Berry Gordy
I think that Berry Gordy was a great business person because he managed to break boundaries and has become to the largest and most successful black-owned business in America.
His Beginnings: Growing up on Detroit's Lower side, Gordy's greatest loves were boxing and jazz. By the time he graduated from Northeastern high school in 1948, Gordy was able to place boxing 1st. however once winning fifteen Golden Gloves matches, his career as a boxer was inhibit once he was drafted to fight in the Korean War. After the war, Gordy was too old to continue in boxing, thus he turned to his alternative love, opening a record store specializing in jazz. Sadly, Gordy had failed to notice that blacks in Motown weren’t particularly fascinated by jazz. They wished to listen to rock 'n' roll. Gordy's 3-D Record outlet went bankrupt after only 2 years.
After this first failure, Gordy reluctantly accepted employment at Ford Motor Co., nailing upholstery in Lincoln cars. However he wasn't about to hand over his dream of a career in music. He began paying attention to rock 'n' roll and wrote many songs in this style, that he tried to sell to native singers and music labels. He had some success, however his massive break came once he attracted the eye of singer Jackie Wilson, United Nations agency recorded Gordy's "Reet Petite" and the currently legendary "Lonely Teardrops." each songs became instant hits, and supported their success, Gordy quit his $85-per-week job at Ford and struck out on his own as a freelance producer.
But even with 2 hit songs, Gordy was far from a financial success. "As a writer, I had issues obtaining cash at the time that I needed it,” he explains. "I was broke even with hit records in certain cases." In one case, a...
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... famed for. The hits weren't returning nearly as quick or as bounteously as they once did.
In 1988, Gordy sold-out Motown to MCA and investment group Boston Ventures for $61 million. That very same year, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Today, Gordy remains active within the show biz, writing songs, producing records and dealing with the new established Motown Historical museum in Motown.
Although Motown no longer dominates the charts like it once did, Gordy's impact on the music trade can't be overstated. Motown's sound influenced everybody from the rock band and the Rolling Stones to newer chart-toppers like Janet Jackson and Paula Abdul. A real pioneer, Gordy assembled nothing but the rock 'n' roll era's most outstanding list of artists, musicians, songwriters and producers, and in pursuing his dream, he brought 2 races together through music.
Berry Gordy Jr., the founder of Motown Records, was born in 1929 in Detroit Michigan, also known as the Motor City. Motown was the first American music label owned by an African-American. It was also the first music label to successfully market black artists to white mainstream audiences, and was responsible for discovering, mentoring, and perfecting a lot of American popular music's most influential and successful artists. Motown Records was one of the most successfully black owned music businesses in the United States during this time. But he wasn’t just the owner of this record label he was also a boxer, a record store owner, an assembly line worker and a soldier in U.S. Army during the Korean War until he realized that the music business was right for him. Berry Gordy started Motown Records in January 1959 with only an $800 loan from his family. Today Berry Gordy is 84 years old and just celebrated birthday on November 28th. This year he appeared in a commercial for the Chrysler 300 car. It appears that he’s being chauffeured. The car passes many iconic places such as Hitsville USA. The car eventually gets to t...
Ross moved to California to launch her solo career. Her reworking of the Ashford and Simpson standard “ain’t no mountain high enough” became their first #1 hit as a solo artist. In 1971, Her first child Rhonda was born later announced as berry Gordy child (the founder of Motown).
out his former partner, and claimed rights to the beginning of a catchy tune that would soon stick
chopping wood - introduced him to early rock & roll and rhythm & blues music.
Berry Gordy and his two younger sisters conducted Motown’s artists to precise training, however, the training did not include what most people would see as a fit for record labels. The artists were not just trained as singers, but as young men and young ladies, and as entertainers. They were taught to tailor themselves, how to walk, how to speak, and how to use a salad fork, this to Berry Gordy was highly important for the success of Motown Records, as he comments “to dress neatly and conservatively, to speak without an accent, to defer with respect to others, these are the signs of refinement and the path to achievement for many blacks in this decade” (Gordy, 1970). Gordy also saw the importance of stage presence when performing; the artists were trained not just to hit notes with perfection but how to handle a microphone, and how to move with beauty on-stage so that the artist were respected with the highest regard. Motown’s vision was to have its artists performing in theatres and stadiums, not too just hear themselves on radio stations but also on television and movies, and conclusively the artists did. Gordy’s motto was “someone will walk into Hitsville as a nobody and walk out as a star” to keep this reoccurring Gordy was the one who accepted through
At the age of nineteen years old Presley began his music performing at the “Hillbilly Cat.” After being discovered Presley signed with Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee in 1954. Then his contract was sold in 1955 to RCA Victor. His musical influences were a mix of multiple genres. He was influenced by gospel threw church; black R&B threw Beale Street in Memphis. He combined all the genres to create the early rock n roll that would arouse many people around the world.
Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas on February 26, 1932 (Enslow 19). He began to take an interest to music when his father bought a radio. His mother loved listening to music and his mother and Johnny would sing songs all throughout the house. Taught by his mother and childhood friend, he learned to play guitar (Enslow 19). Working hard and practicing, he became very good at guitar and singing. However, he grew up through the Great Depression and this was very difficult for him and his family. In Edward Enslow’s “The Man in Black” Johnny Cash states, “We were very poor, and I almost died of starvation as a child.” This quote shows how life was a struggle for Cash in his early life. Facing all the many challenges was difficult for him but he found a way through it. Through his older brother Jack, he was able to cope with his life growing up. Jack was a huge role model to Johnny growing up, he would teach...
As mentioned, the country incorporation allowed Chuck Berry to reach larger white audiences. His records had biracial appeal and became successful in the business (Christgau). Christgau states, “A good blues single usually sold around 10,000 copies and a big rhythm and blues hit might go into the hundreds of thousands, but "Maybellene" probably moved a million”. Still, like other race records of the time, white artists would perform covers, made possible by Tin Pan Alley, and Chuck’s records were no exception. Overall, Chuck Berry’s records still managed to become successful in a business that was geared to oppressed black
listening public and started making major headlines overseas, Gordy confidently issued a memo stating, “We will release nothing less than Top Ten product on any artist(classic.motown.com)
The founder of Motown records was Berry Gordy. He founded the company in 1959. The label was located in Detroit Michigan. It got shortened to Motown because Detroit was known for the nickname of the motor and town. The music that Motown created, symbolized coming-of-age and celebration and how it is timeless and how it was still important to most people. Berry Gordy wanted to create a sound that anyone would like. Most of the music and artists
Born on May 26, 1949, in Shreveport, Louisiana, Hank Williams, Jr. used his natural talent for singing to follow in his father’s footsteps. By the age of 8, Hank made his stage debut and made his first appearance at Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry at age 11. Then, puberty changed him. Once his voice changed, he signed with MGM Records and subsequently recorded his father’s hit “Long Gone Lonesome Blues” in 1964 (about.com). His very first album, Songs My Father Left Me, was an instant hit.
Berry Gordy's "Motown" had the largest impact on music on behalf of its direction and redefinition. Berry Gordy's "Motown" impact music through cutting across divisions of race, region, and class. According to Schloss, Joseph G. et al., "unlike the music of earlier black-owned record companies, Motown's music was not directed primarily at black audiences." Gordy is characterized
Berry Gordy Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1929 to middle-income parents. Gordy had dropped out of high school after his junior year. He had gotten drafted into the Army in 1951 to fight the Korean War. He created Motown in Detroit, Michigan with an $800 loan from his family. Gordy was a former boxer and an automobile worker before he created Motown (was called Tamla Records) out of his house. Gordy was a songwriter also, he wrote songs for Smokey Robinson, Jackie Wilson and Marv Johnson for 10 years before to Motown’s inception. Berry Gordy met Smokey Robinson in 1959 when Robinson was in high school and Gordy recorded Robinson’s group ,The Miracles, and voilà, Motown was born.
Chuck Berry is one of the founders of rock and roll. He is the only one living today. He has performed for millions of people with his famous “Duck Walk.” He still has what Corliss & Bland describe as a slim, toned body, wavy hair drenched in Valvoline oil, and a sharply cut masculine chin and cheeks etched with pain and promise. Even today he only wants a Lincoln Town Car, his Fender Bassman amp, and his guitar. Chuck Berry has had for decades one of the shortest and most ironclad contracts in the music business (Jacobson 6).