No, I haven't, although it sounds great and I would like to. :)
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Nice job Tom. Raynoma's book was a good read and nice to see things from a different perspective.
That paragraph now reads as:
Miracles lead singer William "Smokey" Robinson became the vice president of the company [[and later named his daughter "Tamla" and his son "Berry"). Several of Gordy's family members, including his father Berry Sr., brothers Robert and George, and sister Esther, were given key roles in the company. By the middle of the decade, Gwen and Anna Gordy had joined the label in administrative positions as well. Gordy's partner at the time [[and wife from 1960-64), Raynoma Liles, also played a key role in the early days of Motown, leading the company's first session group, The Rayber Voices, and overseeing the label's publishing arm, Jobete.
She should have been rightly compensated for getting Motown on the map. Interesting how her efforts appear to be wiped off Motown’s history. I met her at the Detroit book signing and found her to be extremely personable.
Yes I agree.
That is why I asked Tom if he had read the book. It throws a lot of light onto the situation of why Raynoma was 'pushed' out of Motown.
As I alluded to, she was very influential and important to Berry Gordy's plans, and there was obviously a relationship between them.
But as Gordy's dreams were finally coming true, she made the mistake of trying to tie him down and become a stable, ' normal' husband.
He was never going to be a Dick Van Dyke " Hi honey I'm home" at 6pm every night kind of guy.
She forced into a marriage he clearly didn't want at the time.....he was involved with other women,he was running around clubs meeting all manner of record/music people, he was making money and living the life he clearly wanted....bear in mind , when Berry and Raynoma formed Tamla she had only known him about 18 months.
He had a bad marriage to Thelma and now, he was aspiring to lead a life he always wanted.
The marriage to Raynoma was doomed from day one.
She was clearly very important to him from the business side but she seemed adamant to make it more, with a stable marriage as well.
His needs and wants were obviously different to hers, and the treatment she received was , unfortunately, always going to happen. Her erractic behaviour became a problem that was leading to Major problems for Berry and Motown. Eventually he got rid of the problem!
Interesting stuff snake!! I should probably get that book! :)
And there was also an audio cassette version, with Raynoma reading the book herself.
Am unsure if it was ever released on CD, but think not....:[[
I'm reading Raynoma's book now and my favorite YouTuber, Uptown Nay Rob, is doing the narration and review of the book too
:)