When did Motown start and end?
Motown was the most successful soul music label, with a net worth of $61 million. During the 1960s, Motown achieved 79 records in the top-ten of the Billboard Hot 100 between 1960 and 1969….Motown.
| Motown Records | |
|---|---|
| Parent company | Universal Music Group |
| Founded | January 12, 1959 |
| Founder | Berry Gordy Jr. |
When did Motown first hit?
Fifty years ago today (May 16, 1964) the Motown Records label celebrated its first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100 with Mary Wells’ “My Guy,” a song written and produced by Smokey Robinson.
Who founded Motown in 1960?
Berry Gordy
A former boxer and automobile worker, Berry Gordy was a nascent songwriter when, at the urging of Smokey Robinson, a songwriter ten years younger than Gordy, he decided to establish Motown Records.
Is Motown still recording?
Motown, as we’ve come to know it, does not exist anymore. It appears to not be a label, but more of a “label group,” now paired with Universal. We know that Berry Gordy sold Motown way back when, but at least then Motown was still a functioning entity. Now, it’s Motown in name only.
Who is the founder of Motown?
Motown/Founders
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.
Who was Mr Motown?
| Berry Gordy | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | Record executive record producer songwriter film producer television producer |
| Years active | 1953–2019 |
| Labels | Motown |
| Associated acts | The Jackson 5 the Corporation Diana Ross & the Supremes Smokey Robinson The Temptations Stevie Wonder the Miracles Marvin Gaye Jackie Wilson |
How did Motown get its name?
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 year did Motown become popular?
Motown enjoyed its greatest success between 1965 and 1968, when it dominated the Billboard charts. Although the company was never quite the force in the 1970s that it was in the ’60s (having lost several key performers), it was still a formidable enterprise with the Jackson 5, the Commodores, Wonder, and Ross.
Motown, as we’ve come to know it, does not exist anymore. It appears to not be a label, but more of a “label group,” now paired with Universal. We know that Berry Gordy sold Motown way back when, but at least then Motown was still a functioning entity.
How did the Motown record company get its name?
Motown is an American record company. The record company was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, and was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960, in Detroit, Michigan. The name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has also become a nickname for Detroit.
What was the importance of Motown in the 1960s?
Motown played an important role in the racial integration of popular music as an African American -owned label that achieved crossover success. In the 1960s, Motown and its subsidiary labels (including Tamla Motown, the brand used outside the US) were the most successful proponents of the Motown Sound, a style of soul music with a pop influence.
Where was the Motown headquarters in Detroit located?
Above the front windows of Motown Records’ Detroit headquarters was a sign that read “Hitsville U.S.A.”. Placed there by Motown founder Berry Gordy soon after his company moved into the modest home at 2648 W. Grand Blvd, the sign demonstrated Gordy’s blazing — and at the time, unearned — arrogance. Then the slogan came true.
When did Motown become the Pride of Detroit?
And all the while Motown was the pride of Detroit and the pride of black America (though Gordy tried, with his usual bluster, to make it the “Sound of Young America,” a label he began to stamp on all of the company’s vinyl). Around the time of the ’67 Detroit riots, however, things changed, as they eventually had to.