50 Fun Facts About Motown

Motown began operating on January 12, 1959 under which label name?

The name Motown itself is a blend of 'motor' and 'town'; the two labels merged into Motown Record Corporation in April 1960.

How much did Berry Gordy borrow from his family's savings co-op to start the company?

The loan came from a cooperative family savings account and was needed to cover his end of a distribution deal for a Marv Johnson single.

Hitsville U.S.A., the house Gordy bought in 1959, sits at number 2648 on which Detroit street?

Within seven years Motown had spread into seven additional neighbouring houses along the same block.

What was the Hitsville building used for before Gordy bought it in 1959?

The Gordy family lived in the second-floor apartment while the little studio downstairs ran 22 hours a day.

Under which slogan did Motown market its acts during the 1960s?

From 1961 to 1971 the company placed 110 records in the Billboard top 10, an unmatched run for an independent label.

How many Billboard top-10 hits did Motown score between 1961 and 1971?

The run made Motown the most successful independent record company in America and the biggest Black-owned business in the country.

Before music, what did the future Motown founder do professionally after dropping out of high school?

He fought until 1950, was drafted in 1951 and served in Korea as a chaplain's assistant playing organ at services.

Which jazz shop did the future Motown founder open, and lose money on, in the 1950s?

The shop sold jazz along with 3-D glasses; when it failed he took a job on the Lincoln-Mercury assembly line.

Before starting his label, Berry Gordy co-wrote 'Reet Petite' and 'Lonely Teardrops' for which singer?

'Lonely Teardrops' topped the R&B chart and reached No. 7 on the pop chart, and its royalties helped convince Gordy to run his own company.

On which day of the week did Motown hold its weekly quality-control meetings?

Records that survived the vote also had to pass Gordy's test of whether a teenager would buy them over a sandwich with their last dollar.

Who ran Motown's in-house finishing school, teaching artists grooming, poise and social graces?

The artist development department also had a house choreographer, Cholly Atkins, drilling the acts on their stage moves.

Motown's Studio A earned which nickname, thanks to all the cables running out of the ceiling?

The room stayed open 22 hours a day, and the session players who worked there were known as the Funk Brothers.

Which group of Detroit session musicians backed most Motown records from 1959 to 1972?

A line in the documentary claims they played on more No. 1 records than the Beatles, Elvis, the Rolling Stones and the Beach Boys combined.

Motown session bassist James Jamerson was famous for playing with what unusual technique?

The digit was nicknamed 'The Hook', and Jamerson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.

Motown's studio musicians went uncredited on records until which 1971 Marvin Gaye album?

Gordy initially resisted the concept album, worried it was too political for radio, before it became one of the label's landmark releases.

The first Motortown Revue live album was recorded during a December 1962 week-long stand at which venue?

The early package tours mostly worked the 'Chitlin' Circuit', and in the South audiences were sometimes split by a police-guarded rope.

Which 1961 Marvelettes single was the first Motown record to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100?

A young Marvin Gaye played drums on the session, and both the Beatles and the Carpenters later covered it.

Which 1960 Miracles single was the first record to sell 1,000,000 copies for the company?

It was the Miracles' first No. 1 R&B hit and peaked at No. 2 on the Hot 100, and Gordy famously recalled the group for a faster re-recording in the middle of the night.

Which 1970 record was the Miracles' only Hot 100 No. 1 during Smokey Robinson's years with the group?

It had sat on a 1967 album for three years before Motown's UK office released it as a single.

What executive title did Smokey Robinson hold at Motown from the early 1960s until after the 1988 sale?

He also wrote 'My Guy' for Mary Wells and 'My Girl' for the Temptations, and Bob Dylan reportedly called him America's greatest living poet.

Whose 1964 hit 'My Guy', written by Smokey Robinson, was her only Hot 100 No. 1?

She was nicknamed the Queen of Motown and became the first Motown star to perform in the UK, opening for the Beatles.

Under what name did the Supremes form in Detroit in 1959?

They were conceived as a sister act to the Primes, whose members Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams went on to join the Temptations.

The original Supremes all grew up in which Detroit public housing project?

Florence Ballard, Mary Wilson, Diana Ross and Betty McGlown were the four founding members.

How many Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 singles did the Supremes achieve?

Their first, 'Where Did Our Love Go' in 1964, kicked off a run of five consecutive chart-toppers.

How many of the Supremes' Hot 100 No. 1 singles were written and produced by Holland-Dozier-Holland?

The trio quit Motown in a dispute over royalties in 1967, and during the lawsuit their songs were credited to the pseudonym 'Wayne-Dunbar'.

Which 1965 single by Smokey Robinson and Ronnie White was the Temptations' first No. 1 pop hit?

It was released on December 21, 1964 and topped the chart in March, with David Ruffin on lead vocal.

Which Temptations record won Motown its very first Grammy Award, in 1969?

Producer Norman Whitfield's turn to psychedelic soul paid off; 'Papa Was a Rollin' Stone' brought a second Grammy in 1973.

Which Temptations lead singer was formally fired by the other four members in June 1968?

Dennis Edwards was hired the next day, and the ousted singer took to jumping on stage uninvited at the group's shows.

Which Temptations co-founder was the group's only surviving original member in 2024?

His memoir became the basis for the Broadway musical 'Ain't Too Proud', and the group entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.

The Tops formed in Detroit in 1953 under what original name?

The same four men stayed together without a single personnel change until 1997.

Which 1966 Four Tops single reached No. 1 on both the US pop and R&B charts?

Levi Stubbs' lead was pushed to the very top of his range by Holland-Dozier-Holland, giving the group's records their strained, urgent sound.

Marvin Gaye married a sister of the Motown founder in 1963. What was her name?

Their divorce inspired his 1978 album 'Here, My Dear', whose royalties were earmarked as alimony.

Whose 1967 'I Heard It Through the Grapevine' hit No. 2, a year before Marvin Gaye's version?

Gaye's take then spent seven straight weeks at No. 1 from December 1968.

How old was Stevie Wonder when 'Fingertips' made him the youngest Hot 100 chart-topper in 1963?

He was billed as Little Stevie Wonder and had been signed to Motown at 11 after singing for Miracles member Ronnie White.

How many Grammy Awards has Stevie Wonder won, the most of any male solo artist?

Three of them were consecutive Album of the Year wins in the mid-1970s, and he added an Oscar for 'I Just Called to Say I Love You' in 1985.

Before fronting the Vandellas, Martha Reeves worked at Motown in what job?

She was assigned to A&R chief Mickey Stevenson and ended up handling the company's auditions before getting her own break.

The Jackson 5 formed in 1964 in which city?

Motown's publicity claimed Diana Ross discovered them, though Jermaine credited Gladys Knight with sending the first demo tape to the label.

Gordy created which in-house songwriting and producing team to write exclusively for the Jackson 5?

Their first four singles all went to No. 1, the first time any group had debuted with four straight chart-toppers.

Which Jackson brother stayed at Motown in 1975 after marrying Hazel Gordy, the founder's daughter?

The rest of the group moved to Epic and had to trade in the Jackson 5 name, which Motown owned, becoming the Jacksons.

In which year did Motown announce it was moving all of its operations from Detroit to Los Angeles?

The main aim was to break into the movie business; the first film was 'Lady Sings the Blues' with Diana Ross as Billie Holiday.

Motown Productions' first film starred Diana Ross as Billie Holiday. What was it called?

The company later produced 'The Wiz' in 1978, and Gordy sold the film and TV arm to executive Suzanne de Passe in 1989.

For how much did Gordy sell his stake in Motown to MCA and Boston Ventures in June 1988?

He kept the Jobete publishing catalogue and sold that separately to EMI in pieces between 1997 and 2004.

Which music group absorbed the Motown label after PolyGram's 1998 sale to Seagram?

PolyGram bought the label from Boston Ventures in the 1990s, and PolyGram's 1998 sale to Seagram folded it into Universal.

Which 1985 Commodores single, a tribute to two soul singers who died in 1984, won the group its first Grammy?

It honoured Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson, and it came after Lionel Richie had already left for a solo career.

On the 1983 TV special 'Motown 25', Michael Jackson debuted the moonwalk while performing which song?

The show, taped at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium, also reunited him with his brothers for a medley of Jackson 5 hits.

Which network broadcast 'Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever' in May 1983?

It won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Variety Series and drew more than 47 million viewers.

Who preserved the Hitsville building and founded the Motown Museum there in 1985?

Her granddaughter Robin Terry now runs the museum, and a $50 million expansion was announced in 2016.

What did Michael Jackson donate to the Motown Museum in October 1988, along with $125,000?

The black hat and studded right-hand glove are still among the museum's best-known exhibits.

'Motown: The Musical' opened on Broadway in April 2013 at which theatre?

Brandon Victor Dixon played Gordy and Valisia LeKae played Diana Ross; the show picked up four Tony nominations.

'Motown: The Musical' is based on which 1994 autobiography by Berry Gordy?

Gordy wrote the show's book himself, and it later ran in London's West End at the Shaftesbury Theatre from 2016.