{"id":24932,"date":"2025-01-12T22:17:57","date_gmt":"2025-01-12T22:17:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/motown-records-founded-on-this-day-in-1959-broke-racial-barriers-in-pop-music-with-its-beloved-hits\/"},"modified":"2025-01-12T22:17:57","modified_gmt":"2025-01-12T22:17:57","slug":"motown-records-founded-on-this-day-in-1959-broke-racial-barriers-in-pop-music-with-its-beloved-hits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=24932","title":{"rendered":"Motown Records, Founded on This Day in 1959, Broke Racial Barriers in Pop Music With Its Beloved Hits"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Berry Gordy plays the piano with Motown stars including Stevie Wonder, at right, and Smokey Robinson, at rear behind the piano.
\n Steve Kagan \/ Getty Images<\/span>
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On January 12, 1959, Berry Gordy Jr<\/a>. started<\/a> Tamla Records with the help of an $800 loan from his family, starting a journey that would forever change the music industry. The following year, it merged<\/a> into Motown Record Corporation.<\/p>\n

For Gordy, starting his own label was the product of a longtime love of music. When he returned from Army service in 1953, he opened a short-lived record store in Detroit. Later<\/a>, to amuse himself on the Ford assembly line, Gordy would make up songs. Eventually, he found himself writing for singer Jackie Wilson and helping young singer William \u201cSmokey\u201d Robinson and his band, best known as the Miracles<\/a>, sell records.<\/p>\n

The limited returns\u2014one royalty check<\/a> Gordy received is said to have been for just $3.19\u2014are part of what motivated him to start Motown. \u201cBack in those days, especially if you were Black, nobody was paying you what you should be paid, if they paid you at all. So Berry decided to start his own record company and gave us that outlet,\u201d Robinson told<\/a> AARP Magazine<\/em> in 2018.<\/p>\n

In an industry dominated by just a handful of major labels, success was no small feat. The industry tended to market music by Black artists\u2014usually all lumped under the umbrella of \u201crhythm and blues\u201d\u2014solely to Black audiences. Those R&B tunes often only reached a white audience if a white artist like Pat Boone or Elvis Presley decided to cover them.<\/p>\n

To succeed, Gordy needed to appeal to the majority-Black R&B market and the broader, majority-white \u201cpop\u201d audience. Indeed, an early analysis of Motown\u2019s success from Fortune<\/em><\/a> magazine credits Gordy\u2019s financial success to his ability to attract talented Black artists and \u201crecognize those tunes, lyrics and audio effects\u201d that would appeal to Black and white listeners alike.<\/p>\n

In addition to creating songs with mass appeal, Gordy focused on marketing to white audiences, including hiring<\/a> white marketers to use their connections in the industry. Sometimes, he avoided putting musicians on album covers<\/a> so they wouldn\u2019t be immediately discounted because of their race.<\/p>\n

Motown\u2019s first album was Hi\u2026 We\u2019re the Miracles<\/em><\/a>, released in 1961. The album included \u201cShop Around,\u201d Motown\u2019s first single to sell more than a million copies.<\/p>\n

The label quickly hit its stride. Motown songs kept up with tunes by bands like the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, and earworms from groups like the Supremes helped Motown sell more 45s than any other company in the nation. By 1971, it had put out 110 Billboard Top 10 hits.<\/p>\n

The integration of Motown\u2019s acts into the upper echelons of the pop charts had a ripple effect, leading groups<\/a> like the Supremes to be invited to play clubs with predominantly white audiences. They weren\u2019t always welcomed with open arms: Several Motown artists, including\u202fthe Contours\u2019 Joe Billingslea, have recounted the racism they experienced<\/a> while touring.<\/p>\n

Gordy was hesitant to let artists try to send a message with their music. For example, he initially vetoed<\/a> Marvin Gaye\u2019s incredibly successful 1971 album What\u2019s Going On<\/em> because it talked about social and political issues. He only relented when Gaye threatened never to work with him again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never wanted Motown to be a mouthpiece for civil rights,\u201d he told<\/a> TIME<\/em> in 2020. Instead, he saw the label as an example of a successful Black business and a force for integration through music. Still, Gordy and Motown took an active role in civil rights history by recording<\/a> Martin Luther King Jr.\u2019s \u201cI Have a Dream\u201d speech, unknowingly creating an important archive of the now-famous address.<\/p>\n

\u201cI saw Motown much like the world [King] was fighting for\u2014people of all races and religions, working together harmoniously for a common goal,\u201d Gordy told TIME<\/em>. Gordy later sold the label, but its beginning and golden era left a profound mark on history.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur music made you feel good, but we also had a message of equality,\u201d Martha Reeves, of Motown\u2019s Martha and the Vandellas, told<\/a> NPR in 2011. \u201cIt’s just the sound of young America.\u201d<\/p>\n

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