Berry Gordy

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Berry Gordy, Jr. (born November 28, 1929, Detroit, Michigan) is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label and its many subsidiaries.

Biography

Early years

Berry Gordy, Jr. was the seventh of eight children born to the middle class family of Berry Gordy II (a.k.a. Berry Gordy, Sr.), 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.

His grandfather, also named Berry Gordy, was the son of a white farmer and a female slave in Georgia. Berry Gordy II was lured to Detroit by the many job opportunities for blacks that booming automotive businesses like Ford offered.

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, owner of the Flame Show Bar talent club, where he met Jackie Wilson.

In 1957 Wilson recorded Reet Petite, a song Gordy had co-written with his sister Gwen and Billy Davis, which became a modest hit. Wilson recorded four more songs co-written by Gordy over the next two years.

Motown Record Corporation

Gordy reinvested his songwriting success into producing. In 1957 he discovered Smokey Robinson and The Miracles and began building a portfolio of successful artists. In January 1959 Gordy founded an R&B label called Tamla Records, which produced Marv Johnson's first hit, "Come To Me." At Robinson's encouragement, Gordy created Motown on December 14, 1959. 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 in early 1961 and established Motown as an independent company worthy of notice.

Unlike most producers of the time, Gordy did not cultivate Caucasian artists, although right from the start some white artists were signed, such as Nick and the Jaguars, The Valadiers, Debbie Dean and Connie Vandyke. He did however have several white employees at Hitsville USA. He promoted African-American artists— but carefully controlled their public image, dress, manners and choreography for crossover appeal.

His gift for identifying musical talent, along with the careful management of his artists' public image, made Motown a national success. Over the next decade he signed such artists as Mary Wells, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight and The Pips, The Commodores, The Velvelettes, The Marvelettes, 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 LA, and 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 and Williams became a star. Ross was nominated for an Academy Award. Berry Gordy soon after produced and directed Mahogany, also starring Diana Ross. By this time, the Motown sound was losing popularity. Gordy turned to Rick James a song writer to update the Motown sound. However the relationship between Gordy and James was not a great one. Gordy convinced songwriter Rick James to give writing credits to Smokey Robinson. He also convinced James into using an alias when writing songs for Smokey, The Temptations, Marvin Gaye and many others. Gordy stated that this was done for "tax evasion purposes". In 1985, he produced the cult martial arts film The Last Dragon, which starred martial artist Taimak and one of Prince's girls Vanity.

Gordy sold his interests in Motown Records to MCA and Boston Ventures in June 1988 for $61 million. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and published an autobiography, To Be Loved, in 1994. The character Curtis Taylor, Jr. in the Broadway musical Dreamgirls (and its film adaptation) is loosely based upon Gordy and his dealing with The Supremes.

Personal life

Gordy—who married and divorced three times, to Thelma Coleman, Raynona Singleton, and Grace Easton—has seven children: Hazel Joy, Berry Gordy IV, 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 is the daughter of Gordy and his most successful female Motown artist, Diana Ross, with whom he had a five year relationship. Kennedy Gordy is better known as the Motown musician Rockwell. 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.

His involvement with Motown Records was the inspiration for the character of Curtis Taylor, Jr in the film and musical DreamGirls.

Footnotes

External links

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Last updated on Tuesday March 11, 2008 at 17:58:57 PDT (GMT -0700)
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