{"id":6206,"date":"2018-12-24T22:07:40","date_gmt":"2018-12-25T06:07:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oohsoul.com\/?p=6206"},"modified":"2019-05-24T18:13:47","modified_gmt":"2019-05-25T01:13:47","slug":"the-detroit-sound-that-molded-american-global-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oohsoul.com\/?p=6206","title":{"rendered":"The Detroit sound that molded American\/Global Music"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Motown founder Berry Gordy plays the piano while a group of his record label employees, including Smokey Robinson (rear) and Stevie Wonder (right), clap and sing along.  How could they ever have imagined what astonishments lay ahead for them? It was all so very unlikely.  No, make that impossible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a cold October day in 1962, 45 Motown Records singers, musicians and chaperones stood shivering with excitement and nerves. They crowded together inside Studio A, the converted garage of a bungalow-style house that 32-year-old Motown founder Berry Gordy had bought, at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit. His neighbors were respectable strivers: Sykes Hernia Control Service and Phelps Funeral Parlor. Gordy, the great-grandson of a Georgia slave, had started his label in early 1959, the same year that Mattel\u2019s plastic dream girl Barbie minced onto the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gordy\u2019s troupe had mustered for the kickoff of the Motortown Revue, the company\u2019s first extensive tour. A snapshot of the moment still hangs in the house on West Grand, which now serves as the Motown Museum. They stand clutching bulging purses and boxy cameras, tucked into tight chicken slacks and mohair sweaters, freshly barbered, manicured and beehived. The Supremes \u2014 Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Diane (later Diana) Ross \u2014 had just graduated from high school. The trio were thrilled to be going but worried that they hadn\u2019t truly earned their seats on the bus. \u201cUnderstand, we were favorites of Berry\u2019s, little special girls,\u201d recalls Wilson, now 74 and living in Los Angeles. \u201cBut unless you had a hit record, you were nobody at Motown. Nearly everyone else on the tour already had a hit.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Those hit makers included Marvin Gaye, the Marvelettes, the Miracles, the Contours and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas. They were joined by newly signed 12-year-old phenom Stevland Hardaway Judkins \u2014 rechristened a more showbiz-sounding Little Stevie Wonder.  \n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n \n\n\n \n\n \n\n \n \n \n\n\n\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\n\n\t<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mary Wells visits London before touring with the Beatles in 1964, marking the first time a Motown artist was to perform in the United Kingdom.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Also aboard, at 19, was Mary Wells, who had been crowned the Queen of Motown. She was regal with her Cleopatra eyeliner yet sweetly vulnerable on vinyl. Wells had been a working girl since age 12, when she had helped her single mother scrub frigid stairwells to support them both. \u201cUntil Motown, in Detroit, there were three big careers for a black girl,\u201d Wells told me years later. \u201cBabies, the factories or daywork. Period.\u201d Gordy\u2019s artists, all African American, were the sons and daughters of former sharecroppers, autoworkers, clerks, housekeepers and church deacons. At the time, Detroit had the fourth-largest black population in the nation, and it produced 50 percent of the world\u2019s automobiles. The odds of escaping the factories or minimum wage work for any young person of color were dismal. But soon after Motown\u2019s first hits blared from radios in the city\u2019s schoolyards and housing projects, legions of young hopefuls besieged the hip, alluring enterprise on West Grand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Temptations (clockwise from left) Paul Williams, Eddie Kendricks, Otis Williams, David Ruffin and Melvin Franklin.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Those who made the cut were ambitious, pliant and eager to please. They\u2019d do anything \u2014 sing background on demos at 3 a.m., hand clap, sweep floors, file session notes. Temptations<\/a> lead singer David Ruffin helped Gordy\u2019s father build the studio. In the Artists and Repertoire department, Martha Reeves was secretary and muse to 17 staff songwriters and producers. Gordy\u2019s hit factory ran 24\/7. Overall he paid poorly, but he plumped staff morale with bowling nights, picnics, poker and touch football games. A pot of chili bubbled in near perpetuity in the kitchen. The Hitsville troupe were a family of sorts \u2014 boisterous, competitive and tight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of those dragging their luggage to the leased Motortown bus and five cars on that chilly day had never even left the state. In a phone interview from her home in Detroit, Martha Reeves<\/a>, now 77, laughed at their utter naivete as they climbed aboard. \u201cThe bus was a broken-down Trailways with no toilet,\u201d she remembers. \u201cWe had to lean on the window or on each other to try and sleep.\u201d During the tour, which lasted from October through December, Reeves says the performers slept in hotels two nights per week, at most. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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That grueling tour and the many that followed were part of Gordy\u2019s audacious plan for integration \u2014 and domination \u2014 of the Top 100 pop chart. He announced his ambition on the building\u2019s facade: Hitsville U.S.A<\/a>. The lettering was painted in bold \u201cMotown blue,\u201d the same saturated hue on their now-iconic record labels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Marvelettes (from left): Wanda Young-Rogers, Georgeanna Tillman-Gordon, Katherine Anderson and Gladys Horton.  <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But how could his crew break through the stubborn segregation of a music industry that confined black 45s to \u201crhythm and blues\u201d charts? In 1960, only four singles by African American artists reached the higher altitudes of the pop (that is, white) Top 100. \u201cCrossover at that time meant that white people would buy your records,\u201d recalls Smokey Robinson<\/a>, who was present at the label\u2019s inception. \u201cBerry\u2019s concept in starting Motown was to make music with a funky beat and great stories that would cross over.\u201d Gordy\u2019s hybrid product was a m\u00e9lange of pop, R&B and even a touch of Vegas, shot with gospel harmonies and rhythms \u2014 in short, polyglot American. He began releasing records on three company labels: Tamla, Gordy and Motown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some striking demographics helped underwrite his gamble. Teenagers \u2014 those impulsive, hormonal buyers of 99-cent singles \u2014 were fast becoming the largest population group in the U.S., and they controlled billions of dollars a year in disposable cash. Would white kids spend their money on records by black artists? Gordy got his answer in 1961, when the Marvelettes\u2019 \u201cPlease Mr. Postman\u201d hit No. 1 on the pop chart. It appeared that kids didn\u2019t care who was making the music if it was compelling and danceable enough. Given the almost limitless potential of the teen fan base, a tour introducing Motowners to live audiences on the East Coast and in the Deep South would be Berry Gordy\u2019s moon shot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And what a ride it has turned out to be. What colossal, long-playing reverb. It\u2019s still hard to cruise a supermarket aisle or settle into brewpub trivia night without hearing the Motown sound pumping out of speakers. 
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\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Left to right: Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and Florence Ballard of the Supremes.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve got sunshine on a cloudy day …<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ain\u2019t no mountain high, ain\u2019t no valley low \u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Within a year of that first tour, Gordy\u2019s company, begun with an $800 loan from his family\u2019s credit fund, would post $4.5 million in revenue and launch a galaxy of singles into the Top 100 pop chart. Motown\u2019s appeal quickly spanned the Atlantic, as the Supremes and the Beatles traded spots at No. 1. During its most successful years, from 1962 to 1971, Motown and its subsidiary labels racked up a stunning 180 No. 1 hits worldwide. Gordy liked to boast that 70 percent of his record sales were to white buyers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motown\u2019s impact on popular culture is not so simply calculated. The Supremes did ads for those American staples, Coke and white bread; the cuddly Jackson 5 became a Saturday cartoon. Spotify still lists the Temptations\u2019 \u201cMy Girl\u201d as a top wedding song. Motown has lit up TV and movie screens, from the ominous chords of Marvin Gaye\u2019s \u201cI Heard It Through the Grapevine\u201d opening The Big Chill<\/em> to Broadway-musical and movie productions of Dreamgirls<\/em>, the hit retooling of a Supremes-like saga. Over a third of Americans tuned in to the 1983 TV anniversary special Motown 25: Yesterday, Today and Forever. <\/em>Yearly, 80,000 visitors pass through the museum on West Grand. And the museum is planning to expand. Ford Motor Co. and its union, UAW-Ford, have donated $6 million for a proposed $50 million expansion on adjacent land donated by Berry Gordy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the label itself, Gordy sold it to MCA and Boston Ventures in 1988 for $61 million. He fretted that he had set his price too low, and that proved true. Polygram bought it for nearly five times that, $301 million, in 1993. Today the label is modest in size, part of the giant Universal Music Group. Reimagined as \u201cThe New Definition of Soul,\u201d its artists include the protean Grammy-winning Erykah Badu and a rowdy posse of hip-hop acts: Lil Yachty, Lil Baby and social media star turned rapper Cuban Doll. 
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Clockwise from top left: William Guest, Merald \u201cBubba\u201d Knight, Gladys Knight and Edward Patten.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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PRD4PM GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS Promotional photo of US R&B group about 1966<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

How did Gordy achieve his audacious crossover dream? He declined to be interviewed for this story, but he has often credited his business model to his short tenure as an $86.40-a-week worker on a Lincoln-Mercury assembly line. He hated the work, but the plant\u2019s precision and efficiency left a lasting impression. \u201cEvery day I\u2019d watch how a bare metal frame rolling down the line would become a spanking brand-new car,\u201d he has said. \u201cWhat a great idea! Maybe I could do the same with my music. Create a place where a kid off the street could walk in one door an unknown, go through a process and come out a star.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At Motown he built himself a Ford-tough quality control process that scrutinized every release. The music was heavy on studio-stamped style and far lighter in spirit than the unvarnished soul of Aretha Franklin<\/a> (who recorded her biggest hits on Atlantic) and the Memphis vamps of Otis Redding and other Stax\/Volt stars. Motown\u2019s repetitive hooks burrowed into teen brains, and its thumping backbeat was something even the most rhythm-challenged kids could dance to. A stable of staff songwriters kept the hits coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motown\u2019s equipment and facilities were basic and often improvised. Studio A \u2014 also known as the Snakepit \u2014 had walls so flimsy that a sentinel was stationed outside the nearby bathroom, lest the roar of a flush ruin a take. Gordy confessed, \u201cWe would try anything to get a unique percussion sound: two blocks of wood slapped together … anything. I might see a producer dragging in bike chains or getting a whole group of people stomping on the floor.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That make-it-do attitude extended to the performers. Gordy did sign a few polished, established groups, including Gladys Knight & the Pips, but mostly he mined and refined a lot of raw talent. Many of his singers were gospel-trained in Detroit\u2019s African American churches. The masterful studio musicians, known as the Funk Brothers, were assembled by Artists and Repertoire director Mickey Stevenson, who combed the seediest bars and clubs in town for the best session men. Just as essential to the Motown sound were the Andantes, a sublime trio of backup singers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"Gladys<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pictorial Press\/Alamy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clockwise from top left: William Guest, Merald \u201cBubba\u201d Knight, Gladys Knight and Edward Patten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Motown\u2019s public face \u2014 its artists \u2014 got dance and voice training, as well as mandatory style and comportment lessons, in Motown\u2019s fabled Artist Development department, run by Miss Maxine Powell. Wardrobe, grooming, diction \u2014 Miss Powell had it covered. Her coaching did help prepare the Supremes, who grew up in Detroit\u2019s Brewster-Douglas projects, to meet England\u2019s \u201cqueen mum\u201d and navigate the formal etiquette of Japan. 
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On tour in America, the Motown artists faced a different sort of culture clash. One hot day in New Orleans, Mary Wells drew stares as she leaned into a drinking fountain and giddily assumed she had been recognized \u2014 until she looked up and saw the \u201cWhites Only\u201d sign. \u201cIn Detroit, we didn\u2019t encounter a lot of segregation,\u201d Mary Wilson<\/a> says. \u201cAs we started touring we started understanding what our parents had been telling us about the South. We found out that there were places we couldn\u2019t go.\u201d She recalled the day when their bus pulled into the Heart of the South Motel in South Carolina. It had a pool! Hot, dusty and weary, the travelers dove in. \u201cAnd all these other people started jumping out,\u201d Wilson says. \u201cAll of them white.\u201d Local deejays had been spinning Motown records all week, and at that tense moment, one of the songs was playing on a poolside radio. When the white hotel guests realized that the black swimmers were the ones they\u2019d been listening to, \u201cthey came back in the pool,\u201d Wilson says. \u201cThe rest of the day we partied.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were other incremental victories. Police stopped trying to enforce the rope lines that divided black and white audience members, and everyone danced together. But after their tour bus was shot at in Birmingham, Alabama, Martha Reeves understood the fear and fury caused by a busload of African American youths: \u201cWe were mistaken a lot for Freedom Riders trying to make a movement.\u201d In July 1967, Reeves was onstage in Detroit, singing the smash \u201cDancing in the Street,\u201d when she was called to the wings and asked to send the audience home to check on their families. The Motor City was burning. A police raid had triggered one of the bloodiest race riots in American history. It killed 43 and damaged over 2,000 buildings. Hitsville escaped the flames, but almost immediately, Reeves said, Motowners felt some misplaced blame. During a subsequent British tour, a reporter accused Reeves of being a militant leader. \u201cThey said that my song \u2018Dancing in the Street\u2019 was a call to riot. My Lord, it was a party song.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More and more, old racial tensions and the churn of the growing civil rights movement were impossible to dance past. Motown artists who had sung their share of lovestruck pop tunes would turn their attention to real, biting commentary on social justice, with releases like Edwin Starr\u2019s \u201cWar,\u201d Marvin Gaye\u2019s \u201cWhat\u2019s Going On\u201d and Stevie Wonder\u2019s \u201cLiving for the City.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Berry Gordy founded Motown Records in 1959.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, as Detroit was trying to recover, Gordy moved his main operation to a larger, safer building downtown. His artists hated it. Worse, some were close to hitless without the magic of the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, who had departed the label in 1968 amid a flurry of lawsuits and countersuits over royalties. \u201cFrom 1970 on, Berry wasn\u2019t really interested in the record business,\u201d observed his longtime marketing man and consigliere, Barney Ales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1972, Gordy moved the company to Hollywood, setting up shop on Sunset Boulevard. He moved some of his blended family (he\u2019s been married and divorced three times and has eight children) into a home in the Hollywood Hills. Down the street, there was a smaller rental home for Diana Ross. Their long affair \u2014 the stuff of Dreamgirls <\/em>\u2014 was an open secret. Gordy was also candid about his desire to become a TV and movie mogul, with his prot\u00e9g\u00e9 draped in furs and acclaim. Miss Ross would star in Lady Sings the Blues<\/em> and the regrettable, Gordy-directed melodrama, Mahogany<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back in Detroit, between 200 and 300 Motown employees had lost their jobs. Some, like the Contours\u2019 Joe Billingslea, went back to the factory floors. Others, like the Four Tops, found new recording deals. But something precious had been lost. Duke Fakir<\/a>, now 82 and the sole surviving original member of the Tops, says those still in Detroit were bereft. \u201cMotown was more than brick and mortar.  It was a huge part of our social life. We spent as much time there as we did at home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Los Angeles, those adorable Jacksons helped carry the torch and the bottom line. In 1970, \u201cI\u2019ll Be There\u201d sold over 3 million copies. As disco, funk and \u201cadult contemporary\u201d took hold, Motown signed that platform-booted superfreak Rick James as well as the Commodores, a former student band fronted by Lionel Richie. But there was a steady stream of artist defections \u2014 even Diana Ross left the label in 1981.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI always knew I\u2019d have to leave,\u201d Michael Jackson told me in 1982, as he was about to release his monster hit, Thriller,<\/em> his second solo album on the Epic label. He explained that even as a child, he knew that the Motown studio system was too confining for his singular vision. Nonetheless, MJ said he was grateful for the homeschooling in Studio A. He studied the producers with a silent obsession. \u201cI was like a hawk preying in the night,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019d watch everything.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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LOS ANGELES – JANUARY 1971: R<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Jackson 5 in 1971 (clockwise from bottom left): Michael, Tito, Jackie, Jermaine and Marlon.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many showbiz dynasties, Motown has also seen its share of tragic deaths. Temptation Paul Williams fatally shot himself two blocks from Hitsville. The Supremes\u2019 Florence Ballard endured a heartrending spiral into depression and alcoholism and died of a heart attack at 32. Mary Wells lost her voice and her life to throat cancer at 49. A grieving Marvin Gaye could not perform live for four years after his duet partner, the stunning Tammi Terrell, collapsed in his arms onstage and died following brain surgery in 1970. Beset with drug problems, Gaye was shot to death by his father in 1984. Complications from substance abuse killed Temptation David Ruffin and Michael Jackson. They were all mourned like family by their labelmates.
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Among the survivors of Motown\u2019s first generation, the road still beckons for some. Martha Reeves performs with two of her sisters acting as latter-day Vandellas. Duke Fakir and his Tops tour 35 weeks a year. Otis Williams<\/a>, the last original Temptation, is still on the road with \u201cmy guys.\u201d There have been 22 replacements \u2014 so far. Yes, audiences still insist on the Tempts\u2019 razor-sharp choreography \u2014 but sorry, folks, no more spins and splits. Williams is 77 and admits that some nights he\u2019s bone-tired. \u201cYet here I stay. All we ever wanted to do was just sing and make the girls happy.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It did start out simply \u2014 as did Mr. Ford\u2019s basic Model T. In America, the product Gordy and his artists delivered was revolutionary in terms of black entrepreneurship and crossover clout. That loud, insistent backbeat was also heard worldwide. It prefigured today\u2019s \u201cglobal music\u201d while delivering lifelong memories to millions. Gordy\u2019s star-making machinery was primitive compared with today\u2019s algorithm-driven merchandising. But in Motown\u2019s frenzied boom years, Hitsville stamped out some remarkably durable goods. Solid state, still danceable and alluring, those blue-labeled 45s can claim the same honorific conferred on those other Detroit dream machines of yore: American classics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the beginning there was Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown<\/a> records, a writer and producer of popular music that he hoped would one day reach all of young America, a man known for his impeccable ear and relentless drive. So it\u2019s not surprising that the second act Gordy signed to his label was William \u201cSmokey\u201d Robinson, a teenage composer, and his singing group, the Miracles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like Gordy, Robinson was a prolific creator \u2014 he\u2019s now credited with more than 4,000 songs and dozens of Top 40 hits, including \u201cMy Girl\u201d for the Temptations, \u201cMy Guy\u201d for Mary Wells and \u201cAin\u2019t That Peculiar\u201d for Marvin Gaye. But Robinson also went on to sing many of the timeless hits he created: \u201cThe Tracks of My Tears,\u201d \u201cI Second That Emotion\u201d and \u201cThe Tears of a Clown,\u201d for openers. He also became a Motown vice president, producer and talent scout. The image of Motown to this day is tied up with the image of Smokey Robinson \u2014 both are associated with class and taste and the ability to cross over to white audiences without ever losing the love and admiration of black fans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robinson has earned his place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame and has been honored by the Kennedy Center. Two years ago he received the Library of Congress\u2019 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. These days his voice remains sweet and strong \u2014 he\u2019s still recording and performing; in February and March he\u2019ll be playing four shows at the Wynn resort in Las Vegas. At 78, he says he\u2019s healthy and happy. When he\u2019s not singing, he\u2019s doing yoga, eating vegan or playing golf. In October we invited music journalist Tour\u00e9 to interview the Motown legend. Robinson was eager to talk about his role in the label\u2019s history but was still mourning the August death of his friend, Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin<\/a> \u2014 they\u2019d known each other since she was 6 years old and he was 8 \u2014 so we\u2019ll start there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How are you feeling now about the loss of Aretha? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m still in recovery mode, because I love her and I\u2019m going to miss our conversations and our getting together. But I know that spiritually she\u2019s in a better place. She was suffering at the end there, and I don\u2019t ever want to see her suffer. So now she\u2019s cool, and I\u2019m cool \u2019cause she\u2019s cool.
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You and Aretha grew up in Detroit, along with lots of stars \u2014 Jackie Wilson, Martha Reeves, Diana Ross, Mary Wells and more. The Detroit you grew up in was so musically fertile. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were thousands upon thousands of talented people there. We used to have group battles on the street corners. There were groups that would outsing me and the Miracles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aretha Franklin and Smokey Robinson in 1982<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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UNITED STATES – JANUARY 01: Photo of Aretha FRANKLIN and Smokey ROBINSON; L-R: Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson (Photo by Ebet Roberts\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

But other cities are loaded with good musicians. What was different about Detroit and your era?<\/strong>
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Berry Gordy. I believe there are talented people in every city, every town, every township, every village, every nook in the world. But Berry Gordy gave us an outlet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What was unique about Berry?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was a music man. When I met him, he was writing songs for Jackie Wilson and other people like that, and he was a record producer. Back in those days, especially if you were black, nobody was paying you what you should be paid, if they paid you at all. So Berry decided to start his own record company and gave us that outlet.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some record execs succeed because they have the ears and some because they can make the business work.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most record companies, back then, were run by lawyers or guys who just wanted to go into the record business for a hobby or something. But we had a music man at the helm. Somebody whose first love was music and producing records and writing songs. So that was a real asset for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Did he help you become a better songwriter?<\/strong>
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Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did he teach you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to make my song be one idea. When I met Berry, the Miracles had gone to an audition with Jackie Wilson\u2019s managers. Berry was there that day to hand in some new songs. We sang five songs I had written. Jackie Wilson\u2019s managers didn\u2019t like us at all, but after they had rejected us, Berry came out and said, \u201cI liked a couple of your songs, man \u2014 where did you get them from?\u201d I had 100 songs in a loose-leaf notebook. But most of them were haphazard, because my first verse had nothing to do with my second verse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he showed you how to make them more cohesive?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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LOS ANGELES – JUNE 15: R and B singer and songwriter Smokey Robinson expresses his surprise midway through his performance at the Greek Theatre after he was joined onstage by Motown Records founder Berry Gordy on June 15, 1981 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Joan Adlen\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

What did he teach you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to make my song be one idea. When I met Berry, the Miracles had gone to an audition with Jackie Wilson\u2019s managers. Berry was there that day to hand in some new songs. We sang five songs I had written. Jackie Wilson\u2019s managers didn\u2019t like us at all, but after they had rejected us, Berry came out and said, \u201cI liked a couple of your songs, man \u2014 where did you get them from?\u201d I had 100 songs in a loose-leaf notebook. But most of them were haphazard, because my first verse had nothing to do with my second verse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So he showed you how to make them more cohesive?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absolutely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joan Adlen\/Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smokey Robinson expresses his surprise midway through a performance when Berry Gordy joins him on stage in 1981.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you have a normal method of writing, like \u201cI want to start with the rhythm and then get to the melody\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No, there\u2019s none of that, babe. Not for a real songwriter \u2014 there\u2019s none of that. There\u2019s no, \u201cLet me start with this first every time,\u201d because then you\u2019re handicapping yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When did you first think, I\u2019m a good singer<\/em>?<\/strong>
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I never thought that. I\u2019m not one of those people. I\u2019m not an ego singer. I\u2019ve never thought what you just said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve never thought that you were a good singer?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No. I think I feel songs. Whitney Houston was a great singer. Celine Dion is a great singer. Aretha Franklin was a great singer. I\u2019m not in that category. I won\u2019t fool myself. But I feel what I sing, and I think people can feel what I feel when I do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>

Smokey Robinson performing at the Silver Creek Event Center in New Buffalo, Mich., on Oct. 5, 2018.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

When did you first think you could be a professional singer?<\/strong>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was<\/em> a professional singer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You didn\u2019t realize you were good enough until then?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I grew up with some guys who could sing me under the table. All I know is that we were fortunate and blessed enough to meet a man who gave us a chance to make records. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

OK, I want to talk about some of those records. \u201cI Second That Emotion\u201d is just an incredible performance. What\u2019s the feeling that \u201cI Second That Emotion\u201d is working with?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re musical, that stuff happens automatically. I do concerts every night, and it\u2019s never the same. I\u2019ve sung \u201cOoo Baby Baby\u201d 500,000 times, but every night it\u2019s brand-new because I don\u2019t know how I\u2019m going to deliver it. Whatever comes out of me that night is what it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about \u201cThe Tears of a Clown\u201d? I love that song.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you. You can thank Stevie Wonder for that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He wrote that?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wrote the words; Stevie and Hank Cosby wrote the music. Stevie had recorded that track, and he couldn\u2019t think of a song to go with it, so he gave it to me. I wanted to write something about the circus that would be touching to people. When I was a child, I heard a story about Pagliacci, the Italian clown. Everybody loved him and they cheered him, but when he went back to his dressing room he cried, because he didn\u2019t have that kind of love from a woman. So that\u2019s what \u201cThe Tears of a Clown\u201d is about. It\u2019s a version of Pagliacci\u2019s life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you put it like that, the song could be a ballad.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best version that I\u2019ve ever heard of \u201cThe Tears of a Clown\u201d is by a jazz singer who did it as a ballad. Her name is Nnenna Freelon. She had a violin crying in the background, and it was  beautiful, because it\u2019s a sad song. My version is upbeat only because of the musical track that Stevie gave me, but in essence it\u2019s a sad song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ou do make me want to cry with \u201cThe Tracks of My Tears.\u201d<\/strong>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, thank you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell me about that song.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Tracks of My Tears\u201d originated with my guitarist, Marv Tarplin, and was cowritten with Pete Moore. Marv put his guitar riffs on tape and gave them to me to write lyrics. The first thing I came up with was, \u201cTake a good look at my face, see my smiling side of the place, be the closest thing to trace, that you\u2019re gone and I\u2019m not.\u201d And I said, \u201cNo, that\u2019s not it.\u201d Then, \u201cIt\u2019s easy to trace that I miss you so much.\u201d And I said, \u201cNo, that\u2019s not it.\u201d Then one day I was at my mirror, shaving, and I said, \u201cWhat if a person cried until their tears had actually left tracks in their face?\u201d Then I was able to finish the song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So it took you a while to find that part to finish the song?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yeah, yeah, but I did that in a couple months. \u201cCruisin\u2019\u201d took five years. Marv had given me the music, and I loved it. I used to go to sleep by it, I loved it so much. So I kept working on it. Then one day I was driving down Sunset Boulevard and I had my top down, and I said, \u201cI\u2019m just cruis-in\u2019 down Sunset.\u201d And then I said, \u201cCruisin\u2019! That\u2019s it!\u201d I turned my car around, man. I want that gold!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell me about young Michael Jackson. What was it like having him around?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Michael<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Young Michael Jackson was a man. He didn\u2019t have a childhood. From the time he was, like, 8, they had him singing in the nightclubs. So when he got grown, he became a child because he could do it \u2014 he could play, he could do all those things he didn\u2019t do as a child.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about Marvin Gaye?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marvin Gaye was my brother<\/em> brother. We were together all the time, and he recorded my favorite album of all time, What\u2019s Going On.<\/em> He was one of the greatest singers ever. I used to tell him all the time, \u201cYou Marvinized my song, man.\u201d Because he would do stuff vocally that I had never even dared to dream could be a part of the song. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is it like to work with Stevie Wonder?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

His music covers every genre you can think of \u2014 from gospel to jazz and everything in between. He\u2019s just an extremely talented person, and he\u2019s my brother. We always have a great time. We\u2019d be working together and Stevie would come up to me and whisper in my ear, \u201cHey, Smoke, man, I\u2019ma whoop your ass.\u201d I mean, that\u2019s how we are with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Stevie

Little Stevie Wonder in 1963<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You were a central figure in the most important label of the century, in terms of music and in terms of social impact. What does that mean to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means everything to me, man. That\u2019s beyond our wildest dreams. Berry and I talk about it all the time. We never dared to dream that Motown would become what it has become. The very first day of Motown, there were five people there. Berry Gordy sat us down and said, \u201cI\u2019m going to start my own record company. We are not just going to make black music \u2014 we\u2019re going to make music for the world.\u201d That was our plan, and we did it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>

1959<\/em>
Berry Gordy borrows $800 from his family savings club and starts Tamla Record Co.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"

1960
Motown releases its first hit single, \u201cMoney (That\u2019s What I Want),\u201d sung by Barrett Strong. 
The Miracles featuring Smokey Robinson record \u201cShop Around,\u201d the first Motown record to sell 1 million copies.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>

1961
The Marvelettes release \u201cPlease Mr. Postman.\u201d This was the first Motown song to reach the No. 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>

1962
The Contours release \u201cDo You Love Me?\u201d \u2014 which was written for the Temptations. Because Gordy was unable to locate the group, the song was given to the Contours.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"

1963
Mary Wells appears on American Bandstand with Dick Clark.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>

1964
The Temptations\u2019 first Top 20 hit is \u201cThe Way You Do the Things You Do.\u201d<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>

1965
Six Motown releases reach No. 1, including \u201cI Can\u2019t Help Myself\u201d by the Four Tops and \u201cStop! In the Name of Love\u201d by the Supremes.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

1966<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>
PRD4PM GLADYS KNIGHT AND THE PIPS Prootional photo of US R&B group about 1966<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

1966<\/em>
Gladys Knight & the Pips, rising stars from Atlanta, sign a record deal with Motown.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>

1967
Martha and the Vandellas release \u201cJimmy Mack\u201d on the Gordy label.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>

1968
Marvin Gaye\u2019s version of \u201cI Heard It Through the Grapevine\u201d hits No. 1 on the pop chart.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>

1969
The Jackson 5 performs at the Daisy Disco in Los Angeles, with an introduction by Diana Ross.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>

1970
Edwin Starr releases \u201cWar.\u201d<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>

1971
Michael Jackson appears on the cover of Rolling Stone for the first time.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Motown founder Berry Gordy plays the piano while a group of his record label employees, including Smokey Robinson (rear) and Stevie Wonder (right), clap and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6207,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oohsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oohsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oohsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oohsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oohsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6206"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/oohsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6206\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6302,"href":"https:\/\/oohsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6206\/revisions\/6302"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oohsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6207"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oohsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oohsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oohsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}