My Thoughts On Berry Gordy

[misty]

Say what you will about Berry Gordy - and there's lots to say - this is what you can't take away: He touched and changed countless lives. Not just because of the music he made or the raw talent he groomed into stars - but what he did for kids like me, who not only loved that music, but became inspired by it. Who looked at what he'd created and saw a bigger dream for themselves. If 3 little colored girls from the projects of Detroit could become The Fabulous Freaking Supremes - there was a dream out there to be realized for me, too. If I worked hard enough. If I knew what I wanted and persevered and never lost sight of that goal - well, my dream could be made a reality, too. And I did - and it did. That's pretty profound stuff, Mr. Gordy. And I thank you for it.

[Roberta75]

Say what you will about Berry Gordy - and there's lots to say - this is what you can't take away: He touched and changed countless lives. Not just because of the music he made or the raw talent he groomed into stars - but what he did for kids like me, who not only loved that music, but became inspired by it. Who looked at what he'd created and saw a bigger dream for themselves. If 3 little colored girls from the projects of Detroit could become The Fabulous Freaking Supremes - there was a dream out there to be realized for me, too. If I worked hard enough. If I knew what I wanted and persevered and never lost sight of that goal - well, my dream could be made a reality, too. And I did - and it did. That's pretty profound stuff, Mr. Gordy. And I thank you for it.



I am standing up applauding your posting misty. I agree with everything you say and I have real deep respect and gratitude for Mr Berry Gordy.

Fondly,

Roberta

[1382hitsville]

Misty,

So do I.

One man created dreams and gave us joy, people to look up to and enough events to be discussed 50+ years later.

I wish I had the talent to bring a group together and let them entertain millions.

Sure, mistakes has been made, pain has been suffered but in my humble opinion this is overshadowed by the gift he has given.

Warmest regards

[Roberta75]

Misty,

So do I.

One man created dreams and gave us joy, people to look up to and enough events to be discussed 50+ years later.

I wish I had the talent to bring a group together and let them entertain millions.

Sure, mistakes has been made, pain has been suffered but in my humble opinion this is overshadowed by the gift he has given.

Warmest regards

Show me the head of a multi million dollars corporation that hasnt caused pain and made mistakes and I will show you a liar. It dont make it right but that is the way it is.

Mr Gordy gave us all so much joy with the label he created and the talent on his Motown lablel.

Roberta

[thomas96]

I agree. Berry may have made some questionable decisions and actions and may have made some [[or many) mistakes, but so does everybody. As said, you can't take away the fact that without Berry, we probably wouldn't ever know of talents like Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Martha Reeves, Jr. Walker, all the songwriters, etc --everyone at Motown basically. After speaking to a friend of mine who worked at Motown in the mid-60's, some of Berry's decisions seemed right at the time. Like moving the company to L.A. [[though I always thought and still do that it was the wrong decision) at the time the music business as a whole had moved to L.A only and it would be impossible to run Motown [[a big company at that time) from Detroit, and that was the best business decision. People need to realize that while people may have been screwed over like some Funk Brothers, etc. that it was a business and Berry probably had to make a lot of tough decisions. And while the Funk Brothers didn't get credit until Marvin's What's Going On [[which made me angry considering they are some of the best musicians ever) they weren't the only studio musicians not getting credit. Also, they were supposedly the highest paid studio band in the country at the time. Berry Gordy doesn't get enough credit by Motown fans in general, I'd say. But, I do believe he gives himself too much credit and not enough to musicians and songwriters and some artists.

[ralpht]

The man allowed me to run his studios and write and produce music, for seven years. An interesting time in my life, and even if I didn't agree with everything Mr. Gordy did, he will always have my deepest respect and gratitude.

[stephanie]

Gordy has surely done more good than bad that I can say. The Motown legacy alone and all of the artists speaks for itself. Thank God we have all of this wonderful music to talk about and listen to.

[revvy]

It's great that Berry Gordy can be honored in this way and I'm thrilled his legacy is being brought to the Broadway stage.

[thomas96]

The man allowed me to run his studios and write and produce music, for seven years. An interesting time in my life, and even if I didn't agree with everything Mr. Gordy did, he will always have my deepest respect and gratitude.

I'm new here, and don't know any members/admins well, so would you tell me how you were involved with Motown for those 7 years? I would be very interested to hear about that experience. Thanks.

[ralpht]

Thomas,
Welcome to the forum. I was lucky to do a number of things in the music business. If you are really curious, I might suggest, in a fit of self promotion, you pick up a copy of "The Road Through Motown" , a book I wrote a couple of years back. There is quite a bit of inside Motown information there. You could also consider my follow-up book "Russ Terrana's Motown". I wrote this one in honor of my engineering genius, twin brother. Both books are available on Amazon.com.

[thomas96]

Thanks. I will definitely check them out. What years were you there for?

[ralpht]

1969 until the end in 1975.

[StuBass1]

Ralph and Russ definitely had a "birds eye view" of what went on at Motown from the mid-late 60's on. Prior to that...we all witnessed what the genius of Berry Gordy Jr created. Growing up in Northwest Detroit and seeing the comings and goings of the Motown artists and musicians virtually from day one has given some of us a perspective few others have had the opportunity to enjoy. I clearly remember walking past Mr Gordys house on W Outer Drive every day walking home from elementary school...and meeting then likes of Smokey [[who lived down the street fro me), and meeting and hanging out with all the Temptations, Levi Stubbs, Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell and others helps, at least me, realize just what this man accomplished as we also witnessed all those who tried [[and largely failed) to emulate what Berry Gordy Jr accomplished. I don't even think that most of US realized how big a deal this all was, with all of those local guys and gals changing the course of music, and that said, what The Funk Brothers created musically which influenced everything in music from all the corners of the musical earth. Yes, guys like the Terrana brothers and the Miller brothers watched in amazement at what would ultimately become a major influence in modern American culture, and it was Berry Gordy Jr who made it all happen. Whew!

[ralpht]

Stu,
All you say is so true. Russ and I have always said how much we took for granted back then. We thought this was all normal.Like you mention, we all grew up in an era when we were all playing music and learning how good the things were that were coming out of early Motown.

[arrr&bee]

I've always wanted to meet the man himself[berry gordy]just to learn about songwriting,this is the man who taught smokey how to structure songs...for all the drama and just look at what he built and the careers that were started,the legends that are still here today because of his vision they should build a statue to him in detroit...to coin his phase-it's what's in the grooves that count....berry gordy forever!!