Music of Detroit - Part One of Three

 

The Music of Detroit – Part One

Part one of a three part series originally published in the Lowell Ledger.

In addition to providing motorized vehicles to our nation and many parts of the rest of the planet, Detroit is the birthplace of a wide variety of music and musicians. Just as the effects of the mass production of cars and trucks touched and influenced most of the civilized world, so did the many forms of music represented by many genres and musicians that were born and nurtured in Detroit. In addition to the first and foremost example, Motown Records, we want to examine and celebrate other styles of music and the Detroiters who made them happen.

Before we celebrate Motown, I have to share something. Most times when I write, I have instrumental music playing in the background. As I began to type this first article about the global musical impact of one of my favorite cities, a great tune by a master bass player came up on my play list: “Detroit” by Marcus Miller. No kidding. It was as if the Musical Universe was patting me on the head in appreciation of the subject matter. (Well, that is how I am going to interpret the event.)

Motown is synonymous with Detroit, probably because its very name was Barry Gordy’s inspired combination of “motor” and “town”. For many Michiganders, the word “Motown” is used equally as a reference to the record label and the extensive amount of musical talent it brought to our ears as well as the geographic location of the biggest, baddest, coolest city in Michigan.

The story of Motown is another true tale of the American Dream. Founder Barry Gordy, III was the grandson of a man who was the son of a plantation owner and a woman he enslaved. Gordy’s father came north to Detroit and worked his tail off in true entrepreneurial fashion. Barry grew up in the burgeoning middle class of Detroit thanks to his father opening a grocery store, owning a plastering business, a carpentry business and a printing shop.

Even with all those options before him, Barry did not see his future in any of the endeavors started by his dad. He dropped out of High School with dreams of becoming a professional boxer. Thank goodness that when he returned to Michigan after serving in Korea, he focused on song writing and later record producing. We must also all appreciate the fact that his family had enough faith in him to loan him eight hundred dollars to kick start his dream of owning a record company. The company was called Tamla Records at the outset in 1958 and then two years later Tamla was merged into the Motown record label. Fun Fact – I was born a week after the Tamla Record Company was.

For those of us of a certain age, we only have to close our eyes and reflect a bit to see the distinctive Motown record label which featured eye catching colors and graphics that include a map which marks the Motor City with a red star. Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, every memory of listening to music at home or a friend’s house or at a school dance includes seeing multiple 45s and LPs with the Motown label on them.

Gordy first earned money from music when he co-wrote half a dozen songs for the up and coming singer Jackie Wilson, including the chart topper “Lovely Teardrops”.

The miracle that fired the rocket of Motown Records would have to be the group The Miracles and their velvet voiced front man Smokey Robinson. Gordy discovered the group in 1957 when they were called “The Matadors”. Two years later under his guidance they blasted to national fame with a series of hits that really put Motown on the musical map. Gordy acknowledged that without the band, Motown as we know it would not exist. The Miracles first smash, “Shop Around”, took the top spot in the R&B chart and sat at number two on the Pop chart in late 1960. The following year, “Please Mr. Postman” by the Marvelettes topped both charts.

The next superstar to come into the fold was Mary Wells. She benefitted from her association with Motown and Smokey Robinson when he wrote her first three hits, including “My Guy”. The list of talent given to the world by Motown Records just in the first ten years it existed includes  the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Jimmy Ruffin, the Contours, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Commodores, the Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder and the Jackson 5. Gordy’s ability to find and fine tune musical talent was off the charts. He was able to guide them in a manner to maximize their musical impact on Detroit, the USA, and a good deal of the entire planet that seemingly had an insatiable appetite for the music coming from Detroit.

Gordy moved operations to Los Angles in 1972 where he kicked things off by producing “Lady Sing the Blues” a bio-picture about Billie Holiday starring Dianna Ross, Richard Pryor, and Billie Dee Williams. Other movies produced by Motown include, “Mahogany”, “The Last Dragon”, and “The Bingo Long Travelling All-Stars & Motor Kings”. Once it moved to Los Angeles, Motown was not the dominant force in music that it once was for a variety of reasons. That being said, the L.A. version of Motown still brought us music from The Commodores, Lionel Richie, and Rick James as well as continuing to produce hits from Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the Jacksons.

Gordy sold Motown to MCA records in 1988, a few days on the plus side of 30 years after starting Tamla records. He held on to the musical rights of the roughly 15,000 songs in the Motown catalog for a little longer. It should be mentioned that he wrote or co-wrote 240 of those songs. They song rights were held by Jobete Music – the publishing company he named after three of his children; Joy, Berry, and Terry. Polygram paid over 330 million for the rights to the Jobete Music collection.

Gordy has been inducted into the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame as well as the Songwriters Hall of Fame – who awarded him the first ever Pioneer Award. He has also received other accolades including an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Michigan earlier this year. He is 92 years old.

Just reading the names of the artists found and promoted by Gordy and Motown records speaks volumes about the global impact of music from Detroit. But wait – there’s more………