Berry Gordy's Motown Records

Founder and owner of the Tamla-Motown family record labels, Berry Gordy, Jr., established Motown Records as one of the most important independent labels in the early '60s. Assembling an industrious staff of songwriters, producers, and musicians, Motown Records built one of the most impressive rosters of artist in the history of pop music and became the largest and most successful independent record company in the United States by 1964. 

Booker T. Washington Grocery

Gordy Printing Company

Business Card

On Thanksgiving day, November 28, 1929 Berry Gordy was born at Detroit's Harper Hospital. Gordy was the seventh child born to Berry and Bertha Gordy. The Gordys were an ambitious middle class with roots in Georgia farming and retailing. The family moved to Detroit from Sandersville, Georgia in 1922. Sandersville, Georgia with their first three children. It was here that they established a successful construction, painting and printing  business that allowed the family to purchase a commercial building on the corner of St. Antoine and Farnsworth Berry Gordy Sr also opened the Booker T. Washington grocery store. From it he instilled the values of frugality, discipline family unity and hard work that were so dear to Booker T. Washington. After the children were grown Bertha would study business at Wayne State University and University of Michigan. Finally graduating from Detroit Institute of Commerce Bertha would go on to co-found the Friendship Mutual Life Insurance Company.

As a youth, playing Berry's Boogie, Gordy won a semi-final of a boogie-woogie piano contest at the Michigan Theater. Ultimately he lost to a five year old prodigy named Sugar "Chile" Robinson.

Gordy dropped out of school in the eleventh grade to become a professional boxer. One time he even fightimg on the same card as the Brown Bomber Joe Lewis at Detroit's Olympia Stadium. He ended a respectable career as a featherweight winning thirteen of nineteen professional bouts. In 1950 after serving in the army in Fort Keep, Arkansas; Fort Custer, Michigan and Korea from 1951 -1953. He returned to Detroit and in the summer of 1953 with personal savings, his Army discharge pay, a $700 loan from his father and brother George, opened the 3-D Record Mart: The House That Jams Built..  Obsessed with his love of jazz, Gordy was too stubborn to stock the blues records that the neighborhood wanted. The result was the stored failed, and for awhile after he sold Guardian Service Cookware.

Halloween 1957
L to R: Hazel Joy, Berry, Berry IV, Thelma

Berry married Thelma Crawford and quickly had three children. It was after closing the store that Gordy, with the help from his mother-in-law, went to work Ford in the foundry. which after one day quit. Next his mother-in-law got him a job on the assembly line as upholstery trimmer at the Ford Lincoln-Mercury plant in Wayne, MI earning $86.40 a week. By 1957 he had quit that job to become a professional songwriter.         

The Flame how Bar opened in 1949 and was located on the corner of John R and Canfield.  The Flame was a Black and Tan, a showplace for Black talent in Detroit during the 50s. Billie Holiday, T-Bone Walker, Wynonie Harris were just a few of the many great Black entertainers that appeared there. The Berry's were in charge of the cigarette and photo concessions there. Sisters Gwen and Anna took the photos with brothers George and Robert developing the film. It was at this time that Al Green the Flame's owner who he managed Jackie Wilson nvited Gordy to write Wilson . Gordy teaming with Roquel "Billy" Davis aka Tyran Carlo began writing at Green's office. Eventually sister Gwen would be brought in and they would write To Be Loved," Lonely Teardrops," "That's Why (I Love You So)" and "I"ll Be Satisfied. Established as hit writers Gordy started doing some producing.

In late 1957, Gordy had his first success with "Reet Petite" which was recorded by Detroit born Jackie Wilson who had at one time replaced Clyde McPhatter as lead singer of the Dominoes. The next year he wrote "Lonely Teardrops" for Wilson.57

One day in 1958, Gordy met Raynoma Liles after she had won a talent contest at a Detroit nightclub. After the emcee recommendation, she and her sister auditioned for Gordy. Not only did Gordy meet his next wife Raynoma, but he found a woman who could help him write hit records. Known around the company as Miss Ray, she had perfect pitch and could write lead sheets. They soon formed the Rayber Voice Recording Company. For $100 they would do whatever was necessary to help a young singer make a record. With a second hand disc making machine, a rented studio at United Sound, he would cut records for them on their Rayber Records label. Eventally he would hire Al Abrams to work as a promoter. From writing, arranging rehearsing or recording a demo. In this way they were able to find new talent. They also put together the Rayber Voices, a studio group that backed most of Motown's first acts early recordings.lppppp

An unsuccessful audition of the Matadors for Wilson's manager Nat Tarnopol would change Gordy's life. Berry really liked them and told them so after the audition. This would be the beginning of a close friendship between Gordy and the Matador's lead singer Smokey Robinson. The Matador;s soon changed their name to the Miracles. Gordy managed the Miracles and produced their 1958 single Got A Job on the End Record label. The small royalty check  ($3.19) he received from End and other similar for all hits he had co-written convinced him to start his own label Tamla. Originally he had wanted to call it Tammy after the Debbie Reynolds ballad, but the name had already been taken. 

With the $800 loan from  the family  Ber-Berry Co-Op , Gordy started Talma  Records. In 1959 he made a $300 down payment toward a total price of $23000 For a house at 2648 West Grand Boulevard.. Living upstairs with his second wife Raymona he converted the downstairs into and office suite and the basement a recording studio. He also started a second label Motown Records. Motown Records Inc. Porch Hitsville USA

Terry, Berry lV and Hazel Joy

In 1959 Gordy started his own publishing company Jobete Publishing named after his three children Hazel Joy, Berry and Terry. If you wrote for Motown you were published by Jobete which grew to be one of the most powerful in the industry.

Al Abrams

In 1959, Al Abrams, Gordy's promotion man from Rayber Records, became Motown's first white employee. Young and inexperienced he was soon switched from promotion to overseeing Motown's early public relations. He became national sales manager and promotion director in 1961.

Tom Clay

Barney Ales and Berry Gordy

In 1959, Barney Ales who worked as sales manager for a local record distributor Aurora Distributing, met Gordy through local  white deejay Tom Clay. Ales would  arguably become Motown's most important White executive. Entering the record business in 1955 as a representative for Capitol Records, he moved the next year to Warner Brothers Records before becoming a partner in a local distributor ship. In all these jobs Ales acted as a laison between record labels, radio stations and distrubutors in the Midwest.

Ales was an aggressive distributor the type that was key to small record companies. Ales sold to the local distributors who in turn arranged airplay and sold to retail. Below them were the one-stops (minidistributors) who sold to the small retailers that wanted only a few copies of a record.

Loucye Gordy Wakefield

Gordy had been using B&H, a local Detroit distributor. B&H's specialty was R&B while Ales handled everything. Realizing Ales had the best connections with the one-stops and could get his records promoted on white stations, Gordy soon persuaded him to join the company. In 1959, Ales became an unpaid advisor to Gordy and sister Loucye in billing. Ales, in addition the sales and promotion was assigned to collecting the receivables.

In 1960, Ales was hired as vice president of sales and ditribution. All most of all Motown's distributors and their promotion staff were white as were the executives. This would become an issue by the end of the 60s as black power movement grew.

"First of all I made the money, it's my money. I do what I want with it. Black people have shown a lack of understanding of what I'm doing as a general market business man Why do I hire this white man, or why this or why that. Because the white man can do it better than I can do it."
Berry Gordy

While the Gordys were Motown's first inner circle, Gordy brought in a group of Detroit music veterans to form the next layer of management.

By 1962, Ales had hired Irv Biegel and Phil Jones. Biegal was assigned him to singles sales and promotion with Jones doing the same with albums. In 1963 Al Klein was recruited to hand singles and sales in the South. In October 1969, Miller London was hired as Motown's first Black salesman. Ales continued to hire blacks into the sales including Ralph Thompson in 1970, first in regional in regional sales, he later would became Ales assistant. Joining as a stock clerk in 1971, Alvin Jones moved to regional sales the next year and ended up Motown's last president before it was sold in 1988.

L to R: William "Smokey" Robinson, Esther Gordy Edwards, Barney Ales, Berry Gordy, Eddie Holland

Initially Motown's executives were Gordy president with three vice presidents, his sister Esther Gordy Edwards, William "Smokey" Robinson, Barney Ales.and Eddie Holland.

Ralph Seltzer

Harry Balk

Diana Ross, Michael Roskind, his wfe and Berry Gordy

While the Gordys were Motowns first inner circle, Gordy brought in a group of Detroit white music industry veterans to form the next layer of management. These were lawyer Ralph Seltzer, a friend of Ales as Vice President of Corporate Affairs and special assistant to Gordy; Harry Balk - Executive Director of Detroit office; and Michael Roskind vice president and CEO.

 
The Novicks
L to R: Harold Novick, Berry Gordy, Sidney Novick

Sidney Novick, an accountant, superseded George Edwards. He was the chief supervisor of Motown and Jobetes books. His brother Harold. a tax attorney, was an important consultant that ran Motown's New York office. Another lawyer Ed Pollack filled a number of administrative positions.

Gordon Prince on the left was part of promotion and went on to became national sales manager.

Mike Luska

Michael Luska was with Motown from 1969-1982. He started a regional salesmanger. In 1971 was promoted to national sales manager and finally became executive vice-president of sales and marketing in 1979.

Billy Jean Brown, an attorney, initially was hired as the company librarian, but six months later was elevated  to head of quality control.

William "Mickey" Stevenson

William Mickey Stevenson as A&R man. His responsibilities were to supervise musicians, producers and writers. He assigned producers to acts, made sure songs were written on time and produced when deadlines had to be met and he didn't have anyone to take the assigment. In the early days his most imprtant job was to build Motown's session players. Working under Stevenson was Clarence Paul.

In November 1980 Jay Lasker was brought in to be Motown's president. He would be fired in 1987.

In 1996 Shelly Berger was hired by Ralph Selzer to manage ITM. His job was to find music, television, and film tie-ins for Motown artist. He was the Supremes tour manager.

Mabel John

Money

Barret Strong

Marv Johnson

Gordy initially recorded R&B artists on Tamla Records. He signed Mabel John, the gospel trained sister of blues singer Little Willie John. Gordy scored a minor hit with Tamla's first release, R&B singer Marv Johnson's "Come To Me." As the record picked up steam Gordy found he could not keep up with the demands of national production and distribution and leased the master to United Artists. Later in the first year of operation he co-wrote and produced "Money," which was recorded by Barrett Strong. Not yet equipped to break a national hit "Money" was released  by Anna Records which was owned by his sister Gwen and her husband Harvey Fuqua. "Money" eventually reached the number two spot on the R&B Chart. In November 1959, Gordy recorded "Bad Girl" by a young William "Smokey" Robinson and the Miracles that reached number ninety-three on the pop charts with the help of national distribution by Chess Records.

Smokey Robinson convinced Gordy that Motown should distribute its own records. In 1960, Gordy co-wrote and distributed "Shop Around" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, which was a number one hit and established Motown as an important independent company. By this time Gordy had set up the Motown Record Corporation, Hitsville USA and Berry Gordy Enterprises. Jobete Music was his publishing firm and management agency International Talent Management, Inc. He also set up various subsidiary labels.

Early Motown logo from the back of the first album jacket

Through the next four years, Gordy continued to produce hits by capitalizing on the girl group craze. In 1959, a sixteen year old girl, Mary Wells, approached Gordy with a song she had written for Jackie Wilson. Unable to write music, Wells sang the song to Gordy, who immediately signed her and released her version of "Bye, Bye, Baby," which made the Top Ten on the R&B charts in 1960. Two years later she teamed with Smokey Robinson, who now wrote and produced for Tamla label and hit with "The One Who Really Loves You," "You Beat Me To Punch," and "Two Lovers." The next year she recorded "Laughing Boy" and "Your Old Stand By." In 1964 Wells topped the charts with "My Guy."

Gordy also charted with the Marvelettes. Around 1961, one of their teachers arranged an audition with Gordy, after which he signed them and released "Please Mister Postman," which became Motown's first number one record. The next year the Marvelettes hit the charts with "Playboy," "Beachwood 4-5679," "Someday Someway," and "Strange I Know." In 1962 The group toured the South as part of the first Motortown Revue.

Encouraged by his success with the Marvelettes, Gordy recorded another Detroit girl group, Martha and the Vandellas. Martha Reeves, influenced by Clara Ward and Billie Holiday, joined with Annette Sterling, Rosalind Ashford and Gloria Williamson sang as the Del-Phis while in high school and record the unsuccessful "I'll Let You Know" for Chess. In 1961 Reeves was hired as a secretary at Motown and by 1962 had convinced Gordy to record her group. The group sang backup vocals on a number of Motown hits including "Hitch Hike" and "Stubborn Kind of Fellow" by Marvin Gaye. Martha and the Vandellas hit the charts with "Come Get These Memories," followed by the million selling "Heat Wave" and "Quicksand." The next year they recorded "Dancing In the Streets" which reached near the top of the charts.  Martha and the Vandellas, along with Mary Wells and the Marvelettes, identified Motown as a major source of the girl group sound.

Gordy the son of a black entrepreneur who hoped for the upward mobility of blacks, specifically groomed and cultivated streetwise teens from the streets of Detroit to make them acceptable to Mainstream America. In 1964 he hired Maxine Powell, who had operated a finishing and modeling school, to prep his performers. Powell tried to transform Motown artists into polished professionals.

Cholly Atkins and the Four Tops
(R to L: Cholly Atkins, Lawrence Payton, Duke Fakir, Obie Benson and Levi Stubbs)

A few months after adding Maxine Powell, Gordy hired choreographer Cholly Atkins, a well known dancer in the 1930s and 1940s who had performed at the Cotton Club and Savoy Ballroom, to teach these groups how to move gracefully

Foreground: Maurice King.

Atkins worked with Maurice King, who served as executive musical director. King who had arranged shows at Detroit's Flame Show Bar for years and had worked with jazz artists such as Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington, taught the Motown groups about stage patter.

At EMI in London, March 1965
Berry Gordy,Temptation, Miracle, Stevie Wonder, Martha and and the Vandellas, Supremes

By the mid-1960s, Gordy had assembled a Motown team that could take poor black youths from Detroit and teach them to talk, walk, dress as successful debutantes and debonair gentleman

Gordy combined the polished images of the Motown acts with a gospel-based music that could appeal to mainstream America. Blues and R&B always had a funky look to it back in those days, and Motown wanted to have a look that fathers and mothers would want their children to follow. They wanted to kill the imagery of liquor and drugs and how some people thought it pertained to R&B. Therefore when they reject anything that had a strong blues sound to it when choosing material for their artist.  

In place of the blues and R&B, Gordy favored a distinct music grounded by an insistent pounding rhythm section, punctuated by horns and tambourines and featuring shrill, echo-laden vocals that bounced back and forth in a call and response of gospel. Building upon his experience with the girl group sound, he produced a full sound reminiscent and expanding on Phil Specter's Wall of Sound.

Motown's rapid success led to the aacquisition of several houses on the south side of West Grand Boulevard and one on the north side. In this panarama of the south side the following properties can be seen from right to left from 2657 West Grand Boulevard.

• 2644/46 Jobete Publishing Company (now the museum entrance). Bought 4/18/61

• 2648      Recording Studio (Hitsville) at the back of the building on lower ground floor. Home of Berry and Raynoma Gordy in upstairs. Bought 8/2/59

• 2650     Offices of Berry Gordy, Esther Gordy and Ralph Seltzer. This is vacant ground to the left of Hitsville. It burn to the ground in 1971. Bought  1/23/62

• 2650     Motown Administration. Bought 1/23/1963

• 2656     Motown Finance (white front). Bought 3/4/65

• 2662/64 Motown Sales and Marketing. Bought 7/11/66

• 2670/72 ITMI (International Talent Management Incorporated). Bought 7/5/66

• 2657      Artist Development was located directly across Grand Boulevard from the Motown complex. Bought 1/12/66

Converting the downstairs to and office and the basement to a recording studio.After he purchased 2644-2246 West Grand Boulevard in April of 1961 he placed Jobete, the sales, shipping and public relations departments in it. In January of 1962 2650-2652 West Grand Boulevard was added to house  Berry and  his sister Esther's offices International Talent Management.  From 1965 on 2656 hosed finance department;  2662-64 purchased the next year was home to the sales and marketing. 26666-68 was bought at the same time. ITMI was moved to 2670-72 after it was bought in late 1966. Across the street, 2657 was converted into Artist Development Department in early 1966.

Gordy Family Involvement

Berry Gordy Sr. - office of the president

Bertha Fuller Gordy - office of the president

Esther Gordy Edwards - Berry's oldest sister. Senior vice-president of Motown Records. Known as the company historian. Stayed in Detroit when the company relocated to Los Angeles.  Ran International Talent Development Inc.

Anna Gordy Gaye

Anna Gordy Gaye - Sister. Co-owner Anna Records. Married to Marvin Gaye (first wife) from 1963-1977. Artist development and songwriter.

Gwen Gordy Fuqua

Gwendolyn Gordy Fuqua - Sister. Married Harvey Fuqua, the leader of the Moonglows and later producer at Motown. As a songwriter she shared credits with   Berry on a number of Jackie Wilson's songs, including "Reet Petite," "Lonely Teardrops," "Lonely Teardrops," and That's Why (I Love Her So)." Co-founded Tri-Phi with her husband in 1961. Artist development.

Loucye Gordy Wakefield - Sister. At the time of her death in 1965, she was Vice-president of Motown and a director of Jobete. In 1964, she developed a system for collecting money from distributors that contributed enormously to Motown's financial well being. In 1968, a fund was established in her name to award $500 scholarships to financially disadvantaged students.

Robert Gordy - Brother. Motown executive and director of Jobete. Recorded as Robert Kayli for Anna Records and Talla.

Fuller Gordy

Fuller Gordy - Brother. Motown executive. Procurement.

George Gordy - Brother. Shared credits on "Beachwood 4-5789" and "Stubborn Kind of Fellow."

After moving in Gordy began staffing the offices. Berry Gordy Sr. took on the role of consultant. Gordy's  sister Esther Gordy Edwards handled the daily administration while another sister Loucye Gordy Wakefield was responsible for receivables. Gordy's brother Robert left his post office job to become a studio engineer.

The Berry and Raynoma were the first officers of Tamala as president and vice president. Liles brother Mike created payroll. Janie Bradford was the first receptionist who were later would co-writing songs.

Aiming for the mass market, Gordy called the music "The Sound of Young America" and affixed a sign over Motown studio that read "Hitsville U.S.A."

Berry Gordy, using methods practiced in Detroit auto factories, ensured the continued success of the Supremes by assembling parts of a hit making machine, that included standardized song writing, an in house rhythm section , a quality control process, selective promotion  and a family atmosphere reminiscent of the paternalism of Henry Ford in his auto plants in the early twentieth century.

L to R: Lamont Dozier, Brian Holland, Eddie Holland

The songwriting team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Eddie Holland joined forces in 1962 and perfected the formula of success that they discovered with their composition "Where Did Our Love Go."

The different singles also sound remarkably similar because of the in house rhythm section known as the Funk Brothers. In 1964, Earl Van Dyke, a former be-bop jazz pianist who toured with R&B singer Lloyd Price became the leader of the studio band. He played with drummer Benny Benjamin and bassist James Jamerson, who had backed Jackie Wilson and the Miracles. Together with a few other musicians the Funk Brothers provided the trademark percussive beat of the Motown sound

Gordy attempted to maintain consistent quality of Motown by conducting weekly meeting that scrutinized possible releases.

Gordy carefully promoted the songs that were released through means that kept the slick Motown image intact. Getting them spots on "The Ed Sullivan Show," "The Dean Martin Show," "The Tonight Show," "The Hollywood Palace," and "Orange Bowl Parade., the Copacabana in New York, exclusive Los Vegas hotels. He even had entertainers such as Sammy Davis Jr. and Broadway star Carol Channing write liner notes.

In 1960, between sets at the Twenty Grand, Gordy met Otis Williams when he walked into the men's room. Formerly known as the Elegants, the Questions, or the  Distants, Gordy renamed them the Temptations. Norm Whitfield, Smokey Robinson, Holland-Dozier-Holland formed the legendary Motown  songwriting production crew.

During the mid-1960s,  Gordy established a music empire that included eight record labels, a management service,  a publishing company, and grossed millions of dollars a year  From 1964 to 1967, Motown had 14 number one pop singles, 20 number one singles on the R&B charts, forty six more Top Fifteen pop singles and seventy-five other Top 15 R&B singles. In 1966 alone, seventy-five percent of Motown's releases made the charts.

In 1967 the Motown empire began to decline. A few days before a scheduled performance by the Supremes at the Hollywood Bowl in April, Gordy fired Florence Ballard, who had become jealous of the increasing prominent position of Diana Ross, and replaced her with Cindy Birdstrong. In July 1968, he fired David Ruffin of the Temptations and hired Dennis Edwards. Gordy quarreled about royalty rates with the the songwriting-production team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, who quit and filed suit against Motown.

Motown's Hollywood office - 6255 Sunset Boulevard

Suffering the departure of H-D-H, Berry Gordy began to concentrate on the career of Diana Ross as a solo act in 1970. Maintaining the company's success with The Jacksons, Gordy moved Motown to Hollywood in 1971 and established Motown Industries, expanding to Broadway musicals and films.

In 1968 Gordy bought Golden World and Ric-Tic Records from Janet Jackson and Eddie Wingate.

During the first half of the '70s, Diana Ross was established as Motown's first all-around entertainer through her work in super clubs and films. Motown suffered defections in the '70s with Martha Reeves recording solo for other labels in 1974 and The Four Tops signing with ABC/Dunhill. Gladys Knight and The Pips recording for Buddah beginning in 1974 and, in 1975 The Jackson Five moved to Epic, as did Michael Jackson in 1978. The Miracles, without Smokey Robinson, switched to Columbia in 1977 and The Temptations went to Atlantic. However, Motown retained its position as an important independent label with the recordings of Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, The Commodores, and Rick James.

Ewart Abner with Stevie Wonder

In 1975 Ewart Abner resigned as president and Barney Ales was brought back.

In November 1980 Jay Lasker was hired to be president and was fired in 1987.

During the '80s Motown struggled. Diana Ross moved to RCA in 1981 and Marvin Gaye signed with Columbia in 1982. The Temptations returned as did The Four Tops by the mid-'80s. The Gordy label introduced Debarge in 1983. The company staged a successful 25th anniversary celebration in 1983 that was later broadcast on ABC-TV. Motown Productions produced Lonesome Dove  for CBS-TV in 1989. However, many former employees, including Eddie Holland and members of The Vandellas and The Marvelettes sued Motown, alleging failure to pay royalties.

In January 1979, Ales was let go. Ewart Abner, director of ITMI, then became president.

In 1985, Esther Gordy Edwards opened  the Motown Historical Museum inside the restored Hitsville building offering tours. There were rumors that the former Motown building on Woodward would be used as a larger museum. However it still remains abandoned and boarded up as of the end of 2000.

In July 1987, Gordy fired Motown President Jay Lasker.

On August 21, 1987 the old Motown office building and studio was designated a historical site by the State of Michigan and Detroit City Council in October, 2007 renamed the stretch of West Grand Boulevard from the John C. Lodge to Grand River Berry Gordy Jr. Boulevard.

In July 1988 Berry Gordy sold Motown Records to MCA and Boston Ventures for $61 million but retained Jobete the publishing arm. Boston Ventures later bought out MCA's interest and sold Motown Records to the Dutch-based Polygram conglomerate for $325 million in 1993. In late 1994, Warner books published Gordy's self-serving biography To Be Loved.

Berry Gordy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990

Classic Motown