The history of Motown, the label that paved the way for the African-American sound

On November 28, 1929, he was born Berry Gordya man who attempted to start a featherweight boxing career, served in the United States Army in the early 1950s and who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. But why did he receive this incredible coronation in the world of music?

Gordy was passionate about music, and already he knew much of the black music scene in Detroithis hometown. Additionally, he had discovered a talented singer named Williams Robinson Jr., better known as Smokey Robinson. For these reasons, in 1959 used an $800 loan from his family to rent a basement where set up his music studio.

Motown’s road to success

What Gordy didn’t know was that that humble company would become a musical monster that ended up transforming the sound of American and world music for the following decades. What was first called Tamla became Motown Recordsdue to Detroit’s position within the automobile industry.

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Now, the task of integrating African-American talent into the North American industry was quite a challenge, which is why the owner of the label decided to keep a message to all those who were part of it: Keep It Simple, Stupid (Make it easy, stupid), or KISS. This meant that artists had to make songs for the average American ear, that were danceable, catchy, and camouflaged among the white product.

The task was successfully completed. In 1961, The Marvelettes conquered the music market with ‘Please Mr. Postman’thus reaching the top of the charts. To that were added titles such as ‘Baby Love’of The Supremeseither ‘My Girl’ and ‘Papa was a Rolling Stone’of The Temptations.

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The Marvelettes conquered everyone in 1961 with their hit, ‘Please Mr. Postman’.

In any case, throughout the world today we can distinguish the “Motown sound”characterized by its simplicity and by the soul. “Having a hybrid hit during that era meant that white audiences would buy your records,” recalls Robinson, who was around at the start of the record label. “Berry’s concept in launching Motown was to record music with vibrant rhythms and good stories to have hits that would be considered pop music”he added.

Many careers took off thanks to Motown Records, which after achieving considerable success It left its Detroit headquarters in 1972 to settle in Los Angeles, where it remained as an independent company until June 28, 1988.. It was there that Gordy sold the company to MCA and Boston Ventures, which took full control in 1991.

Motown’s most notable artists

The list of names that passed through Motown represents a golden selection of artists. In that sense, it is impossible to omit Marvin Gayeone of the most important voices in black music, not only for its quality, but for the sociopolitical messages he left in his songs. A clear example is his iconic album “What’s Going On” of 1971.

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Marvin Gaye, one of the most important voices in black music.

On the other hand, Motown abounded in super bands such as The Marvelettes (Wanda Young-Rogers, Georgeanna Tillman-Gordon, Katherine Anderson and Gladys Horton), The Supremes (Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson and Diana Ross) and The Temptations (Paul Williams, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams, David Ruffin and Melvin Franklin).

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The Supremes (Florence Ballard, Diana Ross and Mary Wilson)

Individual figures were not missing either: Mary Wellsfrom a working family, was the Queen of Motown, with a unique presence and a sweet voice that turned her songs into instant classics. On the other hand, a small 12-year-old phenomenon joined in, which they nicknamed Stevie Wonder. With his imprint on the piano and his original variations of chords and melodies, the prodigy musician was a great inspiration for subsequent generations.

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Stevie Wonder, the little 12-year-old prodigy who delighted everyone with his incredible talent.

But if we are going to talk about Motown we cannot not mention The Jackson 5one of the most popular bands between the 1960s and 1970s, which had an important name in that lineup. In fact, he was the smallest of all: Michael Jackson He took his first steps on Gordy’s label and then launched himself as a solo artist. The artist not only changed the history of music with his memorable songs, but also marked a style, with dances, performances, video clips and aesthetics that were ahead of their time.

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The Jackson 5, one of Motown’s strongest names. Made up of Michael, Tito, Jermaine, Jackie, Randy and Marlon Jackson.