An interesting new article below. It is certainly true that Motown helped a lot of women achieve success with middle-class white audiences, in a male-dominated and racist industry. https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stori...e-empowerment/
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An interesting new article below. It is certainly true that Motown helped a lot of women achieve success with middle-class white audiences, in a male-dominated and racist industry. https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stori...e-empowerment/
Great piece and thanks for finding! I also liked their '10 Motown Women You Need To Know'.
No disrespect intended but just what is Barbara Randolph doing on this list? It is alleged that the only reason she ever had a collection released ahead of the likes of Kim was that she had the misfortune to die! Plus no BLINKY, not a surprise of course. Again no disrespect but Sylvia Moy was no greater than Pam Sawyer, Janie Bradford, Gwen Gordy & Marilyn McLeod! Lists like this only show one persons preference or ignorance!
This article missed the mark. I anticipated them discussing the women in management at Motown such as Raynoma Liles-Gordy, Esther Gordy Edwards, Suzanne DePasse, Janie Bradford, Suzee Ieka [[sp?) etc, etc.
That list got too many errors. But yeah Motown definitely was integral to the role women played in the music industry. I mean it was Anna and Gwen that gave Berry the $800 to start Tamla after all.
And Raynoma Liles-Gordy was also the first female producer at Motown as "Miss Ray". Of course it was an achievement for her to be given the New York office to run, but we all know how that turned out.:[[Quote:
Originally Posted by marv2
From an organizational perspective, Motown was a ahead of its time by employing females in "power" positions. Berry was a pretty much an autocrat. How much input were females performers allowed? I'd say the Sups not much at all.Quote:
Originally Posted by 144man
But Miss Ray was absolutely an integral part in forming Motown.