Berry Gordy
1929 – ? American record executive, songwriter, producer
Founder of Motown Records, who built a Black-owned label that carried soul music into the pop mainstream.
- Affiliations
- Motown Records
Berry Gordy founded Motown Records in Detroit in 1959, running it like a hit factory with in-house songwriters, producers, and a house band. The label launched the Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and the Jackson 5, and pushed Black artists to the top of the mainstream pop charts in a segregated country. Gordy built rare Black ownership in the music business, though some artists later criticised Motown's tight contracts and control over their earnings and careers.
Connections
- mentor of Michael Jackson — Signed him and the Jackson 5 to Motown as a child.
- mentor of Michael Jackson — Signed the Jackson 5 to Motown, giving Jackson his start as a child star.
In the timeline
- 1959 Motown Records is founded founder