Berry Gordy

Berry Gordy (1929- ), American music business entrepreneur, founder of the hugely successful record label, Motown Records. Born in Detroit on November 28, 1929, Berry Gordy, Jr. was a former boxer and record shop owner when he gained his first success as a songwriter, providing material for the artist Jackie Wilson.

By 1959 he was laying the foundations for an independent record business, first with the Tamla imprint, and subsequently with Motown and related titles. He had spent time on the assembly line of Ford Motors, and he used this experience to develop a highly professional, systematic record business.

He delegated areas such as songwriting and choreography to specialized teams, while a band of in-house musicians laid the backing tracks for most of the hits. He enjoyed a phenomenal success rate, and by the mid-1960s he claimed that 75 per cent of his records had made the charts in America. With some justification, his home (and recording studio) on West Grand Boulevard, Detroit, was named Hitsville USA.

The company roster included The Supremes, The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, The Four Tops, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson Five, although many acts eventually disengaged themselves from Gordy. He groomed his artists in stage presentation and media relations, and demanded high standards from them in his drive for success.

By 1972 Berry Gordy had moved his operations to Los Angeles and branched out into film production: notable successes included Lady Sings the Blues (1972), starring Diana Ross and based loosely on the life of Billie Holiday. In 1988 he sold Motown to a consortium headed by MCA Records, and in the same year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.