To Be Loved
The story of Motown Records and how it changed the course of American music, as told by its founder—“an African American culture hero of historic stature” (The New York Times).
Berry Gordy Jr., who once considered becoming a boxer, started a record company with a family loan of $800 in 1959. Gordy’s company, Motown Records, went on to create some of the most popular music of all time. By the time he sold the company nearly thirty years later, it was worth $61 million and had produced musical legends including Jackie Wilson, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Diana Ross and the Supremes, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson 5.
Here, the revolutionary who shattered the color barrier in the American entertainment industry and forever changed the way the world hears music, shares his story of ambition and vision. From humble beginnings, Gordy amassed a fortune and became a musical kingmaker in the cultural heydays of the 1960s and ’70s. Quelling rumors and detailing his relationships with the artists he managed, Gordy pens “a vivid recreation of a great period and a seminal company in popular music” (Kirkus Reviews).
Berry Gordy
Berry Gordy is the founder of Motown Records, the hit-making enterprise that nurtured the careers of Smokey Robinson, Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Michael Jackson, and many other music greats. The Motown Sound reached out across a racially divided, politically and socially charged country to transform popular music.Mr. Gordy is also a songwriter, boxer, producer, director, innovative entrepreneur, teacher and visionary. Actively involved in the Civil Rights movement, he released the recorded speeches of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. His films include Lady Sings the Blues, which garnered five Academy Award nominations.Among the awards recognizing Gordys accomplishments are the Martin Luther King, Jr. Leadership Award, the Gordon Grand Fellow from Yale University, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, a star on Hollywoods Walk of Fame, the Rainbow Coalitions Man of the Millennium Award, the Rhythm and Blues Foundations Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Grammy Salute To Industry Icons Presidents Merit Award. In February 2011, President Barack Obama honored him with a Salute to Motown evening at the White House. In 2013 the Songwriters Hall of Fame awarded him their Pioneer Award, which honors the career of a historic creator of an extensive body of musical work that has been a major influence on generations of songwriters.Berry Gordys unparalleled contribution to music and popular culture is the basis for his play, Motown: the Musical, which had its world premiere on Broadway on April 14, 2013.
