12/26/2023 0 Comments Ceo of motown records(Robinson, invaluable to Gordy, stayed with the company for years, becoming a Motown executive.) Gordy next achieved an instant success with newcomer Marv Johnson singing "Come to Me." United Artists bought the recording and soon Gordy had signed another act to that label. Gordy had discovered Smokey Robinson's group, the Miracles, and after the local success of their first single, he began acting as their manager as well as producer. Gordy therefore set out to build his publishing company, Jobete, and own record label, Tamla Records, in 1959. Still, after several consecutive hits, the writing team had little financial gain to show for their work. Jackie Wilson's hit "Reet Petite," by Davis and Berry Gordy, became one of the most popular songs in the country. "All I Could Do Was Cry," recorded by Etta James on Chess Records, became a hit and made Gordy and Davis a sought-after commodity. Gordy and his writing partners Roquel Billy Davis and sister Gwen Gordy eventually made connections at a variety of small music labels. Nevertheless, while fastening trim he was composing songs in his head. After marrying and starting a family, however, he took a job on the Ford assembly line. Still, his conversion came too late to save the store.Īfter a stint as a cookware salesman, Gordy settled down to write songs again, taking advantage of one of his father's apartments, available rent-free. The shop languished until jazz enthusiast Gordy warmed to the simpler blues records that were popular at the time. When he returned to Detroit he opened the 3D-Record Mart/House of Jazz with the help of family members. He persuaded his family to let him record a jingle he had written for their printing business.īefore his musical career could begin in earnest, however, he was drafted and spent the next couple of years in Korea. After ditching a promising career in boxing in favor of the freer musician's lifestyle, he began writing songs full-time. Gordy entered a variety of occupations from contracting for his father to shining shoes and hawking newspapers. He learned the rudiments of music from an uncle while an early taste for gambling may have foretold his calling to the riskiest of businesses, the music industry. has struggled to replicate its early success while celebrating its heritage in re-issued recordings, television specials, and the nostalgic Motown Cafe and Motown Museum.īerry Gordy, Jr.,was born in Detroit on November 28, 1929, the first Thanksgiving Day of the Great Depression. A part of the PolyGram group since 1993, Motown Records Company L.P. The New Republic has called it "the most successful Black-owned business in American history." Many first think of the company's trademark sound-the bluesy, impassioned recordings that dominated popular music in the 1960s.
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