Motown turns 50

[Redneck4sure]

DETROIT (Reuters) – Motown has always been about more than music. As the soul empire turns 50 on Monday, its founders are looking back at its brand of music dubbed the "Motown sound" that remains popular today and the record company's role in breaking down racial barriers in America.

Founded in 1959 in Detroit by songwriter and entrepreneur Berry Gordy using an $800 family loan, Motown plans a year-long celebration with record releases, documentaries and exhibitions. There is even talk of a Broadway musical in 2010.

Originally called Tamla and operating out of a two-story house, Gordy changed the name to Motown to reflect the auto industry that dominated Detroit.

The rest of the article is >>>here.<<<

I also found this history of Motown and it's subsidiaries:

MOTOWN jan. 12th 1959 - jan. 12th 2009

Tamla Records

Established 1959; Tamla was a primary subsidiary for mainstream R&B/soul music. Tamla is actually the company's original label; Gordy incorporated Tamla Records several months before establishing the Motown Record Corporation. The label's numbering system was combined with those of Motown and Gordy in 1982, and the label was merged with Motown in 1988. Notable Tamla artists included Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and The Marvelettes. Tamla Records slogan: "The Sound that makes the world go 'round."

Motown Records

Established 1960, Motown was and remains the company's main label for mainstream R&B/soul music (and, today, hip hop music as well). The label's numbering system was combined with those of Tamla and Gordy in 1982, and the label (and company) was purchased by MCA in 1988. Notable Motown artists have included Mary Wells, Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Four Tops , The Jackson 5, Boyz II Men, The Commodores, and Erykah Badu. Motown Records slogan: "The Sound of Young America."

Gordy Records

Established 1961, Gordy was also a primary subsidiary for mainstream R&B/soul music. Originally known as Miracle Records (slogan: "If It's a Hit, It's a Miracle"), the name was changed in 1962 to avoid confusion with the Miracles singing group. The label's numbering system was combined with those of Motown and Tamla in 1982, and the label was merged with Motown in 1988. Notable Gordy artists included The Temptations, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, The Contours, Rick James, and DeBarge. Gordy Records slogan: "It's What's in the Grooves that Counts"

Secondary R&B labels

Check-Mate Records

Short-lived (1961–1962) secondary R&B/soul subsidiary, purchased from Chess Records. Notable artists included David Ruffin and The Del-Phis (later Martha & the Vandellas).

Miracle Records

Short-lived (1961) secondary R&B/soul subsidiary that lasted less than a year. Some pressings featured the infamous tagline, "If it's a hit, it's a Miracle." Shut down and reorganized as Gordy Records in 1962. Notable artists included Jimmy Ruffin and early recordings by The Temptations).

Soul Records

Established 1964, Soul was a secondary R&B/soul subsidiary for releases with less of a pop feel and/or more of a traditional soul/blues feel. Notable Soul artists included Jr. Walker & the All-Stars, Gladys Knight & the Pips and Jimmy Ruffin. The label was dissolved in 1978.

V.I.P. Records

Established 1964, V.I.P. was a secondary R&B/soul subsidiary. Notable artists included Shorty Long, The Velvelettes, The Spinners, The Monitors, The Elgins and Chris Clark. The label was dissolved in 1974.

Mo-West Records

Mo-West was a short-lived (1971–1973) subsidiary for R&B/soul artists based on the West Coast. Shut down when the main Motown office moved to Los Angeles. Notable artists included G.C. Cameron, Syreeta Wright and Los Angeles DJ Tom Clay.

Motown Yesteryear

A label created in late 1970s and used through the 1980s for the reissues of 7 inch singles from all eras of the company's history, after printing in the initial label has ceased. [6] One Motown Yesteryear single made Billboard's Top 40 - The Contours' "Do You Love Me", in 1988, when its inclusion in the film "Dirty Dancing" revived interest.

Alternative genre labels

Divinity Records

Short-lived (1961–1963) gospel subsidiary.

Mel-o-dy Records

Established in 1962 as a secondary R&B/soul music subsidiary, Mel-o-dy later focused on white country music artists. Notable Mel-o-dy artists include Dorsey Burnette. The label was dissolved in 1965.

Workshop Jazz Records

Motown's jazz subsidiary, active from 1962 to 1964. Notable Workshop Jazz artists included the George Bohannon Trio and Four Tops (whose recordings for the label went unissued for 30 years).

Rare Earth Records

Established in 1969 after the signing of Rare Earth (after whom the label was named), Rare Earth Records was a subsidiary focusing on rock music by white artists. Notable acts included Rare Earth, R. Dean Taylor, The Pretty Things, Stoney & Meatloaf and Shaun Murphy (singer). The label also was the subsidiary to house the first white band signed to Motown: The Rustix. The label was dissolved in 1976, and its acts moved to the Prodigal subsidiary.

Weed Records

A very short-lived subsidiary. Only one release, Chris Clark's 1969 CC Rides Again album, was issued. This release featured the tongue-in-cheek tagline, "Your Favorite Artists Are On Weed." The name "Weed Records" is now owned by the Tokyo-New York based Weed Records.

Black Forum Records

A Spoken word subsidiary which focused mainly on albums featuring progressive political and pro-civil rights speeches/poetry. Black forum issued recordings by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Stokely Carmichael, Elaine Brown, and others from 1970 until 1973.

Natural Resources Records

This label was active from 1972 to 1973 and in 1976 as a minor subsidiary for white artists and instrumental bands. Served as a label for Motown, Tamla, and Gordy reissues and Motown compilation albums in 1978 and 1979.

Prodigal Records

Purchased by Motown in 1974, Motown used Prodigal Records as a second rock music subsidiary; a sister label to Rare Earth Records. The Rare Earth band moved over to the label following the Rare Earth label's demise. Prodigal was dissolved in 1978.

Hitsville Records

Founded as Melodyland Records in 1974, the name was changed to Hitsville in 1976. Like Mel-o-dy before it, Hitsville focused on country music. Notable artists included Pat Boone and T.G. Sheppard. The label was dissolved in 1977.

Morocco Records

Meaning "Motown Rock Company," As the name suggests, Morocco was a rock music subsidiary. Active from 1983 to 1984, it was a short-lived attempt to revive the Rare Earth Records concept. Only seven albums were released on the label. It's two most promising acts, Duke Jupiter and the black New Wave trio Tiggi Clay (via their lead singer, Fizzy Qwick) eventually moved to the parent label.

Onedirection Records

A record label owned by Stevie Wonder, it had one 12-inch dance release, the 15-minute rap track "The Crown" by Gary Byrd and the G.B. Experience.

Motown Latino Records

Short-lived (1982) subsidiary for Spanish language Latin American music.

Mo Jazz Records

Another jazz label created in the 1990s. Notable artists included Norman Brown, Foley, and J. Spencer.

Mad Sounds Recordings

Short lived hip hop/rap subsidiary label, released 5 albums in the mid 1990s.

Independent labels distributed by Motown

Chisa Records

Motown released output for Chisa, a label owned by Hugh Masekela, from 1969 to 1972 (prior to that, the label was distributed by Vault Records).

Ecology Records

A very short-lived label owned by Sammy Davis, Jr. and distributed by Motown. Only release: single "In My Own Lifetime"/"I'll Begin Again", by Davis in 1971.

CTI Records

Motown distributed output for CTI Records, a jazz label owned by Creed Taylor, from 1974 to 1975. CTI subsidiaries distributed by Motown included Kudu Records, Three Brothers Records and Salvation Records.

Gull Records

A UK-based label still in operation, Motown released Gull's output in the US in 1975. Gull had Judas Priest on its roster in 1975, but their LP Sad Wings of Destiny, intended for release by Motown in the US, was issued after the Motown/Gull Deal had fallen through.

Biv 10 Records

A hip-hop/R&B label that was founded by Bell Biv Devoe/New Edition member Michael Bivins. The label operated throughout most of the 1990s. Its roster included Another Bad Creation, Boyz II Men, and 702.

That M O T O W N Sound

The Motown Sound is a style of soul music with distinctive characteristics, including the use of tambourine along with drums, bass instrumentation, a distinctive melodic and chord structure, and a "call and response" singing style originating in gospel music. Although developed and primarily championed by the artists, songwriters, musicians, and producers at the Motown Record Corporation in Detroit, Michigan, the Motown Sound was a major influence on pop and R&B music of the 1960s, and several non-Motown artists of the mid-1960s recorded in styles which approximated the Motown sound. Among the most important architects of The Motown Sound were the members of Motown's in-house team of songwriters and record producers, including Motown founder Berry Gordy, William "Smokey" Robinson, Norman Whitfield & Barrett Strong, and the team of Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier and Edward Holland, Jr., collectively known as Holland-Dozier-Holland. Crucial to the sound was the work of Motown's in-house band, The Funk Brothers, who performed the instrumentation on most Motown hits from 1959 to 1972. However, according to Berry Gordy, "the Motown sound is made up of rats, roaches, and love" (from Wikipedia)

[DudeAsInCool]

I bet you have most of these collections

This was from 1965

Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Dancing In The Street

Uploaded by djoik

[Redneck4sure]

I bet you have most of these collections

If she sang in the shower I probably have 2 copies.

But I don't have that video. I'll see if I can grab it for keeps. Thanks Dude!

[DudeAsInCool]

If she sang in the shower I probably have 2 copies.

But I don't have that video. I'll see if I can grab it for keeps. Thanks Dude!

Use Zamzar and send it to yourself

[Redneck4sure]

I used Moyea FLV downloader program to capture the flv then I converted it to mpg in case I want to share it with someone that doesn't have a flv player installed on their computer. I may try that link just for the heck of it sometime. Right now I am in the middle of a major backup and I don't multitask so as not to confuse F.R.E.D..

(F.R.E.D. = fucking rediculous electronic device) What would you call a computer with 2 power supplies and 15 hard drives?

[DudeAsInCool]

I used Moyea FLV downloader program to capture the flv then I converted it to mpg in case I want to share it with someone that doesn't have a flv player installed on their computer. I may try that link just for the heck of it sometime. Right now I am in the middle of a major backup and I don't multitask so as not to confuse F.R.E.D..

(F.R.E.D. = fucking rediculous electronic device) What would you call a computer with 2 power supplies and 15 hard drives?

15 hard drives??!! Are you in business with China?

[Redneck4sure]

15 hard drives??!! Are you in business with China?

Drives keep getting bigger and cheaper. I could pull some of the 250g and 300g and replace them with 1tb drives and reduce the number but I don't want to spend the money. I have 3 x 1tb, 6 x 750gb, 6 x 500gb, and I don't know how many 200gb to 300gb drives. All together I have just over 30 hard drives but this computer will currently only support 18 running at the same time. I have a list of drive contents and I keep moving the cables around to back stuff up. Right now I am in the "normal" operating mode since I have completed the back up. I only have 10 hard drives running.

With some modifications, a computer makes one Hell of a jukebox.

[Mister Spong]

Fuck me that's a lot of choons!

Great news about Motown. I love Motown and really need to get a big stack of their stuff.