Brenda Holloway had one genuine rival in the Motown glamour stakes. The delectable Barbara McNair from Racine, Wisconsin, even went into the annals as the…
Browsing: Motown
When Berry Gordy first started his Motor Town touring spectaculars (the precursors of the celebrated Motown revues) Marv Johnson was a headliner on an equal…
The Elgins were a quartet – three males (two of whom had originally signed to Motown as part of The Downbeats) and female lead vocalist,…
The Velvelettes were formed by Bertha Barbee at Western Michigan University in the early 60s, with Cal (Carolyn) Gill ending up as the lead singer,…
Formed in Detroit in 1958, The Contours were signed to the newly formed Gordy label on the recommendation of Jackie Wilson. Their single Whole Lotta…
Charles Edwin Hatcher was born in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1942. He and his cousins, soul singers Roger and Willie Hatcher, moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where…
Chris Clark was a 17-year-old, 6-foot platinum blonde when she arrived at Motown’s Detroit headquarters in 1963 to audition for Berry Gordy Jnr. The Motown…
Berry Gordy’s family, like thousands of others, had moved from the southern states of the USA to Detroit, whose automobile industry in the years between…
In 1961 three teenage girls, Florence Ballard, Diane Ross (not until later would she be known as Diana) and Mary Wilson, began a journey that…
Despite scoring a transatlantic hit in 1970 with It’s A Shame (co-authored by Stevie Wonder), The Spinners remained overlooked at Motown in favour of The Temptations and…
William ‘Smokey’ Robinson was born on 19 February 1940, the son of a municipal truck driver from what he called “the suave part of the…
With an $800 loan from his family and a roster of unknown young Detroit singers, former record shop owner Berry Gordy Jnr (pictured below) started what…
Jimmy Ruffin was born in Collinsville, Mississippi in May 1936. He sang with his family’s gospel group, led by his minister father, before moving to…
Given the built-in obsolescence of pop stars, it is remarkable that the singer who made the biggest impact in 1970 should have still made world…
Tammi Terrell (real name: Tammy Montgomery) appeared in talent shows at the age of 11 and signed a recording contract when she was 15. In…
Chuck Jackson racked up a string of uptown New York soul monsters on Scepter’s subsidiary label Wand in the early 60s, but by 1967, the…
The early history of The Temptations parallels that of The Supremes. The group actually started life as The Primes while The Supremes were called The Primettes. They…
The King of Pop is a lofty title for any person to live up to, but there’s no doubt that Michael Jackson was qualified. He had…
Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. (inspired by Sam Cooke, he added the “e” to his surname when he began his musical career) was born in Washington DC…
Hailing from the low-income Detroit suburb of Inkster, the 17-year-old girls who came together as The Marvelettes (originally The Casinyets – a corruption of The…
