This is the latest from The Bluesmobile’s C.C. Rider, who spends her life venerating the founding fathers of the blues. She’s walked the crooked highways of this singing country to resurrect the voices of the past. With the dirt of the Delta on her hands, she sleeps in the shadow of the giants on whose shoulders popular music now stands.
Berry Gordy
Born November 28, 1929
It all started with a flat on West Grand Boulevard in Detroit and an 800 dollar loan. Former boxer and Korean War Vet Berry Gordy had a dream…to create a place where a black kid could quote “walk off the street into the studio and leave a polished performer.” He wanted to make records, to discover serious talent, to churn out hits the way a Detroit auto factory churns out cars. So, Motown Records was launched.
Berry Gordy rocketed a family called the Jacksons to international stardom. Found an 11 year-old prodigy named Stevland Morris, soon dubbed “Little Stevie Wonder.” From Marvin Gaye to the Temptations, Diana Ross to Mary Wells. Berry Gordy discovered the greatest of all time. And in doing so he made history. Motown made it okay for white people to like black music.
Here’s a masterpiece. A song written by Berry Gordy. And one of his label’s first releases. “Money.”
