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...