#Berry Gordy

[theactioneer]

The Last Dragon (Michael Schultz, 1985)

[weirdtvland]

Berry Gordy having a pool party in his backyard, sometime in the 70s. 💚

[harrisonarchive]

With Motown’s Berry Gordy and one of his children; photo by Dezo Hoffmann.

“Tamla Motown artists are our favorites. The Miracles. The Impressions. Marvin Gaye. The Exciters.” - George Harrison, The Beatles’ Detroit press conference, September 6, 1964 “I’ve always liked Smokey Robinson and The Miracles.” - George Harrison, A Personal Music Dialogue With George Harrison At 33 & 1/3, 1976 “We [The Beatles] always loved those American girls groups, like the Shirelles and the Ronettes. So yeah, we developed our harmonies from trying to come up with an English, male version of their vocal feel. We discovered the option of having three-part harmonies, or lead vocal and two-part backup, from doing that old girl-group material. We even covered some of those songs, like ‘Baby, It’s You,’ on our first album.” - George Harrison, Guitar World, 1992, published January 2001 (x)

[singonavine71]

Berry Gordy, Diana Ross, and Marvin Gaye

[musickickztoo]

Berry Gordy *November 28, 1929

[oldshowbiz]

June 1966.

The Supremes convince Berry Gordy to sign Tommy Chong to Motown.

[forever70s]

Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records and songwriter - circa 1970s

[lobbycards]

Mahogany, Spanish lobby card. 1975

[citizenscreen]

On Jan. 12, 1959, Berry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Records (originally Tamla Records) in Detroit. #OnThisDay 🎼

[singeratlarge]

SONG OF THE WEEK: “What’s Going On” (a Marvin Gaye cover)—This week in 1971, the original and landmark 45 RPM single of this song was released on Tamla/Motown Records by the multi-talented singer-songwriter Marvin Gaye—the “soul music” pioneer who opened the genre to orchestral, jazz, and pop expressions while baring his raw soul in song. He was a prolific, very creative but tormented soul who spoke to so many and gave a voice to many more. The B-side of the 45 was “God is Love,” a riff on the Gospel of Mark 12:30-31. 

The lyrics were triggered by scenes of police brutality at Berkeley’s Peoples Park in California, witnessed in 1969 by song co-writer Obie Benson of The 4 Tops—who rejected it. “My partners told me it was a protest song,” but it was intended as an open question, to get clarity and know “what’s going on” in a world of confusion. Benson said, "I said 'no man, it's a love song about love and understanding. I'm not protesting, I want to know what's going on.’” The song was passed around before Gaye tailored it and created the trailblazing song we have today. The politically avoidant Motown president Berry Gordy hated it, saying it was the worst thing he ever heard, and he complained that Gaye’s Dizzy Gillispie-style scat singing made it sound “old” and unhip. Gaye went on strike, refusing to record anything else until Gordy recanted and released it. It’s now one of the cornerstones of popular music and a flashpoint for the Civil Rights Movement.

On that note I offer my live acoustic cover of this timeless song (I learned it to honor a request at a coffee house gig). Gaye’s lyrics were inspired by specific incidences which were fresh at the time, and he said this wasn’t a “protest song.” Instead, he was asking questions as to “what’s going on” out there. In that way, this song is a celebration of asking better questions and finding right solutions.

https://johnnyjblairsingeratlarge.bandcamp.com/track/whats-goin-on-live-2002

#marvingaye #tamla #motown #godislove #berkeley #policebrutality #obiebewnson #fourtops #joanbaez #berrygordy #dizzygillispie #johnnyjblair #coffeehouse 

[thechanelmuse]

The Fashion Designs of Diana Ross

From casual to high fashion, Diana Ross created 50 outfits as the costume designer for Berry Gordy's 1975-directed film, Mahogany, where Diana also portrays the lead character, Tracy Chambers, an aspiring fashion designer from Chicago who finds success as a supermodel.

In a 1976 interview, Diana stated:

"I begged to design the clothes [in Mahogany] because in high school I majored in fashion design and costume illustration. I had a pretty good background in that. That’s what I thought I wanted to be. Singing was fun for me. I enjoy doing it. Then when the movie came along, I said: ‘That would be great research for me to do the movie. I could spend time finding exactly what a designer has to go through to make a collection.’"

After convincing Berry, Diana went on to commit 8 months to researching and completing those 50 designs. For the looks in the Asian-inspired fashion show at the end of the film, Diana was inspired by little paper kites she saw in a shop in Los Angeles.

Here's more of her costume illustrations, which she included in her 1977 concert program, An Evening With Diana:

[erstwhile-punk-guerito]

[bigfoursandotherlists]

Born 1929

[nothing-but-music-videos]

The Flying Lizards

"Money"

Live performance on TopPop, 1979

Song written by Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford

[chaptertwo-thepacnw]

diana ross, mahogany |1975|