News & Updates — Motown

The songs sung by Mary Wells in the early '60s are much-loved and recognizable the world over. She grew up in poverty in Detroit with some major health issues. In fact, she took to singing to ease her problems. After singing in choirs she approached Motown as a wanna-be songwriter and Berry Gordy auditioned her as a singer, with her first record being Wells' self-penned hit "Bye Bye Baby" hitting the charts in 1960. Her first album came out in '61. She was an early star on the growing Motown family of labels, singing hits like "My Guy", "You Beat...

Most people may not know his name but they will know his work. Norman Whitfield is one of the most important producers of R&B/funk/disco due to his imaginative work with Motown and his later disco material. He was originally from Harlem but moved to Detroit as a teenager and started hanging around the Motown studios. As early as 1963 he was being credited as a songwriter and wrote for Marvin Gaye, The Velvelettes and the Marvelettes ("Too Many Fish In The Sea"). His 1966 breakout hit "Ain't To Proud To Beg" with The Temptations afforded him the role as their...

Singer and songwriter Tammi Terrell's star burned bright in her short career, one marked by abuse and tragedy yet she remains a popular artist 45 years after her death. From Philadelphia, two things happened that would positively and negatively affect her life: she was found to have immense talent and was also often subdued by intense migraine headaches (the latter of which started happening after she was raped by neighborhood boys, later convicted, at 11). She hit the road as a teenager with Patti LaBelle and Gary US Bonds and recorded for Wand and Chess Records subsidiary Checker. She sang...

The original hippy, the mystical eden ahbez wrote a tune called "Nature Boy" and by chance was able to hand it to Nat King Cole who turned it into a mega-hit in 1948. He looked like a hippy long before it was a thing and lived outdoors in Los Angeles. He lived under the "L" of the Hollywood sign and held a job as a piano player in a raw foods store. He was a vegetarian, straight edge and an anti-vaxer and wore a white robe. This lifestyle inspired "Nature Boy", and after the hit by Cole, ahbez became an...

Born today, one of the kings of soul music, Marvin Gaye. Is there anyone in the world who doesn't like his music?