Motown Books Published Over The Years

[Philles/Motown Gary]

A fellow Motown fan expressed an interest in the various Motown books which have been published over the years. I don't have them all, but I have quite a few.

This listing of my Motown book collection is presented alphabetically by subject.

Each entry starts with the subject in CAPS and within parentheses, followed by Title of the book, Author, and Year Published. For example:

[[HEARD, FRAN) "I Remember Motown When We Were Just Family" - By Francis [[Fran Heard) Maclin [[Motown's Master Tape Librarian) - 2010

The above book is about Fran Heard's position at Motown.

[[MARVELETTES, THE) "The Original Marvelettes - Motown's Mystery Girl Group" - By Marc Taylor - 2004

The above book is a biography about The Marvelettes.

[[MOTOWN) Where Did Our Love Go - The Rise And Fall Of The Motown Sound - By Nelson George - 1985.

The above book is about Motown Record Corporation itself.

With the above guidelines in mind, here is my Motown book collection.

-----------------------------------------

[[ANDANTES, THE) "Motown From The Background - The Authorized Biography Of The Andantes" - By The Andantes & Vicky Wright - 2007

[[BALLARD, FLORENCE) "The Lost Supreme: The Life Of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard" - By Peter Benjaminson - 2008

[[COFFEE, DENNIS) 'Guitars, Bars, And Superstars" - By Dennis Coffee - 2009/2004

[[DeBARGE, BUNNY) "The Kept Ones [[Vol. 1)" - By Bunny DeBarge - 2014

[[DeBARGE, THOMAS) - "There'll Never Be - A Story Of Forgiveness" - By Thomas DeBarge - 2011

[[DETROIT/MOTOWN) DETROIT 67: The Year That Changed Soul" - By Stuart Cosgrove - 2016

[[DOZIER, LAMONT) "How Sweet It Is" - By Lamont Dozier & Scott B. Bomar - 2019

[[GAYE, MARVIN) "Divided Soul - The Life Of Marvin Gaye" - By David Ritz - 1985

[[GORDY, BERRY/MOTOWN) "To Be Loved - The Music, The Magic, The Memories Of Motown [[An Autobiography" - By Berry Gordy - 1994

[[HEARD, FRAN) "I Remember Motown When We Were Just Family" - By Francis [[Fran Heard) Maclin [[Motown's Master Tape Librarian) - 2010

[[HOLLAND, BRIAN & EDDIE) "Come And Get These Memories" - By Eddie & Brian Holland & Dave Thompson - 2019

[[JACKSON, MICHAEL) "The Magic And The Madness" - By J. Randy Taraborrelli - 1991

[[KNIGHT, GLADYS) "Between Each Line Of Pain And Glory" - By Gladys Knight - 1997

[[MARVELETTES, THE) "The Original Marvelettes - Motown's Mystery Girl Group" - By Marc Taylor - 2004

[[MOTOWN) Motown Encyclopedia [[Reference Book) - By Graham Betts - 2014

[[MOTOWN) Heat Wave - The Motown Fact Book [[Complete Motown Discography For The U.S. & U.K ) [[Reference Book) - By David Bianco - 1988

[[MOTOWN) The Motown Album [[Photograph Album) - By Ben Fong-Torres & Elvis Mitchell - 1990

[[MOTOWN) Motown - Hot Wax, City Cool & Solid Gold - By J. Randy Taraborrelli - 1986

[[MOTOWN) The Motown Story - The Inside Story Of America's Most Popular Music - By Don Waller - 1985

[[MOTOWN) Off The Record: Motown By Master Number, 1959-1989 Singles [[Reference Book) - By Reginald J. Bartlett - 1992

[[MOTOWN) Rare Motown & Soul Price Guide [[Reference Book) - By Simon Soussan - 1994

[[MOTOWN) Recollections - The Motown Sound By People Who Made It - By Jack Ryan - 2012

[[MOTOWN) Motown - The Sound Of Young America - By Barney Ales & Adam White - 2016

[[MOTOWN) Where Did Our Love Go - The Rise And Fall Of The Motown Sound - By Nelson George - 1985

[[REEVES, MARTHA) Dancing In The Street - Confessions Of A Motown Diva - By Martha Reeves & Mark Bego - 1994

[[RIVERA, PETE) Born To Wander - By Pete Rivera & Larry Stephens - 2001

[[ROBINSON, SMOKEY) Smokey - Inside My Life - By Smokey Robinson & David Ritz - 1989

[[ROSS, DIANA) Call Her Miss Ross [[Unauthorized Biography) - By J. Randy Taraborrelli - 1989

[[ROSS, DIANA) Diana - By J. Randy Taraborrelli - 1985

[[ROSS, DIANA) Diana Ross - By Geoff Brown - 1981

[[ROSS, DIANA) Diana Ross: A Biography - By J. Randy Taraborrelli - 2007

[[ROSS, DIANA) Diana - 1982 World Tour Program - By Geoff Brown - 1982

[[ROSS, DIANA) Lifetime To Get Here, [[A) - By Tom Adrahtas - 2006

[[ROSS, DIANA) Reach Out - The Diana Ross Story - By Leonard Pitts - 1983

[[ROSS, DIANA) Secrets Of A Sparrow [[Memoirs) - By Diana Ross - 1993

[[SINGLETON, RAYNOMA GORDY) Berry, Me, And Motown: The Untold Story - By Raynoma Gordy Singleton - 1990

[[STEVENSON, WILLIAM MICKEY) Motown's First A&R Man Presents The A&R Man - By William Mickey Stevenson - 2015

[[SUPREMES, THE / FLORENCE BALLARD) All That Glittered: My Life As A Supreme - By Tony Turner & Barbara Aria - 1990

[[SUPREMES, THE / FLORENCE BALLARD) The Lost Supreme: The Life Of Dreamgirl Florence Ballard - By Peter Benjaminson - 2008

SUPREMES, THE) Dreamgirl - My Life As A Supreme - By Mary Wilson with Patricia Romanowski & Ahrgus Juilliard - 1986

[[SUPREMES, THE) Reflections Of A Love Supreme [[Motown Through The Eyes Of Fans) - By Tom Ingrassia - 2015

[[SUPREMES, THE) Supreme Faith - Someday We'll Be Together - By Mary Wilson & Patricia Romanowski - 1990

[[SUPREMES, THE) The Supremes: A Saga Of Motown Dreams, Success, And Betrayal - By Mark Ribowski - 2009

[[SUPREMES, THE) The Story Of The Supremes - By Daryl Easlea - 2008

[[TEMPTATIONS, THE) Deliver Us From Temptation - By Tony Turner & Barbara Aria - 1992

[[TEMPTATIONS, THE) Temptations - By Otis Williams & Patricia Romanowski - 1988

[[TERRANA, RALPH) Road Through Motown, [[The) - By Ralph Terrana - 2006

[[TERRANA, RUSS) Russ Terrana's Motown - By Ralph Terrana - 2010

[[TERRELL, TAMMI) My Sister Tommie - The Real Tammi Terrell - By Ludie Montgomery & Vickie Wright - 2005

[[WELLS, MARY) The Tumultuous Life Of Motown's First Superstar - By Peter Benjaminson - 2012

[[WOMEN OF MOTOWN) For The Record: The Women Of Motown - An Oral History - By Susan Whitall [[Dave Marsh) - 1998

[[WONDER, STEVIE) Signed, Sealed And Delivered - The Soulful Journey Of Stevie Wonder - By Mark Ribowsky - 2010

I'm guessing that most of the above books are deleted and long out of print by now. There are book companies, however, that specialize in selling Out-Of-Print books.

[Graham Jarvis]

Brilliant I have quite a few of these but there are some others that I will look forward to.

Gary if you haven't read the "Miss Motown" it's amazing took me 2 years to sort it all out and quite a few of Motown experts.

https://www.soul-source.co.uk/articl...-gibson-r4736/

[nativeNY63]

Also, there was that tome by Berry Gordy's pop. The name escapes me, however. Mostly covered the Gordy family dynamics. An 100 page or so paperback. Definitely long out-of-print.

[Graham Jarvis]

Here's Berry's dad bio [Berry Gordy Sr.]

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Movin-Pop-G.../dp/0060220538

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Thanks Graham and Native. I'll check them out.

[Graham Jarvis]

Gary like your good self, I have a lot of books for Stax, Chicago, Aretha, P.P.Arnold, Bettye LaVette, Cissy Houston, Bobby Womack & they go on.

Wondering if you have: [Likely]

[Hardaway, Lula] Stevie Wonder's Mother. By Dennis Love & Stacy Brown "Blind Faith" - 2002 .

[LaVette, Bettye] By David Ritz. "A Woman Like Me" 2012. Great book and she is Motown.

Check out Bettye's 45 "If I Were Your Woman" Only ever come across one rare copy as it was pulled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvnBTMg97Fg

[mysterysinger]

Good list of books there PMG - plenty to read. Small point - it's Dennis Coffey [[not Coffee).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...6cuMPU-2o781uV

[mysterysinger]

And this one's a nice and very well illustrated book by Christoph Maus [[who has written several) - Tamla Motown Worldwide -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...nFmcvm-2nFsBq5

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...Fmcvm-2nFsBq5/

[ralpht]

Al Kent...Custodians of the Humming Bird.

[mysterysinger]

Al Kent....Guardian of the Humming Bird.

I've heard that this is a very good book and keep looking for it [["Custodians Of The Humming Bird") but it always seems too expensive for me - currently over £40 on Amazon and that's discounted.

[mysterysinger]

What was your first Motown book? Aside from sheet music books and discographies etc - my first proper one was Motown [[& The Arrival Of Black Music) by David Morse from around 1971. It seemed to be the only book available on Motown for many years.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...in/dateposted/

Although everyone remembers "The Motown Story" from Blues & Soul magazine around 1970

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...phy/6099918489

[ralpht]

mystery singer,
Thanks for the correction, Yes... Custodians of the Humming Bird....

[rovereab]

I can't see these listed above but they are a good read too:

Diana Ross - A Legend In Focus - Sharon Davis
Motown - The Motown Story - Only says "Forward By Adam White" on the front cover
Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man - Steve Turner
Martha Reeves - Dancing In The Street - Martha Reeves & Mark Bego

[Roger Polhill]

I don`t remember these from the list:
"Gold Thunder" Tony Newton.
"Fame Without Fortune" Al Cleveland.
"A Thousand Honey Creeks Later" Preston Love.
"Doctor Beans Bowles The Untold Story. Dennis Bowles.
"Stevie Wonder Illustrated Disco/Biography" Rick Taylor.
"Stevie Wonder Daily Mirror Pop Club" Ray Fox Cumming.
"Motown A View From The Bottom" Jack Ashford.
"Ball Of Confusion" Richard Street.
"Stevie Wonder Scrap Book" James Haskins & Kathleen Benson.
"The Birth Of The Detroit Sound" Marilyn Bond & S.R. Boland.
"The DJ That Launched 1000 Hits Robin Seymour" Carolyn Rosenthal.
"One Nation Under a Groove" Gerald Early.
"Ball Of Confusion" Richard Street with Gary Flanigan.
"Suzanne de Passe" Mark Mussari.
Ralph I`m so glad you mentioned "Custodians Of The Hummingbird" as it`s such a interesting and distressing read.The hardships of the music game in those times.Thoroughly recommended.

[woodward]

I don`t remember these from the list:
"Gold Thunder" Tony Newton.
"Fame Without Fortune" Al Cleveland.
"A Thousand Honey Creeks Later" Preston Love.
"Doctor Beans Bowles The Untold Story. Dennis Bowles.
"Stevie Wonder Illustrated Disco/Biography" Rick Taylor.
"Stevie Wonder Daily Mirror Pop Club" Ray Fox Cumming.
"Motown A View From The Bottom" Jack Ashford.
"Ball Of Confusion" Richard Street.
"Stevie Wonder Scrap Book" James Haskins & Kathleen Benson.
"The Birth Of The Detroit Sound" Marilyn Bond & S.R. Boland.
"The DJ That Launched 1000 Hits Robin Seymour" Carolyn Rosenthal.
"One Nation Under a Groove" Gerald Early.
"Ball Of Confusion" Richard Street with Gary Flanigan.
"Suzanne de Passe" Mark Mussari.
Ralph I`m so glad you mentioned "Custodians Of The Hummingbird" as it`s such a interesting and distressing read.The hardships of the music game in those times.Thoroughly recommended.

Roger: I agree with you completely about "Custodians." My only problem with the book is he should have had a proofreader who would assist him in organizing it better. There is no index in the back of the book. There are, however, lots of previously unpublished photos in the book. I guess that he might have been in a hurry to get it out. This might ultimately be the closest book on Golden World and associated labels EVER. It just perplexes me to see many inconsistencies in spelling of artists, i. e. one place it is spelled one way and later on another way. We will have to take it the way it is. A discography would have been ideal.

[Roger Polhill]

Yes woodward it`s hard to read at times and has not been proof read and can be confusing. The story though is worth the effort. Al Cleveland`s book is far easier to read with a similar frustrating / tragic story line.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Gary like your good self, I have a lot of books for Stax, Chicago, Aretha, P.P.Arnold, Bettye LaVette, Cissy Houston, Bobby Womack & they go on.

Wondering if you have: [Likely]

[Hardaway, Lula] Stevie Wonder's Mother. By Dennis Love & Stacy Brown "Blind Faith" - 2002 .

[LaVette, Bettye] By David Ritz. "A Woman Like Me" 2012. Great book and she is Motown.

Check out Bettye's 45 "If I Were Your Woman" Only ever come across one rare copy as it was pulled.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvnBTMg97Fg

Hi Graham! I have many of the books that you mentioned. Unfortunately, I don't have the book about Stevie's mother, Lula Hardaway, but I'm aware that Stevie gave her songwriter's credit on several of his mid-to-late '60s Motown recordings.

I'm especially pleased, however, to report that I love Betty Lavette's version of "If I Were Your Woman". I bought her one and only Motown vinyl LP -- "Tell Me A Lie" -- upon its release back in 1982, and then I bought the CD when it became available a few years later.

Here you go, my friend! Bettye Lavette's "If I Were Your Woman" -- scratch- and surface-noise free -- from the CD master-tape!

https://youtu.be/31EBGI8S1sA?si=D9O9n5mIMfXro0IX

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Good list of books there PMG - plenty to read. Small point - it's Dennis Coffey [[not Coffee).

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...6cuMPU-2o781uV

Oops! Thanks for the correction, Mystery. My apologies to Dennis Coffey for the careless misspelling.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

I can't see these listed above but they are a good read too:

Diana Ross - A Legend In Focus - Sharon Davis
Motown - The Motown Story - Only says "Forward By Adam White" on the front cover
Marvin Gaye - Trouble Man - Steve Turner
Martha Reeves - Dancing In The Street - Martha Reeves & Mark Bego

Mystery, I do have Martha's book listed above as follows:

[REEVES, MARTHA) Dancing In The Street - Confessions Of A Motown Diva - By Martha Reeves & Mark Bego - 1994

Believe me, there's no way I would have not bought Martha's book. She & The Vandellas are among my very, VERY FAVE Motown artists!

[Philles/Motown Gary]

And this one's a nice and very well illustrated book by Christoph Maus [[who has written several) - Tamla Motown Worldwide -

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...nFmcvm-2nFsBq5

https://www.flickr.com/photos/cookep...Fmcvm-2nFsBq5/

Both of these books look OUTSTANDING, Kev!! I've gotta seriously look into them. To your knowledge, are they still available or are they out of print?

[Philles/Motown Gary]

I don`t remember these from the list:
"Gold Thunder" Tony Newton.
"Fame Without Fortune" Al Cleveland.
"A Thousand Honey Creeks Later" Preston Love.
"Doctor Beans Bowles The Untold Story. Dennis Bowles.
"Stevie Wonder Illustrated Disco/Biography" Rick Taylor.
"Stevie Wonder Daily Mirror Pop Club" Ray Fox Cumming.
"Motown A View From The Bottom" Jack Ashford.
"Ball Of Confusion" Richard Street.
"Stevie Wonder Scrap Book" James Haskins & Kathleen Benson.
"The Birth Of The Detroit Sound" Marilyn Bond & S.R. Boland.
"The DJ That Launched 1000 Hits Robin Seymour" Carolyn Rosenthal.
"One Nation Under a Groove" Gerald Early.
"Ball Of Confusion" Richard Street with Gary Flanigan.
"Suzanne de Passe" Mark Mussari.
Ralph I`m so glad you mentioned "Custodians Of The Hummingbird" as it`s such a interesting and distressing read.The hardships of the music game in those times.Thoroughly recommended.

Roger, I see 3 books on your list which look especially appealing -- the one on Al Cleveland, Jack Ashford, and Suzanne DePasse. In your opinion, were they as informative about Motown as you had hoped?

[Roger Polhill]

Gary, the Al Cleveland one is excellent as is Jack`s but Susanne`s from what I can recall was a disappointment.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Gary, the Al Cleveland one is excellent as is Jack`s but Susanne`s from what I can recall was a disappointment.

Thanks, Roger. I'll have to look into that.

[mysterysinger]

Both of these books look OUTSTANDING, Kev!! I've gotta seriously look into them. To your knowledge, are they still available or are they out of print?

What I posted above were links to photos of the front and back of the same book - so only one thing to think about.

The book - "Tamla Motown Worldwide" - is still available BUT please be careful as I note that it has blue on the cover [[mine is khaki as in my photos) and could be a German Edition. Whilst I would expect this to be in German - the samples with the same cover on the Maus website are in English so I'm really not sure - perhaps just a second edition [[?).

You can purchase direct from Maus [[as I did). As it's a substantial book and in full colour it is worth what is being asked. Unsure about shipping costs though.

Here's the link for Maus - please make proper enquiries as to German v English versions though as I'd hate for you to buy something that's not for you - https://maus-of-music.com/?page_id=156

Please note they also have a Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100063473405173

[Motown Eddie]

Here's another one to add to the list. Ben Edmond's What's Going On-Marvin Gaye and The Last Days of the Motown Sound from 2001. A great look at Marvin Gaye's Classic LP and Motown Records at a critical juncture as the '70s began.

[Roger Polhill]

Two I have which I forgot: "Calling Out Around The World a Motown Reader" Kingsley Abbott and the very informative "Motown The Golden Years " by Bill Dahl.
There is one long out of print that I would love is "Memories of the 1962 Motown Revue" by Curtiss E. Goodson. He was a photographer who accompanied the tour and of course the book is a photograph album.

[Motown Eddie]

Two more books about Marvin Gaye:
After The Dance: My Life With Marvin Gaye by Jan Gaye [with David Ritz] from 2015.
Mercy, Mercy Me: The Art, Loves and Demons of Marvin Gaye by Michael Eric Dyson from 2004.

[Graham Jarvis]

Good Morning Gary
I pulled out three other books The "Bill Dahl & John Swenson [[Stevie Wonder)" both 1986, the other "Kingsley Abbott" was 2001. This book is more related to the UK and also has a "foreword by Martha Reeves" 250 pages and very small wording.

Attachment 21170

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Good Morning, Graham! You guys have an array of Motown books -- many of which I've never heard of. That's the neat thing about Motown! It seems like everybody loved it -- on both sides of the Atlantic -- and everybody wanted to write about it.

[woodward]

I think all Motown enthusiasts owe a debt of gratitude to Peter Benjaminson. As a reminder, Peter wrote the first U S book on Motown, The Story of Motown. He also wrote a book on Motown's first superstar Mary Wells, a book on Florence Ballard - The Lost Supreme, and more recent the Super Freak book on the life of Rick James. He has an excellent website: peterbenjaminson.com which provides details on all of his books, including his latest on a non-Motown subject, Betty Boop.

Peter is a leading expert on Motown and he deserves credit for tacking four books to his record on Motown. Check him out. The books are all still available on Amazon.com.

[Philles/Motown Gary]

Thanks for the reminder, woodward. I have all of Peter Benjaminson's Motown-related books and they're very well written. I've been meaning to order his Rick James "Super Freak" book but, for whatever reason, kept putting it off. Your reminder just took care of that. My Amazon copy will be here Monday! Thanks!