Motown
Motown is a record company, a musical style, and a corporate conglomerate with several subsidiary labels. The company was founded in Detroit in 1959 by Berry Gordy, Jr. A black entrepreneur and songwriter, Gordy built a successful black-owned, independent company that became a formidable phenomenon in the music business. Motown racked up an enviable number of releases that posted on both pop and rhythm and blues (R&B) charts. At the company's height, an overwhelming 75 percent of Motown's releases charted, where the industry average was about 10 percent. By Gordy's estimation, 70 percent of the buyers of a million-seller Motown record were non-black. Between 1960 and 1969, Motown issued a total of 535 singles, 357 of which became hits. Motown issued 56 number one pop and R&B songs in a decade. The most important Motown asset was not the solid gold records or the millions earned in revenue, but its talented and diverse artists, songwriters, producers, and musicians.
Motown derived its name from the a popular slang contraction of motortown. Detroit, called the motortown for its automobile production, also spawned a number of fine musicians, among them rock and roll stars Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, distinguished jazz artists such as Milt Jackson and Yusef Lateef, bluesman John Lee Hooker, soul singers Little Willie John and Jackie Wilson, gospel diva Aretha Franklin, and many others who became Motown artists.
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