Motown: Beyond The 1960s

You may not know these artists were Motown acts

The Supremes are performing “My World Is Empty Without You” on The Ed Sullivan Show, 2/20/1966. Only three years earlier, they were known around Motown as the “no-hit Supremes.” (This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published in the United States between 1928 and 1977, inclusive, without a copyright notice.) Author: CBS Television.

Beginnings

You’re kidding yourself if there is not one Motown song you love.

When most people think of Motown, they think of the greats from the 1960s: Diana Ross and the Supremes, The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles — and the list could go on.

In the ten years between 1961 and 1971, Motown had 110 songs that charted on Billboard’s Top 10. The Supremes alone accounted for 17 of those. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t include The Jackson 5, whose first four releases each topped the chart.

Berry Gordy, Jr. started the company with the Tamla Records label. While that was Motown’s original label, the fledgling company wanted to avoid accusations of bribery by radio DJs spinning the records. So Gordy formed Motown Records in 1960. The two labels used many of the same writers, producers, and artists.

Other labels included his namesake, Gordy Records (featuring The Temptations and Martha and the Vandellas), VIP, which included The Spinners, and finally, a fifth label, Soul, which featured Jimmy Ruffin and Gladys Knight and the Pips. (The Spinners later moved to Atlantic Records and Gladys Knight to Buddah Records.)