Source: CCTV.com

01-12-2009 11:23

Hi, everyone. How are you?

I'm telling you, I've had a great couple of days after getting back from holiday and getting back into the studio. Over the weekend, I caught up on the messages you've been leaving me on my blog and especially the many kind birthday wishes you wrote before Christmas.

It means a lot to me.

Diana Ross

Speaking of 'birthday's', it's a big one this week for Motown, the American record label that shaped so much of my growing-up-years. I love listening to different recording artists, but so many come from Motown which was founded in the American city of Detroit which is otherwise well-known for its car industry.

In fact, that's where the name comes from. Motown = Motor Town.

Marvin Gaye

Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye (pictured above), Smokey Robinson and Lionel Richie were all signed by Motown. As were Mary Wells, Tammi Terrell and especially Diana Ross who originally found fame with a girl group called The Supremes (pictured below) whose career and lives was turned into the Broadway musical and Oscar-winning movie, 'Dreamgirls'.

The Supremes

Towards the end of the 1960s, the company relocated to Los Angeles around the same time that it spotted five young brothers from Gary, Indiana. They became known as the Jackson 5. And the youngest of them became known to the world as Michael Jackson (centre, below). Of course, you know how that story continues.

Jackson 5

Motown was the original star-making machine. Their artists could sing, dance and in some cases act (Diana Ross was later nominated for an Oscar for her portrayal of jazz artists Billie Holliday in 'Lady Sings the Blues'). They even had a teacher who ran an in-house school teaching them how to stand, walk and eat. They were taught to not just to be stars, but stars with glamour, dignity and class.

Musically, they were the sound of young America. And, politically, they were the soundtrack of a changing world. Not only were their records played around the world, but their stance against segregation and their fight for civil rights in the days of Martin Luther King (and in the days long before Barack Obama) were brave, daring and, without a doubt, life-changing.

They've gone onto live interesting, triumphant and, in some cases, tragic lives. Mary Wells died of cancer. Tammi Terrell of a brain tumor. And, Marvin Gaye, long regarded as the 'prince' of Motown, was shot dead by his father in 1984. But, Stevie Wonder went onto have huge success (he's a favourite of Oprah's), Lionel Richie is the father of reality television star Nicole and Diana Ross went on to rack up a totla of 18 number one hits.

There are lots of videos available online. Happy Birthday, Motown.

James

 

Editor:Xiong Qu