Berry Gordy

Greatly Appreciated

BERRY GORDY (JR.)

 
Berry Gordy, Jr.  (born November 28, 1929) is an American record producer and songwriter.  He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label and its subsidiaries.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

Motown Records was founded in Detroit by Berry Gordy, Jr. in 1959; the original record label was Tamla Records, though Motown Records was in evidence later in the year.  The label name is a contraction of “Motor Town”, reflecting the city’s status as the home of America’s largest automakers, and Motown later became a nickname for Detroit as well.  (Technically the main power source in a car is an “engine”, though in the early years, everyone called it a “motor”).  

 

Surprisingly, the Tamla Records label was named after the Debbie Reynolds song “Tammy” that was a hit from the film Tammy and the Bachelor (1957) – needless to say, Tammy is not at all an R&B song – and Berry Gordy originally wanted to name the label “Tammy Records”.  Outside the U.S., the label was named Tamla Motown Records

 

Berry Gordy’s first success as a songwriter was for a big hit for Detroit artist Jackie Wilson, “Lonely Teardrops”.  He wasn’t too happy with his earnings from that song, however, so that led to the founding of the legendary record company, Motown Records

 

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When Diana Ross approached Smokey Robinson (who had been a neighbor previously) about getting an audition with Motown founder Berry GordyRobinson agreed to help but was more impressed with their guitarist; Marvin Tarplin quickly became the guitarist for his band the Miracles for more than a decade.  For his part, Berry Gordy originally thought the girls were too young and inexperienced but finally signed them in January 1961

 

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Early on, Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, and Diana Ross shared lead-vocal duties on their recordings.  Berry Gordy though was always impressed mainly with Diana Ross; from Wikipedia:  “In Berry Gordy’s autobiography, To Be LovedGordy recalled he was heading to a business meeting when he heard Ross singing ‘There Goes My Baby’ and Ross’ voice ‘stopped me in my tracks’.” 

 

Diana Ross left the Supremes in 1970 to start a solo career, though Berry Gordy had been thinking about that as early as 1966.  Guinness World Records lists Diana Ross as the most successful female recording artist in history; combining her recordings with the Supremes and individually, Diana Ross has had 70 charting hit singles and sales of more than 100 million albums.  In 1976Billboard magazine named Diana Ross the “female entertainer of the century”. 

 

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Serge KapustinNatasha Kapustin and Vladimir Shneider of Black Russian were dissident Russian Jews who defected in May 1976 and came to New York City.  They eventually saved enough to go to Hollywood where they auditioned for Berry Gordy at Motown Records.  People magazine notes that this delay in their success in this country was just as well:  “The group couldn’t go public with its fascinating story until six additional family members arrived safely in the U.S.” 

 

(April 2015/1)

 

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Last edited: March 22, 2021