Click Here to Read Report – Michael Jackson will get his in June
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As the soul empire turned 50, its founders are looking back at its brand of music dubbed the “Motown sound” that remains popular today and the record company’s role in breaking down racial barriers in America.
Founded in 1959 in Detroit by songwriter and entrepreneur Berry Gordy using a $1,142 family loan, Motown plans a year-long celebration with record releases, documentaries and exhibitions. There is even talk of a Broadway musical in 2010.
Originally called Tamla and operating out of a two-storey house, Gordy changed the name to Motown to reflect the auto industry that dominated Detroit.
He often likened his method of grooming black talent to an automobile assembly line that transformed plain metal frames into gleaming motorcars.
His management style, which involved weekly “quality control” meetings and lessons in deportment for Motown stars, chafed with some of his biggest acts. But, especially early on, it worked.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Gordy helped to make stars of the likes of Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, the Supremes, the Temptations and the Jackson 5.
Motown boasts nearly 200 number one songs worldwide and in its heyday produced classics like My Girl, What’s Going On, Dancing In The Street and Superstition.
“I think you can hear Motown in almost every song that’s played on radio,” said Geoff Brown of music magazine Mojo.
“What Motown did was … take those forms (R and B, jazz, blues) plus gospel, and meld it into the sort of pop market and aim that music both at black and white America,” he told BBC radio.
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This report was taken from Panache Report! A great website that I visit often.
SMOKEY is APPALLED at the MEDIA COVARGAE of MICHAEL’s DEATH
Soul legend Smokey Robinson has taken aim at the media for the way TV and radio stations and publications covered the death of Michael Jackson.
The singer, who opened the King of Pop’s Los Angeles memorial tribute by reading a letter from an absent Diana Ross, admits he’s still mourning his late friend and the ongoing news coverage surrounding the 25 June (09) tragedy is making things extra hard for him.
He tells EW.com, “It’s hard to let it rest, because the news media’s not letting it rest.
“Every day you turn on the TV and you hear something about it: ‘Now they’re thinking about arresting the doctor.’ And I think it’s a shame what they’ve done about (Jackson’s) kids, talking about the DNA, who’s the real sperm donor, and blah, blah, blah. Those are kids, man. And Michael was their dad. No matter what comes up about the DNA, Michael was their father.
“For them to do that, to run those kids through the mill like that, is atrocious as far as I’m concerned. It’s a ridiculous thing. They’re not thinking about (the fact) that these are kids that they’re doing this to, and what impact it’s going to have on their lives. They just want people to listen to whatever thing they’re doing. It’s a shame.
“So I haven’t had a chance to totally recover, because all this stuff is still going on.
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