Salute to Mr. WILLIAM "MICKEY" STEVENSON
SALUTE TO WILLIAM "MICKEY" STEVENSON
William "Mickey" Stevenson was a songwriter and record producer for the Motown Records group of labels from the early days of Berry Gordy's company until 1967, when he and his then-wife, singer Kim Weston, left for MGM.
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Stevenson was head of the A&R department at Motown during the company's "glory" years of the mid-1960s when artists such as The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Four Tops, and Martha & the Vandellas came to the fore. He was also responsible for establishing the company's in-house studio band, which came to be known as The Funk Brothers. He also discovered Martha Reeves.
He wrote and produced many hit records for Motown, some with co-writer and producer Ivy Jo Hunter, including "Dancing in the Street", "It Takes Two", "Ask the Lonely", "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted", "My Baby Loves Me", "Uptight [[Everything's Alright)" and "Stubborn Kind of Fellow". He also wrote "Devil with the Blue Dress On" in 1964 with Shorty Long, which became a hit for Mitch Ryder and the Detroit Wheels in 1966, and "Can You Jerk Like Me" for Motown group The Contours [[also 1964) .
He also wrote under the pseudonym/alias Avery Vandenburg, for Jobete's Stein & Van Stock publishing subsidiary.
Stevenson has concentrated on producing stage musicals in more recent years. He is alive and well and still in the business of entertainment.
