Celebrity Stevie Wonder

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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Tagged as: Celebrity Berry Gordy, Celebrity diana ross, Celebrity smokey robinson, Celebrity Stevie Wonder, Celebs Motown, music history

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