Quote Originally Posted by snakepit View Post
I have a number of Motown books. In terms of detail , it is one of the better ones.
The narrative is mainly EH but then we are given "quotes" by...EH! So much of it must be co writer Dave Thompson.

Like I have said, the main interest for me is the "strike". EH apparently 'walked out' in 1961 because of his lack of royalties on "Jamie". Motown was trying to build itself into a viable record label..early days...and if he had built a career around a few hits, money would have come, even if only in stage appearances.
Of course we know he didn't want to do that. Not much money would be made on sales alone.
By late 1966 Motown was making big money after lots of hits and presumably TV and theatre bookings [[ How much were DRATS / Motown getting for Las Vegas bookings). I think a number of employees at the 'coal face' ...artists, musicians, writers /producers/ arrangers etc were able to see certain staff at the high end were receiving big rewards. A lot of unrest was brewing, and with Gordy frequently absent with DRATS, the atmosphere must have been festering. I think EH tapped into this, and knowing that HDH were so important, took his chance to challenge Berry.
By making him head of A&R, he had given EH a strong bargaining chip.

It's human nature to want to be rewarded for your hard work, skills and talent. If your employer does not want to meet your idea of your worth, you might look for another job/position.
I think EH has a beef that their contracts/royalty rates are on a par with other, less sucessful writers.
But as HDH had big hits, they were getting bigger rewards.
The 'internal' report, and the slight of the unnamed producer is telling.
BTW any idea to whom he is refering to?

The way he deals with 'Edith Wayne" is laughable. I presume.a.lawsuit might be around the corner. We have bern told she was an office.cleaner..or a ficticious name of Lamont's teacher..
We know find out that she was in fact EH girlfriend/wife . We all know HDH wrote those early songs under her name
But the way he avoids telling us is in keeping with a lot of his narrative.
Thanks snakepit , I'm getting a lot out of your comments. Too bad you weren't the editor !! You could've steered the narrative and given Eddie the needed push. I think a lot of times the writers don't understand what it is the readers are seeking, or they mostly hold back and don't want to do an honest reveal. For me, there never seems to be enough about the music itself and its making.