How did Tamla Motown Records start

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A.� Possibly the most famous record label in the world was started by one man�- Berry Gordy Jnr. Back in 1958, with a loan of $800. Originally two separate labels, - the Tamla label was named after Tammy, the Debbie Reynolds hit song - Gordy liked the sound of the name, so he adapted it for his label, and Motown was a shortened version of 'Motor Town' the nickname for Detroit, home of the American automobile industry, and the Gordy record companies.

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Q.� Was Gordy a composer

A.� In fact Berry Gordy was a successful songwriter before he got the idea of creating his own record company. A year before he formed his Motown Empire, Gordy co-wrote Reet Petite, which became a hit for Jackie Wilson.

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Q.� Why was the label so successful

A.� Simply, Gordy had a vision of bringing black dance music to a worldwide audience, and thanks to some shrewd signing; he created a virtual hit factory within his label. Writers such as Smokey Robinson, who penned Shop Around, the label's first million-selling record, and the even more prolific Holland-Dozier-Holland trio.

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Because prior to Motown's formation, Detroit did not have a major independent record label, the talent found Gordy rather than the other way around. A group of three high school girls calling themselves the Primettes auditioned for Gordy, who liked them, but advised them to finish school. The trio returned after graduation, and Gordy signed them, changing their name to The Supremes for their first release.

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Q.� The Supremes were a corner stone of the Motown Empire

A.� Indeed they were, and it's a feature of Motown that some of the label's earliest signings became some of its biggest stars�- as well as The Miracles, Mary Wells and Marvin Gaye were early signings, the latter having to wait until the 1970's before his career really took off. It's a sign of those pioneering times that artists like Marvin Gaye were given adequate time to develop and mature as artists�- a benevolent system which is not found in today's far more competitive music markets.

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Q.� What about other big stars �����������

A.� The biggest names from the 1960's golden era of Motown included 'Little' Stevie Wonder who was signed at only twelve years old, and produced a string of chart albums and singles for the label. Among the longest serving groups of any label, Motown included, were The Four Tops who remained a constant line-up for well over thirty years, again becoming Motown legends in the process.

Q.� Is there such a thing as "the Motown sound"

A.� Most definitely�- it's a distinctive mixture of rhythm and orchestration,�the latter due to the core members of the Motown recording orchestra, known within the label as The Funk Brothers. Built around bass player James Jamerson, the other 'Brothers' were drummer Benny Benjamin, guitarist Robert White and keyboard player Earl Van Dyke. Gordy regarded their playing as such an intrinsic part of his Motown sound that he paid each of them between twenty-five and fifty thousand dollars a year�- a phenomenal amount in the 1960's, to ensure that they remained available to back Motown artists.

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Q.� So Motown continued its success

A.� It did. The label grew and expanded, signing more major success stories, including The Jackson 5 and The Commodores, both of which generated massive sales both as group entities, and with solo offshoots.

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Q.� Were the 1960's the heyday of Motown

A.� Without a doubt. Although the label was finally sold in 1988 as a division of MCA Records, it is for its sixties output that the label will be best remembered. Hits by Gaye, The Jackson Five and The Supremes seem almost tailor-made for the tiny transistor radios that conveyed them to the world's growing army of teenagers. It was as if Gordy and his fellow producers knew to make their sound top-heavy, with plenty of treble sounds and violins, which sounded just perfect on the endless summer days of the time. The songs are part of the fabric of modern pop music, and without their influence, the current dance and r 'n' b music that powers the charts would not exist.

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Q.� Did Berry Gordy ever repay that loan

A.� The money�was borrowed from his family's trust fund, and Gordy was always known as man who looked after his employees as family, so that motto doubtless extended to his own immediate relatives. In 1976, Gordy is quoted as saying "I made 367 million dollars in 16 years, I must be doing something right!"

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Andy Hughes�