Berry Gordy talks ‘Motown Musical’: ‘I cried when Diana Ross left me’

[David J]

http://thegrio.com/2013/02/13/berry-gordy-talks-motown-musical-i-cried-when-diana-ross-left-me/#50797493 [[http://thegrio.com/2013/02/13/berry-gordy-talks-motown-musical-i-cried-when-diana-ross-left-me/#50797493)

[jillfoster]

See... Gordy is making it sound like he got that RCA deal for her. "I had to do what was best for her". HE had to DO... She got her own damn deal, how insulting. I told you he was gonna paint himself as a Svengali, and try to make this some chocolate-dipped My Fair Lady type of thing.

[David J]

Rhonda posted this on her FACEBOOK page.

I was in Times Square last night, meeting a friend for dinner, and I passed by the Lunt-Fontanne Theater!! What a treat to see Valisia LeKae and the rest of the beautiful Motown cast BIGGER THAN LIFE!!! Can't wait for the show to open!!!

http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s480x480/524899_10200558526995151_998540392_n.jpg
[[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200558526995151&set=pcb.10200558545115604&type=1&relevant_count=4&ref=nf)
http://sphotos-d.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/s480x480/559952_10200558528595191_327608821_n.jpg
[[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200558528595191&set=pcb.10200558545115604&type=1&relevant_count=3&ref=nf)
http://sphotos-f.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/s480x480/485188_10200558528755195_2087915440_n.jpg
[[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200558528755195&set=pcb.10200558545115604&type=1&relevant_count=2&ref=nf)
http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/s480x480/11404_10200558544195581_291377265_n.jpg
[[http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10200558544195581&set=pcb.10200558545115604&type=1&relevant_count=1&ref=nf)
The 2nd photo like of look like Rhonda herself;) but of course that's not surprising, as it's suppose to be portraying her mother.

[David J]

See... Gordy is making it sound like he got that RCA deal for her. "I had to do what was best for her". HE had to DO... She got her own damn deal, how insulting. I told you he was gonna paint himself as a Svengali, and try to make this some chocolate-dipped My Fair Lady type of thing.

I agree with you, sometimes Berry is really full of bulls**t:rolleyes:, if he had treated Diana well [[not being so demanding & controlling) and not cheating her out of her earnings [[with only less than $100 grand in the bank after almost 20 years of hard-work)), then Diana wouldn't have felt the need to leave him.

[marv2]

See... Gordy is making it sound like he got that RCA deal for her. "I had to do what was best for her". HE had to DO... She got her own damn deal, how insulting. I told you he was gonna paint himself as a Svengali, and try to make this some chocolate-dipped My Fair Lady type of thing.

He does make it sound like it was the least he could do......[[make some calls). LOL! All this time I thought Diana Ross did her own deal. Oh well......

Also from the remarks of the actress playing Ross, it does not sound like they are even thinking about presenting an accurate portrayal of Diana Ross. Oh well again. LOL!!!

[marv2]

I agree with you, sometimes Berry is really full of bulls**t:rolleyes:, if he had treated Diana well [[not being so demanding & controlling) and not cheating her out of her earnings [[with only less than $100 grand in the bank after almost 20 years of hard-work)), then Diana wouldn't have felt the need to leave him.

What do you mean? He did treat her well.....very well! She would not have been anything without him. He'll tell ya so himself! hehehehehehe!

[ejluther]

Diana has always said that Berry believed in her more than she believed in herself so it's not fair to say he didn't "make" her to a large degree. He helped "make" her and then, like many artists do [[and to use a well-worn metaphor) she left the nest and flew on her own.

[milven]

“ When Diana left me for $20 million I was crying inside. I was crying. It was like horrible for me,” the 83-year-old founder of Motown admitted. “But I had to do what was best for her, because I promised her when we had our love affair that I wanted her to be the biggest star in the world, and would never let our relationship interfere with that.”



See... Gordy is making it sound like he got that RCA deal for her. "I had to do what was best for her". HE had to DO... She got her own damn deal, how insulting. I told you he was gonna paint himself as a Svengali, and try to make this some chocolate-dipped My Fair Lady type of thing.


I interpret it differently. After she got the deal, she came to Gordy and told him about it. It was a deal that Motown could not meet, and instead of using their relationship and her dedication to the Motown family to try to keep her there, he gave her his blessings and let her go. [[I don't think he had much of a choice ;))
But I believe he had nothing to do with getting her a deal with Motown except for pushing her there because he tried to have too much control on her and all his artists.

And Jill, may I be the first to wish you a Happy Birthday tomorrow.

[marv2]

“ When Diana left me for $20 million I was crying inside. I was crying. It was like horrible for me,” the 83-year-old founder of Motown admitted. “But I had to do what was best for her, because I promised her when we had our love affair that I wanted her to be the biggest star in the world, and would never let our relationship interfere with that.”





I interpret it differently. After she got the deal, she came to Gordy and told him about it. It was a deal that Motown could not meet, and instead of using their relationship and her dedication to the Motown family to try to keep her there, he gave her his blessings and let her go. [[I don't think he had much of a choice ;))
But I believe he had nothing to do with getting her a deal with Motown except for pushing her there because he tried to have too much control on her and all his artists.

And Jill, may I be the first to wish you a Happy Birthday tomorrow.

That is not how it was! Berry was sad sure ,but he was also FURIOUS! He did not give his blessings! [[ I can't even get into how angry and pissed he was and some of the very unflattering things that were said about Ms. Ross when he learned that she was leaving). It was when she got the OFFER that she went to Smokey to get his opinion, not Berry's. Smokey told Berry and ultimately he told Diane that if it were just about a money thang, then go because Motown cannot match RCA's offer!

He then proceeded to take back any and everything he could that he had given Diana Ross as "gifts" including "Motown's yellow Rolls Royce"! hehehehehehehehehe.....

[jillfoster]

“ When Diana left me for $20 million I was crying inside. I was crying. It was like horrible for me,” the 83-year-old founder of Motown admitted. “But I had to do what was best for her, because I promised her when we had our love affair that I wanted her to be the biggest star in the world, and would never let our relationship interfere with that.”







I interpret it differently. After she got the deal, she came to Gordy and told him about it. It was a deal that Motown could not meet, and instead of using their relationship and her dedication to the Motown family to try to keep her there, he gave her his blessings and let her go. [[I don't think he had much of a choice ;))
But I believe he had nothing to do with getting her a deal with Motown except for pushing her there because he tried to have too much control on her and all his artists.

And Jill, may I be the first to wish you a Happy Birthday tomorrow.

Thanks for the wishes, Milven! Like Marv said, I had also read that she went to Smoke and told him about the deal. If it was horrible for Gordy, he should have put her name on the title of a car he gave to her as a GIFT for starters.

[luke]

Here we go with the revisionist Motown history!! I hope this musical isnt the last word! A number of books said he couldnt tolerate Ross' ego and constant demand for attention. And wasnt she acutally losing money for Motown? After all her best friend DePasse said Ross was the biggest pain in the ass she ever worked with. Its hard to believe there wasnt some relief at Motown when she left. And hadnt he given Stevie 13 million a few years before??