The beginning

Before you can understand the impact music can have on a city you have to know where the wave first started, and how it grew to engulf the entire world. On Jan 12, 1959, Barry Gordy Jr. founded Motown Record Corporation right here at 2648 West Grand Boulevard in Detroit Michigan. His good friend Smokey Robinson saw an amazing opportunity and urged Gordy to put the plan in motion. With borrowed money, Barry Gordy bought the West Grand Boulevard home and created what would turn out to be one of the most memorable music labels of all time. The music created in the home which would later become “Hitsville USA” moved the nation. Motown songs brought a bright upbeat tempo for listeners with soulful feelings in their lyrically appealing songs about love gone and love for a lifetime.

By 1966 the label was up and running, with 3 out of every 4 Motown songs taking over the charts. “Motown U pros” were the people behind the scenes, styling and making the artists into the stars they became. Motown swept the motor city at the height of the civil rights movement. Since Motown was African American owned business that white Americans could relate to, they couldn’t help but move and grove to the soulful workings of the artists that produced the pop and soul hits that impacted the country. Motown was bringing people together in big ways. 

Vintage Motown: A jam session from the 1960s features Kim Weston (microphone) Stevie Wonder(dark glasses), Berry Gordy Jr. at the piano, Smokey Robinson (center rear) and Marv Johnson, at Gordy's left.

The impact of Motown music, born and bread in our city was much more than radio hits and stars being born, it was the beginning of something bigger. The music changed the lives of those who owned or worked for the company, artists and writers, but it also changed the lives of each person who was moved on the music. Some say Motown died when it moved from Detroit to California in the 1970’s, but if you look hard, you’ll see that Motown and the love of music never really left the motor cities.