The next wave of young Motown fans
Recently, someone on YouTube asked me who was the pretty lady in the pictures I have in all my Smokey Robinson & The Miracles videos. They were close in asking if it was Smokey's girlfriend. He seemed impressed with
the whole Claudette Robinson story and learning that she was on all those studio recordings. Another YouTube viewer routinely poses questions about which Marvelettes records feature only the group, the group and the Andantes and only the Andantes- and usually he'll have it already figured out.
There's a YouTube channel called "The Tall Tan Tempting Temptations," one titled "The Tall, Talented, Temptin' Temptations" and yet another- "Paul Williams Fan"; they all do a remarkable job of making people aware of the music and life stories of the members of the Temptations. Routinely, they post rare photos with surprisingly detailed backstories as well as deep-cuts album tracks and unreleased material.
The thing about all these people is that they're all young- I believe roughly late teens to twenties. It's really impressive how deeply they are interested in Motown in general and/or a favorite, Motown group in particular. A few months ago, a young lady started asking me about The Lewis Sisters. She saw something I had for Little Lisa and posted a question in the comments section. That started a few conversations and through that, she came to learn about the Don't Forget The Motor City site. And this young lady seemed to already have a good bit of knowledge about the Sisters and was impressed that they carved out a place amongst the many bigger Motown songwriters.
I'm constantly being surprised at how many young people are so fully vested in the Motown thing- and it's not soul music in general or even 60s music in general; they are hard-core Motown aficionados. It's really exciting to learn the love of Motown just keeps progressing through newer generations.
