In 1959, Billy Davis and Berry Gordy's sisters Gwen and Anna started Anna Records. Davis and Gwen Gordy wanted Berry to be the company president, but Berry wanted to strike out on his own. On January 12, 1959, he started Tamla Records, with an $800 loan from his family and from royalties earned writing for Jackie Wilson. Tamla's first hit was Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want)" (1959), which made it to number 2 on the Billboard R&B charts (released nationally on Anna Records).
Gordy's first signed act was The Matadors, who changed their name to The Miracles when Gordy signed them. Miracles lead singer, William "Smokey" Robinson became the vice president of the company (and later named his daughter "Tamla" and his son "Berry" out of gratitude to Gordy and the label). Most early Motown singles were released through other labels, such as End, Fury, Gone and Chess. Many of Gordy's family members, including his father Berry, Sr., brothers Robert and George, and sister Esther, were eventually given key roles in the company. By the middle of the decade, Gwen and Anna Gordy had joined the label in administrative positions as well.
Motown's headquarters, Hitsville U.S.A., was a building at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit and served as Gordy's living quarters on the second floor in the early days. It also served as the primary studio and administrative offices from 1959 until 1962. It became the Motown Historical Museum in 1985. By 1968, Gordy had purchased an additional seven buildings in the neighborhood as the company continued to grow.
Over the years Gordy spawned over 50 labels, besides Tamla & Motown including Gordy Records ( established 1962), Check-Mate Records (1962), Miracle Records (1961), Soul Records (1964), V.I.P. Records (1964), Mel-o-dy Records (1962), Rare Earth Records (1969), Hitsville Records (1974) and even Emerson, Lake & Palmer's Manticore Records originally distributed in the U.S. by Atlantic Records from 1973 to 1975 but later switched to Motown distribution.
Motown had established branch offices in both New York City and Los Angeles during the mid-1960s, and by 1969 had begun gradually moving more of its operations to Los Angeles. The company moved all of its operations to Los Angeles in June 1972, with a number of artists, among them Martha Reeves, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips. Motown's famed "Funk Brothers" studio band, either stayed behind in Detroit or left the company for other reasons and Motown used California's "Wrecking Crew" on many of it's sessions. By re-locating, Motown aimed chiefly to branch out into the motion-picture industry, and Motown Productions got its start in film by turning out two hit-vehicles for Diana Ross: the Billie Holiday biographical film Lady Sings the Blues (1972), and Mahogany (1975). Other Motown films would include Scott Joplin (1977), Thank God It's Friday (1978), The Wiz (1978) and The Last Dragon (1985).
Ewart Abner, who had been associated with Motown since the 1960s, became its president in 1973. By 1998, Motown had been aquired by PolyGram which was acquired by Seagram International. Motown was absorbed into the Universal Music Group. Ironically, Seagram had purchased Motown’s former parent MCA in 1995, as such Motown was in effect reunited with many of its MCA corporate siblings (Seagram had, in fact, hoped to build a media empire around Universal, and started by purchasing PolyGram). Universal briefly considered shuttering the floundering label, but instead decided to restructure it. Kedar Massenburg, a producer for Erykah Badu, became the head of the label, and oversaw successful recordings from Badu, Brian McKnight, Michael McDonald, and new Motown artist India.Arie. In 2005, Massenburg was replaced by Sylvia Rhone, former CEO of Elektra Records. Motown was merged with Universal Records to create the Universal Motown Records and placed under the newly created umbrella division of Universal Motown Republic Group. Motown began celebrating its fiftieth anniversary (January 12, 2009).
Money (That's What I Want)
~ Barrett Strong ~
