfits; the human-dynamo that was Michael Jackson, and Jackson-mania took off.

The Temptations

Breathtaking dance routines, eye-catching outfits, stunning arrangements and perfect harmonies all helped make The Temptations, fronted by David Ruffin, the most successful Motown soul group. Their name in Latin is Inlecebrae, just in case you're ever asked.

Bruce Willis and The Temptations

In 1987, Bruce Willis wrote and starred in the television special The Return Of Bruno, a biography of a fictional rock star, Bruno Radolini (Willis), in which many real-life musicians testified to his influence on their careers. For the soundtrack, Willis revamped several classic soul songs, scoring a surprise hit with Under The Boardwalk, on which he was supported by The Temptations.

The Temptations guest-starred in an episode of Moonlighting, which also starred Bruce Willis. During the opening segment, 'Dave Addison' (Willis) was trying to get 'Maddie Hayes' (Cybill Shepherd) to lighten up. He clicked his fingers and The Temptations appeared, much to Maddie's astonishment. They started to sing and Maddie started to dance. Unfortunately for Dave the song was Psychedelic Shack and Maddie jerked around like a robot, so not the result he was hoping for.

The Four Tops

The original members of The Four Tops: Levi Stubbs, Abdul 'Duke' Fakir, Renaldo 'Obie' Benson⁸ (1936 - 2005) and Lawrence Peyton (1938 - 97), first sang together as the Four Aims in 1954. Though the line-up has changed over the years, (Theo Peoples, formerly of The Temptations, is now the lead singer, since Levi Stubbs retired due to ill-health; and Roquel Payton, son of Lawrence, performs in his father's place). The Four Tops kicked off the Superbowl XL in January 2006, which makes them the longest-lasting group ever.

I am looking forward to seeing The Four Tops. I have a nostalgic feel that at some point this week, we will all see under one roof, or from start to finish, the greatness of the Motown era, really for the last time when you start thinking about the age of some of the performers.

- ABC Sports/ESPN broadcaster Mike Tirico, emcee 'A Detroit Salute' - the black-tie opening ceremony for Super Bowl XL, 2006.

Charlene

The Hollywood-born singer had a one-hit wonder with I've Never Been To Me upon its re-release in 1982, after radio stations drummed up interest in the track. Motown had released Charlene from her 1973 contract in 1980, but quickly sought her out in the UK, where she had moved to, to re-sign her to the label. Unfortunately Charlene never repeated the success of I've Never Been To Me so her contract was terminated.

List Of Artists

• The Supremes (Diana Ross later went solo.)

• Marvin Gaye (1939 - 84)

• 'Little' Stevie Wonder⁹

• The Jackson Five (Michael Jackson later went solo.)

• The Marvelettes

• Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (formerly called 'The Matadors')

• The Ronettes

• Martha Reeves and the Vandellas

• Jr Walker and the All Stars

• The Temptations

• The Four Tops

• The Isley Brothers

• The Commodores (Lionel Richie later went solo.)

• Jimmy Ruffin. The brother of Temptations singer David, his song Farewell Is A Lonely Sound (When Told To Someone You Love) became the unofficial anthem for soldiers going off to war, and their families.

• The Contours

• Gladys Knight and The Pips

• Edwin Starr (1942 - 2003)

• Mary Wells (1943 - 92)

• The O'Jays

• The Elgins

• Thelma Houston

• Syreeta (1946 - 2004)

• Rare Earth

• Charlene

• R Dean Taylor

• Kiki Dee¹⁰

• BoyzIIMen

Enjoy some Motown Memories at the soulwalking website.