Motown

On a bright Saturday morning in the summer of 1963, 13-year-old Carolyn Crawford walked onto the stage of Detroit’s Fox Theatre and sat behind a piano. She had to bring her A game to this performance, the finals of the Tip-Top Talent Contest, hosted by a local gospel and R&B station. Crawford had collected untold numbers of Tip-Top bread wrappers to get there, and now it was her turn to compete for the grand prize: a four-year contract with Motown Records.  She began to sing “Laughing Boy” by her idol, Mary…

Smokey Robinson’s first collection of new songs in 14 years is gorgeous, tender and utterly filthy – a concept album about sex called Gasms. Robinson, 83, admits he thought the title would be good for business. “When people think of gasms, they think of orgasms first and foremost … I tell everybody: ‘Whatever your gasm is, that’s exactly what I’m talking about.’” He bursts out laughing. Within seconds of meeting him, you can tell this is a man who’s done a hell of a lot of laughing, loving and living.On the title track,…

In 1961, after several dud singles in a row, Barrett Strong turned his back on Motown Records. He swapped one factory for another to work on the production line at Chrysler: “I had to take care of my kids,” he reflected later. It was a bitter twist of fate for a singer whose 1959 single Money (That’s What I Want) – Motown’s debut release, later covered by both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones – had sold almost 1m copies.Born in West Point, Mississippi in 1941, Strong moved with his family to Detroit after the end of the…

Barrett Strong, a singer and songwriter who rose to fame as the vocalist on Motown’s first hit single Money (That’s What I Want), has died, aged 81. The news was confirmed on Monday by the Motown Museum; no cause of death was given.It is with great sadness that we share the passing of legendary @ClassicMotown singer and songwriter Barrett Strong.The voice behind @motown's first hit, the iconic “Money (That’s What I Want),” was born in West Point, Mississippi on February 5, 1941 and was raised in Detroit.…

NEW YORK —  Barrett Strong, one of Motown’s founding artists and most gifted songwriters, who sang lead on the company’s breakthrough single, “Money (That’s What I Want),” and later collaborated with Norman Whitfield on such classics as “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” “War” and “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone,” has died. He was 81.His death was announced Sunday on social media by the Motown Museum, which did not immediately provide further details.“Barrett was not only a great singer and piano player, but he, along with…

More than 73 years ago, Barrett Strong, as a singer, declared “Money (That’s What I Want)” — for the first hit single from the Motown empire. What he actually wound up getting was musical immortality. As a songwriter. Strong — who died Sunday, Jan. 29, at the age of 81 in Detroit — co-wrote some of Motown’s most enduring hits, with a variety of collaborators but primarily the late Norman Whitfield. Those included “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” for Marvin Gaye and Gladys Knight & the Pips,…

Fresh off releasing his fifth solo full-length project of 2022, YoungBoy Never Broke Again has signed a deal with the Universal Music Group-owned Motown.According to Billboard, the Baton Rouge rapper will begin releasing music through Motown in 2023. Complex reached to a YoungBoy rep, who confirmed the signing. The news arrives a year after he announced a joint venture with Motown Records and his Never Broke Again collective.“I felt like I had a responsibility to my artists to make sure to find the right partner for my…

Martha Reeves, the lead singer of Martha and the Vandellas, liked to nail a song in a single take, and one day in May 1964 she believed she had done a decent job first time around on a new song called Dancing in the Street. But then a voice came from the control booth in the Motown label’s Detroit studio, apologetically asking her for one more try because the tape machine had not been turned on.An exasperated Reeves began it again, this time with an extra edge in her voice: “Calling out around the world, are you ready for…

Marva Hicks, a singer and actress known for Broadway roles in The Lion King and Motown: The Musical and for television credits that included Star Trek: Voyager, has died. She was 66. Hicks passed away Friday in New York City, her representative Tanya Young Williams confirmed in a statement. Her cause of death was not shared. “It is with heavy hearts that we share the news of the passing of our dear Marva Hicks Taha. Our beloved wife, family member and friend will be greatly missed and remain…

In 1959, after she had been acting as his chauffeur and general assistant for three years, Mable John became the first female singer signed by Berry Gordy Jr, the founder of Motown Records. “Berry didn’t know how to drive and he didn’t have a car,” she said. Although Gordy acted as her mentor, pianist and songwriter, they were never able to come up with the sort of hits with which Mary Wells, Martha Reeves and Diana Ross, his other female signings, would soon be turning the Detroit-based label into a colossus of the music…