USA/UK: Ahead of its 50th anniversary, Motown artists talk about the label's legacy in helping overcome racism

Record ID: 311296

  • Title: USA/UK: Ahead of its 50th anniversary, Motown artists talk about the label's legacy in helping overcome racism
  • Date: 10th January 2009
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATE (RECENT) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) SMOKEY ROBINSON, SAYING: "However, I am so very, very, very proud of Motown music because I feel like we bridged that gap because years later, we'd be going down to the same places and the kids were not only in the same area but they were dancing together, having a good time together. Everybody
  • Embargoed: 25th January 2009 12:00
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  • Topics: Entertainment,Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADFRWKHEKV2WWU1SCY3YZIL0H
  • Story Text: Ahead of its 50th anniversary, Motown musicians talk to Reuters Television about facing racism, segregation and violence and how the label was instrumental in changing race relations in the United States.
    Motown Records was founded in 1959, one year ahead of the most turbulent decade in the United States. Little did the record label's founder Berry Gordy know how much the label would pave the way in bringing about change in the country, especially in The South where segregation, lynch mobs and violence were the norm.
    Gordy wanted to make music that not only appealed to black America but to the entire world. As the first African-American heading up a record label, Gordy had already set the example of challenging racial stereotypes for the artists, producers and songwriters who became part of the now familiar "Motown Sound". In addition to setting new grounds in pop music, now they were part of a much bigger movement.
    Lamont Dozier, one third of the Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team that wrote more than 200 songs on the label, said Motown was music without color.

    "I said 'but what slows you (his co-writers Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier) down is these lyrics. It takes you too long to write these lyrics, it just takes away.' I said 'if you guys just did what you do and you turn it over to me (work on the melodies) and you let me write these lyrics, we will be able to move at a very, very fast pace,'" Dozier told Reuters Television.
    Smokey Robinson together with The Miracles became the label's first platinum-selling artists with the track "Shop Around" in 1959. On tour, especially in the southern states, he saw first hand how local governments would segregate people, even in the world of entertainment.

    "The audiences were not separated to that degree that one day you would play to a white audience and another day you'd play to a black audience.
    However, they were separated in areas in the same venue, in the same building.
    Like many times the stage would be in the centre, white people would be on one side and black people would be on the other side, white people would be upstairs and black people would be downstairs, or vice versa. And when we played in places where the kids could dance, white kids would dance on this side of the room and black kids would dance on that side of the room and that's how it was," he said.
    Martha Reeves, lead singer of the Vandellas, recalls her first experiences on the road with racism.

    "It wasn't easy going on that first tour -- going in the South and having segregated audiences and being shot at and being denied privileges. To overcome the fact that our earlier records couldn't have our pictures because they might not have sold."
    The Supremes, The Four Tops, The Temptations, and Marvin Gaye were amongst the first Motown artists crossing over to a predominately white Top 40 music chart. But it wasn't without experiencing the tumultuous decade where Martin Luther King inspired African-Americans to stand up for their rights and was gunned down in 1968. Still, Motown artists said they feel honored to be a part of the country's racial progress.

    "However, I am so very, very, very proud of Motown music because I feel like we bridged that gap because years later, we'd be going down to the same places and the kids were not only in the same area but they were dancing together, having a good time together. Everybody was in the same area, partying and sharing and it was a great accomplishment musically and socially," said Robinson.

    "Motown's influence has always been about unity, about people getting together, people are one people. We may have come over here on different ships but we're all in the same boat," added Gordy, the label's founder.
    Motown will celebrate its 50th anniversary on Monday, January 12.
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