Motown 60 Sunday Night

Two days of rehearsals and her segment was completely cut from Motown 60. And when the Motown stars were asked to stand, no recognition at all?

To be a fly on the wall at her house this evening.....

The Exclusive Inside Story of Sunday Night’s Motown 60 Special on CBS: Why JLO?, Diana Ross Says No to the Supremes, No Mention of Michael Jackson...



Tonight’s “Motown 60” special on CBS is a mixed bag. It’s certainly worth seeing, but what went on backstage and in the negotiations is far more interesting.

Back in 1983, the 25th anniversary of Motown was the place where Michael Jackson did his Moonwalk to “Billie Jean,” and became a monster celebrity forever. Contrast to this show, where Michael isn’t mentioned and the Jackson 5 are a footnote. It’s jaw dropping. In the Seventies, Motown lived off Michael and the Jacksons.

“Motown 60” features a repeat of Jennifer Lopez’s god awful Motown medley from the Grammy show in February. If you didn’t like it then, you won’t like it now. But to get Lopez, a “contemporary” star, on the Motown special, the producers had to give her a spot on the Grammys.

Ditto Diana Ross, who got a big spot on the Grammys and no one could figure out why. That was her trade off for doing the Motown show. Ross, even at 75, doesn’t want to seem like an oldies act– even though she is one. (A good one, mind you.) And her contribution to the Motown show was NO SUPREMES. So Diana sings from “Lady Sings the Blues.” She doesn’t go near the Supremes. (One Supremes song is sung in a medley by Meghan Trainor.)

But Ross’s NO SUPREMES decree may have backfired. During the taping, we saw clips from an interview with beloved ex-Supreme Mary Wilson. When the interviews were taped, Mary wasn’t dressed properly, had no make up or stylist. Mary, however, really knows the Motown history. Producer Ken Ehrlich saw that, and invited Mary back to L.A. from Las Vegas. Wise Ken re-interviewed Mary all dolled up, and paid all her expenses. We may see the fruit of that interview Sunday night.

What a nice thing to do considering Mary was among many Motown performers who were left out of the 60th anniversary show entirely. Some of them were in the audience– like Mary, Otis Williams of the Temptations, Scherrie Payne, who sang with the Supremes from 1973-78 — but were seated far away from Diana Ross and Motown founder Berry Gordy. Duke Fakir, the only living member of the original Four Tops, wasn’t even invited to the taping– and he was in L.A. Insane! Mary and Otis were treated very badly at the taping. They got their revenge last month when “Ain’t Too Proud,” Otis’s musical about the Temptations, opened on Broadway. Mary came in, too, and was given a huge shout out from the stage.

There’s no denying Berry Gordy’s amazing contribution to our culture with Motown. It’s astonishing. Gordy is 89, and he deserves a Kennedy Center honor. But Motown suffers from revisionist history all the time. If you want to know the real stories, you have to read out of print books like Gerri Hirshey’s “Nowhere to Run” or Mary Wilson’s “Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme.”

We’ll see what made the final cut for Sunday (tonight’s) show.



https://www.showbiz411.com/2019/04/2...entual-triumph

Currently being advertised on ebay are the 20 March 2019 releases from Universal Motown Japan which you'll be aware of. Amongst the same old are some choice releases from the likes of Earl Van Dyke, Brenda Holloway, Shorty Long etc.

BOYZ II MEN Cooleyhighharmony with Bonus Tracks (78867)
BOYZ II MEN II (78868)
THE SUPREMES Produced And Arranged By Jimmy Webb (78869)
EARL VAN DYKE & THE SOUL BROTHERS That Motown Sound (78870)
EARL VAN DYKE The Earl Of Funk (78871)
BRENDA HOLLOWAY Every Little Bit Hurts (78872)
SHORTY LONG Here Comes The Judge (78873)
KIKI DEE Great Expectations (78874)
MANDRE Mandre (78875)
NOLEN & CROSSLEY Ambience (78876)
SUPREMES Where Did Our Love Go (78877)
SUPREMES The Supremes A’ Go-Go (78878)
SUPREMES The Supremes Sing Holland–Dozier–Holland (78879)
DIANA ROSS & THE SUPREMES Reflections (78880)
SUPREMES Love Child (78881)
JACKSON 5 Diana Ross Presents Jackson 5 (78882)
JACKSON 5 ABC (78883)
TEMPTATIONS With A Lot O’ Soul (78884)
TEMPTATIONS I Wish It Would Rain (78885)
TEMPTATIONS Sky’s The Limit (78886)
TEMPTATIONS All Directions (78887)
TEMPTATIONS Reunion (78888)
TEMPTATIONS Truly For You (78889)
FOUR TOPS Second Album (78890)
FOUR TOPS Reach Out (78891)
MARVIN GAYE In The Groove (78892)
MARVIN GAYE & TAMMI TERRELL United (78893)
MARVIN GAYE & TAMMI TERRELL You’re All I Need (78894)
COMMODORES Machine Gun (78895)
COMMODORES Caught In the Act (78896)
COMMODORES Commodores (78897)
COMMODORES Natural High (78898)
COMMODORES Midnight Magic (78899)
LIONEL RICHIE Lionel Richie (78900)
LIONEL RICHIE Can’t Slow Down (78901)
LIONEL RICHIE Dancing On The Ceiling (78902)
MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS Heat Wave (78903)
MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS Dance Party (78904)
SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES Going To A Go-Go (78905)
SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES The Tears Of A Clown (78906)
EDWIN STARR War And Peace (78907)
GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS standing Ovation (78908)
GLADYS KNIGHT & THE PIPS Neither One Of Us (78909)
CRUSADERS Hollywood (78910)
GROVER WASHINGTON, JR. Mister Magic (78911)
JERMAINE JACKSON Let’s Get Serious (78912)
ODYSSEY Odyssey (78913)
SYREETA Syreeta (78914)
SYREETA Stevie Wonder Presents Syreeta Wright (78915)
LEON WARE Musical Massage (78916)
RICK JAMES Street Songs (78917)
RICK JAMES Throwin’ Down (78918)
RICK JAMES Cold Blooded (78919)
MOTOWN SPINNERS 2nd Time Around (78920)
DAZZ BAND Keep It Live (78921)
DEBARGE All This Love (78922)
FANTASTIC FOUR Best Of The Fantastic Four (78923)
FINIS HENDERSON Finis (78924)
SCHERRIE & SUSAYE Partners (78925)
YVONNE FAIR The Bitch Is Black (78926)

With an acknowledgement to mistercarter2u who asked this question on another thread, I hope that it is acceptable to give an answer by beginning a new thread.

I don’t know if there is a definitive answer, so I can only offer my personal thoughts. I feel lucky and privileged to have grown up during the sixties which were my formative musical years, and perhaps that is why those memories have stayed with me as they are far clearer and stronger than those from later years.

Musical styles seem to have changed every few years, the Americans had the “British Invasion”, but we also had invasions of American music, which led me to spend my hard-earned pocket money on “Baby Love” on the Stateside label. This was followed later by listening to pirate radio stations, broadcast from ships off the coast just a few miles from where I lived. This was a time of change in so many different ways. The sound of Motown was different, a change from the three guitars and a drum kit sound. For me, it sounded fresh and exciting, and perhaps even exotic compared to what we had grown used to.

On Sunday afternoons one of the pirate stations would play the US Top 50, giving us a chance to hear what was happening in the States. I’ve always remembered the superb series of hits by the Four Tops around the mid-sixties, including my favourite “Bernadette”. Even now, over 50 years later, that track still sends shivers down my spine. I always thought that there was so much more emotion put into this music, raising it above the rest.

Those experiences and memories have stayed with me throughout my life, and at long last I can say that “Baby Love” is far from the only example of Motown in my collection.

Just my humble opinion…