Gwen Gordy

We recently had a thread on Anna Gordy but [[at present) I am more interested in her sister Gwen's activities.
She was the first entrepreneur of the Gordy children having started out as the operator of a photo concession at Detroit's Flame Show Bar. She went on to help start several record labels and played a major role in the development of Motown.
She died of cancer, aged 71, almost exactly 11 years ago.
With her [[then) husband Harvey Fuqua, Gwen formed the Harvey and Tri-Phi labels.
She also helped found Anna Records & after her labels were merged with Motown, she went on to be very influential in Motown's Artist Development Dept.
She was [[at various times) a manager, record company executive, songwriter and producer [[she helped steer the careers of the likes of the Spinners & Tammi Terrell).

....... AND THEN ..... just when you would have thought that she'd have been putting her feet up & taking life easy [[career wise) she burst back onto the Motown scene in 1977 for a few years with Gwen Glenn Productions, Derglenn Publishing Co. and Old Brompton Road Publishing Co.
Gwen Glenn was responsible for the recordings made by High Inergy, Major Lance, Jamal Trice & others and as such put Motown back into the charts a number of times [[5) through to 1979.
By 1979 [[& High Inergy's 'Frenzy' album), Gwen Glenn seemed to be less interested [[with Stone Diamond & Brown Sugar Productions getting involved) but Derglenn Publishing & Old Brompton Road Publishing still handled 8 of the 9 songs on the album.

Anone know what brought Gwen back to such a 'hands on' position in 1977 ??
How did Gwen Glenn get its name [[who was Glenn ?).

A photo of Gwen in the Motown studios with Jamal Trice .........
Attachment 1898

In the early days, Gwen wrote songs with her [[then) boyfriend Roquel Billy Davis. Gwen and Billy formed Anna Records [[named after Anna Gordy, a limited partner). The label was distributed by Chess and initially, everything was fine. When Berry produced "Money," by Barrett Strong, it was released locally on Tamla but he struck a deal with Gwen and Billy for national distribution on their label & it went on to become Anna's biggest ever selling record. Problems however developed between Gwen and Billy as Davis was on the road a lot promoting Anna recordings. In his absence Gwen struck up a relationship with Harvey Fuqua [[who Chess had sent to Detroit to help out at Anna). Harvey & Gwen fell in love, prompting Davis to leave to form Checkmate Records [[also Chess distributed). Gwen and Harvey forged on at Anna but Harvey had broken with Etta James to marry Gwen & this caused some friction with Chess. Davis moved to Chicago to become an A&R Director for Chess.

Of course, Glenn in the Gwen Glenn set-up has to be Glenn Gordy, Gwen’s son.
Attachment 1901
Gwen [[middle) with Anna [[Gaye) and Joyce Fuller.

Attachment 1903

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jsmith

In the early days, Gwen wrote songs with her [[then) boyfriend Roquel Billy Davis. Gwen and Billy formed Anna Records [[named after Anna Gordy, a limited partner). The label was distributed by Chess and initially, everything was fine. When Berry produced "Money," by Barrett Strong, it was released locally on Tamla but he struck a deal with Gwen and Billy for national distribution on their label & it went on to become Anna's biggest ever selling record. Problems however developed between Gwen and Billy as Davis was on the road a lot promoting Anna recordings. In his absence Gwen struck up a relationship with Harvey Fuqua [[who Chess had sent to Detroit to help out at Anna). Harvey & Gwen fell in love, prompting Davis to leave to form Checkmate Records [[also Chess distributed). Gwen and Harvey forged on at Anna but Harvey had broken with Etta James to marry Gwen & this caused some friction with Chess. Davis moved to Chicago to become an A&R Director for Chess.

Of course, Glenn in the Gwen Glenn set-up has to be Glenn Gordy, Gwen’s son.
Attachment 1901
Gwen [[middle) with Anna [[Gaye) and Joyce Fuller.

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Anna Records was initially distributed by George Goldner's End/Gone/Mark-X Records out of New York. Anna had a pressing/distribution deal with End from their inception in late 1958 through spring 1959, when they changed their distribution/pressing deal to Chess Records.

Roquel [[Billy) Davis, upon leaving the Anna Records partnership, formed Check-Mate Records in Detroit, as a subsidiary of Chess Records. He operated Check-Mate as A&R man for Chess. Chess liked how he was doing, and hired him to perform that function in Chicago, for the parent company. Davis brought unreleased masters from Check-Mate and Anna Records [[he'd owned from the settlement), as well as signed artists [[Tony Clarke, Jackie Beavers, Ty Hunter, Ruben Fort, David Ruffin?, Willie Kendricks? to Chess Records.

Didn't Gwen co-write Jackie Wilson's hits with Billy and Berry? I think she also co-wrote Etta James' hit "All I Could Do Was Cry" right after they left Chess. I forget when "All I Could Do Was Cry" was recorded. I know it was released in 1960 though. I give Gwen props on co-writing all those hits [[including Marvin's "Distant Lover"). :)

She's definitely overlooked in Motown's, Detroit music's and rock music's history.

Gwen Gordy id a lot and gave a lot for Berry Gordy's Motown and is often over looked.

Wow, this was very informative!

My brother met Gwen along with High Energy in Orlando on their first promotion tour.He really liked Gwen.

I would love to see the photo of Gwen with Jamal Trice, attachment 1898, but after a dozen attempts to open it, I did not succeed.

Do you have any other trick up your sleeve to make it available? I'd appreciate it.