Berry Gordy

Berry Gordy, Jr.
File:BerryGordyDec10.jpg Gordy in December 2010
Background information
Born	(1929-11-28) November 28, 1929 Detroit, Michigan, United States
Genres	R&B, soul, pop, rock n' roll, doo wop
Occupation(s)	Record executive, songwriter, record producer, film producer, television producer
Years active	1957–present
Labels	Motown
Associated acts	The Jackson 5, The Corporation, Diana Ross & The Supremes, Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Martha and the Vandellas, and Rockwell.

Berry Gordy, Jr. (born November 28, 1929) is an American record producer and songwriter. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.

Early years

Berry Gordy, Jr. was born to the middle-class family of Berry Gordy II a.k.a. Berry Gordy, Sr. who had relocated to Detroit from Oconee County, Georgia, in 1922. The first Berry Gordy was the son of a white plantation owner in Georgia, and his female slave. Berry Gordy, Sr. was lured to Detroit by the many job opportunities for black people offered by booming automotive businesses. 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 (no relation to the singer, Al Green), 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 six 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. Berry and Gwen Gordy also wrote "All I Could Do Was Cry" for Etta James at Chess Records.

Motown Record Corporation

Main article: Motown

Gordy reinvested the profits from 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 1959, at Miracles leader Smokey Robinson's encouragement, Gordy borrowed $800 from his family to create R&B label Tamla Records. On January 21, 1959, "Come To Me" by Marv Johnson was issued as Tamla 101. United Artists Records picked up "Come To Me" for national distribution, as well as Johnson's more successful follow-up records (such as "You Got What It Takes", co-produced and co-written by Gordy). Berry's next release was the only 45 ever issued on his Rayber label, and it featured Wade Jones with an unnamed female back-up group. The record did not sell well and is now one of the rarest issues from the Motown stable. Berry's third release was "Bad Girl" by the Miracles, and was the first-ever release for the Motown record label. "Bad Girl" was a solid hit in 1959 after Chess Records picked it up. Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)" initially appearing on Tamla and then charted on Gordy's sister's label, Anna Records, in February 1960. The Miracles' hit "Shop Around" peaked at No. 1 on the national R&B charts in late 1960 and at No. 2 on the Billboard pop charts on January 16, 1961 (#1 Pop, Cash Box), which 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.

In 1960, Gordy signed an unknown named Mary Wells who became the fledgling label's first star, with Smokey Robinson penning her hits "You Beat Me to the Punch", "Two Lovers", and "My Guy". The Tamla and Motown labels were then merged into a new company Motown Record Corporation, which was incorporated on April 14, 1959.

Berry Gordy House, known as Motown Mansion in Detroit's Boston-Edison Historic District.

Gordy's 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 the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Jimmy Ruffin, the Contours, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, the Commodores, the Velvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder and the Jackson 5. Though he also signed various white acts on the label, he largely promoted African-American artists but carefully controlled their public image, dress, manners and choreography for across-the-board appeal.

Relocation to Los Angeles

In 1972, Gordy relocated to Los Angeles where he produced the commercially successful Billie Holiday biography Lady Sings the Blues, starring Diana Ross (who was nominated for an Academy Award) and Richard Pryor, and introducing Billy Dee Williams (cast in a role originally for Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops). Initially the studio, over Gordy's objections, rejected Williams after several screen tests. However, Gordy, known for his tenacity, eventually prevailed and the film established Williams as a major movie star. Berry Gordy soon after produced and directed Mahogany, also starring Ross and Williams. In 1985, he produced the cult martial arts film The Last Dragon, which starred martial artist Taimak and one of Prince's proteges, Vanity.

Although Motown continued to produce major hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s by artists including 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 later sold most of his interests in Jobete publishing to EMI Publishing. Gordy has written or co-written 240 songs for Motown's Jobete music catalogue, consisting of approximately 15,000 songs. However, the true test of the label's worth would come a few years later when Polygram paid over $330 million (Diana Ross was given shares in this version of the label) for the Motown catalog. (Though the current label bearing its name is a shell of its former self, the Motown sound is now practically a genre of its own).

Gordy published an autobiography, To Be Loved, in 1994.

Awards and accolades

Gordy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.

Gordy was inducted into the Junior Achievement U.S. Business Hall of Fame in 1998.

Gordy received the Songwriters Hall of Fame's Pioneer Award on June 13, 2013. He is the first living individual to receive the honor.

Statements about Motown artists

Following the funeral of Marvin Gaye on April 5, 1984, Gordy declared Gaye "the greatest of his time" and stated the singer "had no musical equals", comparing his talents to that of Billie Holiday's.

On March 20, 2009, Gordy was in Hollywood to pay tribute to his first group and first million-selling act, the Miracles, when the members received a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. Speaking in tribute to the group, Gordy said: "Without the Miracles, Motown would not be the Motown it is today."

At the age of 79, Berry gave a speech during the Michael Jackson memorial service in Los Angeles on July 7, 2009. Gordy suggested that "The King of Pop" was perhaps not the best description for Jackson in light of his achievements, and chose instead "the greatest entertainer that ever lived."

Motown: The Musical

On May 15, 2011, it was announced that Gordy was developing a Broadway musical about Motown. The show is said to be an account of events of the 1960s and how they shaped the creation of the label. Gordy hopes to use the musical to clear the sullied name of Motown Records and clear up any misconceptions regarding the label's demise.

Motown: The Musical began previews at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on March 11, 2013, and began regular performances there on April 14. The musical closed in January 2015, with the possibility of returning in the summer of 2016.

Personal life

Gordy, who has married and divorced three times, has eight children: Hazel Joy, Berry Gordy IV, Terry James, Kerry Ashby, Sherry, Kennedy William, Rhonda Suzanne, and Stefan Kendal. His publishing company, Jobete, was named after his three eldest children, Joy, Berry and Terry.

He has three children with first wife Thelma Coleman, whom he married in 1953 (divorced in 1959):

• Hazel Joy (born August 24, 1954)
• Berry IV (born October 1955)
• Terry James (born August 1956)

In the spring of 1960 he married second wife Raynoma Mayberry Liles (divorced in 1964). Together, they have one child who was born the previous year:

• Kerry Ashby (born June 25, 1959)

With Jeana Jackson, Gordy has one daughter:

• Sherry (born May 23 [1960?])

With his then-mistress/girlfriend Margaret Norton, Gordy has a son who would later become more popularly known as Motown musician Rockwell (musician):

• Kennedy William (born March 15, 1964)

Gordy has a daughter with Motown artist Diana Ross, with whom he had an intimate relationship from 1965 through the 1970s:

• Rhonda Suzanne (born August 14, 1971)

Gordy's eighth and youngest child is a son he has with Nancy Leiviska. He is known by his stage name as Redfoo of the duo LMFAO (the other member of the duo is Skyler Gordy, born August 23, 1986, and known professionally as SkyBlu; he is the grandson of Gordy and Thelma Coleman through their son Berry IV, and his wife, Valerie Robeson):

• Stefan Kendal (born September 3, 1975)

After dating for eight years, Berry married Grace Eaton on July 17, 1990; they divorced in 1993.

Gordy is a vegan.

Theatre

Year	Title	Notes
1985	The Last Dragon

Broadway

Year	Title	Notes
1982	Rock 'N Roll! The First 5,000 Years	Writer: "I'll Be There"
2005	Lennon	Writer: "Money (That's What I Want)"
2013	Motown: The Musical	Producer and writer, composer and lyricist

In popular culture

• Gordy was portrayed by Billy Dee Williams (whose career Gordy had helped to jump-start in the 1970s) in the 1992 miniseries The Jacksons: An American Dream. He was also portrayed by Obba Babatunde in the 1998 miniseries The Temptations.
• The character Gordy Berry in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is a reference to Berry Gordy.
• The character of Curtis Taylor, Jr., a music executive, in the 2006 musical film Dreamgirls has been called "a thinly veiled portrayal" of Gordy. The film was based on the 1981 musical Dreamgirls, but the film made the connection to Gordy and Motown much more explicit than the musical did, by, among other things, moving the setting of the story from Chicago to Detroit. Taylor appears in the film as unethical and insensitive to his artists, which caused Gordy and others to criticize the film after its release. Gordy called the portrayal "100% wrong," while Smokey Robinson said it "blatantly painted a negative picture of Motown and Berry Gordy and of the Supremes." In 2007, the producers of the film, DreamWorks and Paramount Pictures, issued a public apology to Gordy, saying they were sorry "for any confusion that has resulted from our fictional work." Gordy accepted the apology.

See also

• List of songs written by Berry Gordy

External links

• Berry Gordy at the Internet Movie Database
• Berry Gordy at the Internet Broadway Database
• Berry Gordy at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Professional boxing record for Berry Gordy from BoxRec
• Berry Gordy Jr.'s website at the Wayback Machine (archived July 19, 2013)

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