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What did Berry Gordy sell Motown for?
$61 millionGordy 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 wrote or co-wrote 240 of the approximately 15,000 songs in Motown's Jobete music catalogue.
What is Motown Why was it so significant?
Its name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has become a nickname for Detroit, where the label was originally headquartered. Motown played an important role in the racial integration of popular music as an African American-owned label that achieved crossover success.
What did Berry Gordy do before Motown?
Unenamored of factory work, Gordy quit in 1957 to become a professional songwriter. In 1959, again borrowing money from his father, he founded a music publishing company, Jobete, then two record labels, Tamla Record Company and later in the year Motown.
What role did Motown play in Black history?
in Detroit, Michigan, Motown Records would become the most successful black-owned record label in history. After co-writing hits for Smokey Robinson and Jackie Wilson, Gordy purchased a house at 2648 West Grand Boulevard and began operating Tamla Records (later Motown).
How did Motown change American culture?
Motown Records produced many of the greatest musicians from the 1960s and 1970s. During this time, songs like "Dancing in the Street" and "What's Going On?" targeted social issues in America and created a voice for African-American people through their messages.
Was Motown all black?
Arriving at the height of the civil rights movement, Motown was a black-owned, black-centered business that gave white America something they just could not get enough of — joyous, sad, romantic, mad, groovin', movin' music. (See an audio slideshow of five of Motown's best tunes.)
Who owns Motown now?
Universal Music GroupCapitol Music GroupMotown/Parent organizations
How much is the Gordy family worth?
According to Celebrity Net Worth, in fact, Berry Gordy's net worth even after he sold Motown Records in 1988 is a gob-smacking $400 million. And the Gordy family continues to be relevant in both music and business.
Who wrote most Motown songs?
In total, Gordy wrote or co-wrote 240 of the approximately 15,000 songs in the catalog of Motown's Jobete Music music publishing affiliate. Among the other artists who recorded his compositions are LaVern Baker, the Marvelettes, Mary Wells, the Temptations and Martha Reeves & the Vandellas.
How did Motown affect society?
Motown had a massive influence in the music industry in being that is was a successful black owned record label during the height of racial inequality. Music from Motown broke down racial barriers in the black & white communities in America and throughout the world igniting cultural change in the music industry.
Were there any white Motown artists?
Motown's soul roster contained the likes of Debbie Dean, Chris Clark, Kiki Dee and The Valadiers – all white artists mostly working with the standard Motown soul method – and the ethnically mixed Bobby Taylor And The Vancouvers, whose music was unimpeachably soulful and relevant to the times.
Why is it called Motown?
In 1959, not long after recording Robinson's group, the Miracles, for New York-based End Records and establishing Jobete Publishing Company, Gordy began Motown Records (its name derived from Detroit's nickname, “Motor City”).
What is the history of Motown?
Motown, in full Motown Record Corporation, also called Hitsville, recording company founded by Berry Gordy, Jr., in Detroit, Michigan, U.S., in January 1959 that became one of the most successful Black-owned businesses and one of the most influential independent record companies in American history.
What's considered Motown?
What Is Motown? Motown music is a pop music style associated with Motown Records. In 1959, Berry Gordy Jr founded Motown, originally named Tamla Records. The record label helped define the sound of soul music and popularized the genre in the 1960s.
What was one of Motown Records biggest accomplishments in society?
With 12 No. 1 Billboard hit singles, including "Where Did Our Love Go," "Baby Love," "You Can't Hurry Love," "You Keep Me Hangin' On," and "Stop! In the Name of Love," The Supremes is considered Motown's greatest commercial success.
How did Motown affect the civil rights movement?
The establishment and success of Motown was an intrinsically political act that served as proof to Civil Rights claims that African Americans could be just as independent and successful as whites. At the time of Motown's creation in 1959, Detroit was considered the model city for race relations in United States.
What was Berry Gordy's first job?
When the store went bankrupt in 1955, Gordy was forced to find steady work to support his wife and son. He got a job at Ford Motor Company, first i...
How did Berry Gordy start his career?
He loved music — he was interested in songwriting at age 7 — but when he was kicked out of his high school music class, he dropped out of school in...
Where did Berry Gordy work before founding Motown?
Gordy dropped out of Northeastern High School in Detroit, Michigan, and pursued a featherweight boxing career before joining the U.S. Army (c. 1951...
Where did Berry Gordy get his experience to run a record label?
After serving in the US Army in Korea, he used his discharge pay to open a record shop specialising in jazz. But the venture failed after two years...
Who is Berry Gordy?
Full Article. Berry Gordy, Jr., (born November 28, 1929, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.), American businessman, founder of the Motown Record Corporation (1959), which became the most successful Black-owned music company in the United States.
Where did Gordy go to high school?
Gordy dropped out of Northeastern High School in Detroit, Michigan, and pursued a featherweight boxing career before joining the U.S. Army (c.1951–53). Shortly thereafter he returned to Detroit to open a record store and begin producing recordings of his own compositions.
When did Gordy sell Motown?
Facing increasing competition from large media conglomerates, however, Gordy sold the record company in 1988 .
When was Gordy inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Subscribe Now. Gordy was honoured for lifetime achievement at the American Music Awards in 1975, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and received the President’s Merit Award from the Recording Academy in 2008.
Where did Gordy go to start Motown?
Shortly thereafter he returned to Detroit to open a record store and begin producing recordings of his own compositions. By the time Gordy founded Motown, he was at the apex of Detroit ’s Black music scene and had already discovered Smokey Robinson.
Who were the most famous R&B artists of the 1960s?
Through Motown, he developed the majority of the great rhythm-and-blues (R&B) performers of the 1960s and ’70s, including Diana Ross and the Supremes, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Marvelettes, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, and Michael Jackson and the Jackson Five.
Who was Berry Gordy?
By 1959, Berry Gordy had become known for his songwriting talent, helping churn out hit after hit for popular performer Jackie Wilson.
Did Gordy go into business?
Despite his songwriting success, Gordy says he still wasn't in a financial position to go into business for himself. In his appearance on "Oprah's Master Class," the now-mega-successful founder of Motown remembers those early days in which he had the dream of opening up a record company, but didn't have the funds. "I was not making any money," Gordy says. "I borrowed money from family savings, which my sister Esther had set up... I asked for $1,000. They only gave me $800."
Who Is Berry Gordy Jr.?
Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records in 1959. The 1960s and '70s saw popular artists who Gordy developed — including the Supremes, the Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye — dominate the music scene. Changing tastes and a loss of focus led to Motown's decline, and Gordy sold the company in 1988. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame that same year.
Who did Gordy hire?
As the company took shape, Gordy brought on talent such as Mary Wells, who would sing the popular "My Guy." Other early hires were the Temptations, Stevie Wonder — who came onboard as an 11-year-old prodigy — and Marvin Gaye. Gordy also signed three teenage girls — Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Diana Ross — who would become the Supremes.
How many fights did Gordy win?
By the time he was 20, Gordy had triumphed in 13 of 19 professional fights. However, the realization that boxing would age him much faster than music prompted Gordy to return to songwriting. These plans were interrupted when he was drafted into the army in 1951.
How much did Gordy get for Jobete?
Gordy held onto the film and television production arm of the company, as well as his publishing company, Jobete. (In 1997, Gordy received $132 million for selling half of Jobete, which owned the rights to popular songs like "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "My Girl" and "You Are the Sunshine of My Life.")
What did Gordy do after he got his GED?
After two years in the army, during which he earned his GED, Gordy opened a record store with a friend. Unfortunately, the store focused on jazz while customers wanted R&B; Gordy realized this too late to keep the business from folding.
Why did Gordy drop out of school?
He loved music — he was interested in songwriting at age 7 — but when he was kicked out of his high school music class, he dropped out of school in order to pursue a boxing career. By the time he was 20, Gordy had triumphed in 13 of 19 professional fights.
Where did Gordy set up his business?
When Gordy set up shop in a house on Detroit's West Grand Boulevard, he chose the aspirational name Hitsville for his headquarters. One of Tamla's labels was called Motown, the name that came to embody the company; the Motown Record Corporation was incorporated in 1960.
What did Gordy Jr. write for?
Writing for and recording songs with Wilson gave Gordy Jr. the foothold he'd needed in the music industry. Biography tells us that some of their initial collaborations, like "Reet Petite" and "Lonely Teardrops," still score radio airtime. Spurred on by their success, but still wanting more, Gordy Jr. accepted an $800 loan from his family and, in 1959, began a new venture, Motown (a combination of "Motortown," one of Detroit's nicknames). Here, Gordy Jr. hoped to take the most efficient parts of the auto industry and apply them to musical talent.
Where did Berry Gordy Jr. move to?
Berry Gordy Jr.'s lasting legacy. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images. Shortly after the loss of Holland-Dozier-Holland, Gordy Jr. relocated to Los Angeles and, as Time put it, became "distracted by Hollywood.". Gordy Jr. sold Motown to MCA records in 1988, where it continued to move, according to Encyclopedia Britannica, ...
What was Gordy Jr.'s first venture?
Spurred on by their success, but still wanting more, Gordy Jr. accepted an $800 loan from his family and, in 1959, began a new venture, Motown (a combination of "Motortown," one of Detroit's nicknames). Here, Gordy Jr. hoped to take the most efficient parts of the auto industry and apply them to musical talent.
Where was Gordy Jr. born?
Gordy Jr. was born in the Motor City in 1929 and his beginnings are a classic Great Migration experience. Born the seventh of eight children, Gordy Jr,'s father moved the family from Georgia to Detroit before Gordy Jr. was born, likely drawn there by jobs in the booming auto industry.
Who did Gordy meet?
For a while, it looked like Gordy Jr. would follow the traditional Detroit path. But he was about to meet a young singer named Jackie Wilson, a meeting that would change the course of both men's lives.
Why did Gordy Jr. drop out of high school?
Gordy Jr. dropped out of high school to pursue his dream of becoming a professional boxer, and he had a pretty good record, too, as BoxRec reveals, but the Korean War draft interrupted that dream. After a return from Korea (where he'd earned his GED), Gordy, Jr. married and found work at the Lincoln-Mercury plant.
