Berry Gordy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Berry Gordy, Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | November 28, 1929 |
| Origin | Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | R&B, soul, pop |
| Occupation(s) | Record executive, songwriter, record producer, film producer, and television producer |
| Years active | 1957–1999 |
| Label(s) | Motown |
| Associated acts | The Jackson 5ive, The Corporation, The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, The Miracles |
Berry Gordy, Jr. [1] (born November 28, 1929, Detroit, Michigan) is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Early years
Gordy, Jr. was the seventh of eight children born to the middle class family of Berry Gordy II (a.k.a. Berry Gordy, Sr.)[1] and Bertha Fuller Gordy, who had relocated to Detroit from Milledgeville, Georgia in 1922. Gordy was brought up in a tight-knit family with strong morals. Berry Gordy II (1888–1978) was the son of Berry Gordy I and a woman named Lucy. Berry Gordy I was the son of James Thomas Gordy, a white farmer, and a female slave in Georgia. This James Thomas Gordy (1828–1889) was also, by his wife Harriet Emily Helms, the great-grandfather of Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, making Berry Gordy III and Carter second half-cousins. It is also through James Thomas Gordy (and James' great-grandfather Andreas Presley) that Berry Gordy and Elvis Presley are related.
Berry Gordy II was lured to Detroit by the many job opportunities for blacks offered by booming automotive businesses.[1]
Berry Gordy, Jr's older siblings were all prominent black citizens of Detroit. Berry, however, dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade to become a professional boxer in hopes of becoming rich quick, a career he followed until 1950 when he was drafted by the United States Army for the Korean War.
After his return from Korea in 1953, he married Thelma Coleman. He developed his interest in music by writing songs and opening the 3-D Record Mart, a record store featuring jazz music. The store was unsuccessful and Gordy sought work at the Lincoln-Mercury plant, but his family connections put him in touch with Al Green (not the singer), owner of the Flame Show Bar talent club, where he met singer Jackie Wilson.
In 1957, Wilson recorded Reet Petite, a song Gordy had co-written with his sister Gwen and writer-producer Billy Davis. It became a modest hit but had more success internationally, especially in the UK where it reached the Top 10 and even later topped the chart on re-issue in 1986. Wilson recorded four more songs co-written by Gordy over the next two years, including "Lonely Teardrops", which topped the R & B charts and got to number 7 in the pop chart.
[edit] Motown Record Corporation
Gordy reinvested his songwriting success into producing. In 1957 he discovered The Miracles (originally known as The Matadors) and began building a portfolio of successful artists. In January 1959, Gordy, using an $800 loan from his family, founded an R&B label called Tamla Records, which produced Marv Johnson's first hit, "Come To Me." This was picked up for national distribution by United Artists Records who also released the artist's more successful follow-up records such as "You Got What It Takes", co-produced and co-written by Gordy. At Miracles leader Smokey Robinson's encouragement, Gordy created Tamla on December 14, 1959, which later was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)," besides appearing on Tamla, charted on Gordy's Anna label from February 1960. The Miracles' hit "Shop Around" peaked nationally at #1 on the R&B charts in late 1960 and at #2 on the pop charts on, January 16, 1961 and established Motown as an independent company worthy of notice. Later in 1961, The Marvelettes "Please Mr Postman" made it to the top of both charts.
Gordy did not cultivate white artists, although some were signed, such as Nick and the Jaguars, Chris Clark, Rare Earth, The Valadiers, Debbie Dean and Connie Haines. Kiki Dee became the first white female British singer to be signed to the Motown label. He also employed several white workers and managers at the company's headquarters, named Hitsville U.S.A., on Detroit's West Grand Boulevard. He largely promoted African-American artists but carefully controlled their public image, dress, manners and choreography for across-the-board appeal.
His gift for identifying and bringing together musical talent, along with the careful management of his artists' public image, made Motown initially a major national and then international success. Over the next decade, he signed such artists as Mary Wells, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Jimmy Ruffin, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight and The Pips, The Commodores, The Velvelettes, Martha & the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder and The Jackson 5.
In 1968, Gordy moved to Los Angeles, California, and expanded Motown's offices there, following the riots in Detroit. In June 1972, he relocated the entire Motown Records company to L.A., closing the Hitsville studios which had produced a long string of worldwide hits. The following year, he reorganized the company into Motown Industries, an entertainment conglomerate that would include record, movie, television and publishing divisions.
In the '70s, Gordy produced the successful film Lady Sings the Blues starring Diana Ross. The film also starred Richard Pryor, and introduced Billy Dee Williams. The studio rejected Williams after several screen tests, but Gordy, known for his gut-feeling tenacity, won out. Williams became a star and Ross was nominated for an Academy Award. (Williams would also go on to portray Gordy in the 1992 miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream.) Berry Gordy soon after produced and directed Mahogany, also starring Diana Ross. In 1985, he produced the cult martial arts film The Last Dragon, which starred martial artist Taimak and one of Prince's girls, Vanity.
Although Motown continued to produce major hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s by artists like the Jacksons, Rick James, Lionel Richie and long-term signings, Stevie Wonder and Smokey Robinson, the record company was no longer the major force it had been previously. Gordy sold his interests in Motown Records to MCA and Boston Ventures on June 28, 1988 for $61 million. He also later sold most of his interests in the Jobete publishing concern to EMI Publishing.
Gordy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and published an autobiography, To Be Loved, in 1994.
[edit] Personal life
Gordy—who married and divorced three times, to Thelma Coleman, Raynoma Singleton, and Grace Eaton—has eight children: Hazel Joy, Berry Gordy IV, Sherry, Kennedy, Kerry, Rhonda, Stefan and Terry James. (His publishing company, Jobete was named after his three oldest children, Joy, Berry and Terry.)
Rhonda Ross Kendrick born August 15, 1971 is the daughter of Gordy and his most successful female Motown artist, Diana Ross, with whom he had a five year relationship. Kennedy Gordy born March 15, 1964 is the son of Berry Gordy and Berry's ex-girlfriend Margaret Norton. Kennedy is better known as the Motown musician Rockwell. Kerry Gordy son of Gordy and Raynoma Singleton was born June 25, 1959. He is a music executive. Stephen Kendal Gordy, born September 3, 1975, is Gordy's son with Nancy Leiviska. Sherry is his daughter by Jeena Jackson. Gordy's daughter Hazel was once married to Jermaine Jackson. He recently bought a retirement home in Palm Desert, California.
Gordy delivered the commencement address at Michigan State University on May 5, 2006 and at Occidental College on May 20, 2007. He received an honorary degree from each school.
Gordy was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1998. He gave a moving speech during Michael Jackson's memorial service in Los Angeles on July 7 2009 which featured his Motown Friends, Lionel Richie, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder.
He spoke at the memorial of Michael Jackson as a tribute to being one of the earliest and most successful of Motown musicians. He suggested that 'The King of Pop' was perhaps not the best description for Jackson in light of his achievements, rather calling him 'the greatest entertainer that has ever lived'.
|
||||||||
[edit] Footnotes
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Bayles, Martha (1996). "page 151–152". Hole in Our Soul: The Loss of Beauty and Meaning in American Popular Music. University of Chicago Press. pp. 461 pages. ISBN 0-2260-3959-5.
[edit] External links
- Boxing Record
- History of Rock bio
- Rock and Roll Hall of Fame bio
- The Motown Story information on Berry Gordy
