By the late 1950s, Detroit was the largest cities in the USA that did not have a strong independent record company. With the establishment of Motown, the local talent had an outlet, and they started showing up at the Motown offices. Mickey, my A&R director started looking for the most talented musicians. They called themselves the Funk Brothers (124). One night Berry was at the hottest night club in Detroit called the 20 Grand. He met Mary Wells. She had told Berry that she had written a song for another artist, but he like her voice so much that he told her to come to Motown the next day (139). There was also the group called the Primettes who later became the Supremes. Berry Gordy signed other groups to Motown such as; Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, The Temptations, Contours, Four Tops, Marvin Gaye etc. just to name the many people that became a part of the Motown family (145-148). Then there was the Quality Control meetings in which he placed Billie Jean Brown in charge of. Berry discovered that she knew her music; she was strong, opinionated, honest, witty and had a good ear (Posner 115). Berry also had a slogan to Create, Sell and Collect. He placed Barney Wright who was in charge of sales, became in charge of collecting the money that was owed from the distributors…
Berry Gordy Jr. was born in Detroit, Michigan on November 28, 1929. He was the seventh born out of eight siblings. His parents migrated to Detroit from Georgia during 1922. They were part of a mass exodus of African Americans who left the South in the 20's and traveled to northern cities in search of better economic futures. During that time jobs were plentiful in the factories, mainly the big four automotive plants that like, Chrysler, Ford, Chevrolet, and General Motors. <br><br>Berry and Bertha Gordy would instill in Berry Jr. and his brothers and sisters a strong work ethic and a belief that anything could be achieved through persistence. His family also had deep roots in business. Berry Sr. owned a plastering and carpentry service, a general store, and a printing business. Gordy's family believed in the philosophy of Booker T. Washington, which stressed economic independence for blacks. Gordy Sr. named his store after him. Berry Gordy Jr. was heavily influenced by the ambition of his father.<br><br>Like his father, he was also very determined and he tried many new ventures. Berry was an average student who earned decent grades. Despite this he decided to drop out of Northeastern High School to peruse a featherweight boxing career. He once even fought on the same card as the great Joe Louis. He had a brief but successful series of fights but decided to give up boxing in 1951. That same year he would then decide to try out the Army. He served for two years during the Korean War; there he earned his high school equivalency diploma. <br><br>After his short stint in the army, he decided to open a record store, which only sold jazz records. Berry always enjoyed listening to records in his basement and he had a great love of music. Berry always hung around Detroit's popular nightspots to hear the bebop jazz sounds. He was able to see the performances of famous artists like pianist Thelonious Monk and saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker. Unfortunately, Berry's store…
Over the years of American history, many things have influenced its culture. An important influential thing would be rock and roll.…
It is an important genre of music because it has the power to not only influence but sustain itself through generations of people. Rock 'n' roll has had a huge impact on American society by consistently helping set the trend for pop music and influencing other genres of music like hip-hop and neo-soul. Rock 'n' Roll has been influenced by many different types of music as well and has paved the way for originality, self-expression and free thought.…
Chapter 4 in the book Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit by Suzanne E. Smith focuses primarily on Motown’s popularity and “the question of the relationship of the negro artist and his or her art to black struggle”(Smith, 139). Langston Hughes believed that “all forms of black culture, including popular music, confronted these issues (black struggle) in some way during the civil rights years, and Motown music was no exception”(Smith, 139). Throughout the chapter, the author discusses the evolution of Motown during an extremely pivotal time in the country, and the artists associated with this genre.…
At a time when racial tension was very high in the US he had a strong influence on artists such as the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones. In his early career, Berry’s songs were mainly classified as blues which appealed to the African American community. Later in his career Berry pivoted by increasing the tempo of his songs and more relatable lyrics which appealed to a much wider audience, especially the baby boomer generation which is how he became very popular. The baby boomer generation strongly identified with the lyrics of Berry’s songs which is fascinating because at the time he was much older than the audience that he was appealing to. The majority of his audience were, white teenagers in suburban neighborhoods. Chuck Berry’s influence on music was solidified when he was one of the first artists to be inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in…
In the time period when race and skin color was a big issue. The contribution of black musician/artist in the 1930’s and the1940’s had made an affect on society by Louis Armstrong, Chuck Berry, and James Brown. Not only are these people impacts, but is the music genre; such as jazz, and blues. These topics had made an impact on American society at the time, and in some sense it still does to this day.…
Berry Gordy was a leader in the field of being the founder of Motown music and was responsible for the success of many artists. Gordy's legacy of Motown music communicated and brought together a racially divided country and segregated society, around the world, touching all people of all ages and races. He did what many people of his time believed could never be done; he brought black music into millions of white Americans' homes, helping both black artists and their culture gain acceptance, and opening the door for a multitude of successful black record executives and producers. The back story was that during a disgraceful time in U.S. history, blacks were being beaten on the streets of urban America, and the Motown stars were performing to the delight of white audiences, slowly chipping away at racist attitudes. Motown music became a symbol of hope, and it was doing extremely well by reaching audiences across ethnic lines around the world.…
Motown Records marketed their releases as an all-inclusive “Sound of Young America” and succeeded in selling their records to both white and black audiences. Motown’s focus on the subject matter of the songs, the presentation of their artists to the public, and the perception that they remained at least neutral on political and social issues aided in their ability to crossover. This is the accepted narrative in the retelling and analysis of Motown Records in the 1960s. Suzanne Smith, in Dancing in the Streets: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit, argues that one must zoom out from the activities inside of 2648 West Grand Boulevard and the Top 40 chart to fully understand its history and impact. Furthermore, the conditions for…
Hip Hop and Rap music from the latest decades indicated slavery as well as the emancipation with the purpose of making people conscious about the similarities in the American society between the past and the present. Slavery contributed in the creation and the advancement of Rap music.…
One of Snarky Puppy’s primary influences is James Brown. Nicknamed “The Godfather of Soul”, Brown’s career spanned six decades and had 16 Billboard #1 hit songs. James Brown was also a key figure in the development of several musical genres, including funk and R&B. Snarky Puppy has credited James Brown as a key influence in their work, and it’s easy to see why. James Brown was known for his funk groove, utilizing out-of-the-box guitar licks and horn sections to create a unique timbre, and Snarky Puppy has used that technique with great success. A Snarky Puppy song that shows a clear James Brown influence is the song “Atchafalaya”, off of their 2015 album “Sylva”. In this song, horns play the melody and countermelody throughout and the guitar…
In today’s society the African American community still dominates the music industry with song and dance. Recording artists such as Michael Jackson, Jay Z, Whitney Houston, Beyonce, Chuck Berry, Little Wayne, and Janet Jackson are few of the many African American artists that have influenced America with their traditional ethnic rituals of song and dance.…
I think that wireless radio had the most impact on the course of jazz music because before that, most people just played songs they already knew or wrote and had sheet music for on whatever instruments they knew how to play. With the radio making music more widespread and available to people of all races and classes. This would allow jazz music to flourish and reach a new amount of people that was previously unheard of.…
The birth of jazz music is often accredited to African Americans but both black and white Americans are responsible for its immerse rise in popularity. It is present in black vocals, music-spirituals, work songs, field hollers, and the blues. Jazz united people across the world and had powerful meanings about their lives. Jazz music was completed with a trumpet, clarinet, trombone and section of drums. The music was created with passion inspired by people’s lives. Ragtime was a musical style emerged from St. Louis in the late 1890s. The swing was the new style for Jazz. Benny Goodman was the “king of swing.” and he was the first white bandleader to feature black and white musicians playing together in public. There were other different styles…
The major record labels of the 1950s, Columbia, RCA Victor, Mercury, Capitol, and Decca, where losing money to these new record labels and African American businesses. Therefore, in retaliation to losing…