Six Months of Motown's 65th

AT 74, 80, 82, 84, 94 – WHY SLOW DOWN?

It has been a remarkable year to date.

So many stars of the Motown galaxy have been in the news since January 1, with reasons ranging from rare recordings to album reissues, from concert tours to racing cars, from fashion endorsement to philanthropy. There have been serious matters (artists worried about AI) alongside utter banality (a hitmaker’s cookie preference). None of this is dull.

Moreover, the oldest of these hitmakers appears to have been the most active.

***At the Hollywood Walk of Fame with Martha: Mickey, Smokey, Berry and Stevie***

That’s Smokey Robinson, of course. Just yesterday, he performed a five song-set in Washington, D.C. at an Independence Day celebration on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol, red shoes and all. A month earlier, he was Grand Marshal at the Detroit Grand Prix, complete with snazzy race car outfit and a vehicle branded with his SiriusXM channel, Smokey’s Soul Town. Also in June, Robinson played a date at New York’s historic Apollo, as he continued to take his “Soulfully Yours” roadshow across America. “Nothing gives me that same thing as being on stage and being with people and having a good time,” the 84-year-old told People magazine recently.

The road provides continuing income opportunities, too. When Robinson plays Oakland’s Paramount Theatre (and perhaps others) later in 2024, there’s a “meet and greet” package for $150. Purchasers meet the man and get a personal photo opportunity, as well as an “exclusive” lithograph autographed by him and a commemorative VIP laminate. It excludes show tickets, which range from around $90 to more than $500 at the Paramount.

Robinson has also revealed that he’s within a couple of songs of completing his long-mooted Spanish-language project. Plus, he guests on a track on the forthcoming album by guitarist/bassist Brian Ray, who has been in Paul McCartney’s band for years. The track is Ray’s remake of “One Heartbeat,” which he co-wrote on Smokey’s 1987 Motown album of the same name.

Diana Ross, meanwhile, has been continuing her “Legacy 2024” tour at home and abroad (there are dates in Denmark and the Netherlands next month). “You know I’m 80, right?” she asked the audience during her May 9 concert in Clearwater, Florida. “They say move it or lose it, so I’m gonna move it!”

Like Robinson’s return to Detroit for the Grand Prix, Ross reacquainted herself with one of her hometown’s landmarks on June 6, performing at “The Concert at Michigan Central” at the city’s refurbished railway station. There, her set included “I’m Coming Out” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” The long-shuttered, neglected building was taken over six years ago by Ford Motor Co. and reconfigured (at much expense) as an “investment hub” for new businesses. “We dared to dream that this station, which had become a symbol of a broken city, could once again shine as the symbol of the Motor City,” said Ford executive Bill Ford at the event. The concert included turns by Jack White, the Clark Sisters, Big Sean, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Eminem, as well as Ross.

Next month in Los Angeles, she and Lionel Richie co-headline a star-packed “Fool in Love” festival at the Sofi Stadium. Smokey Robinson is taking part, too, as are Gladys Knight, the Jacksons, the Spinners, the Isley Brothers and many others of similar stature.

Like Robinson, Diana Ross has not restricted herself to music. Earlier this year, she was the face of a spring fashion campaign by Saint Laurent, with photos of her in luxurious clothing on billboards in Los Angeles, just as her image was once used to promote new Motown releases.

If most of us have given up hope of ever hearing a new album by Stevie Wonder, he continues to create and record songs. One of the most recent is “What About The Children,” co-written with highly-rated rock guitarist/singer Gary Clark Jr. and included on the latter’s JPEG Row album. (Another guest on it: George Clinton.) What’s more, the track took Wonder onto Billboard’s Rock & Alternative Airplay chart for the first time – not an environment he usually visits.

More common among Stevie’s destinations is the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas every January, and this year was no exception. He visited the Kia booth, where he sat in a purpose-built vehicle structured on “a flexible architecture with swappable bodies and designed for specific uses, such as shuttling and last-minute delivery,” according to the company. (Cars in the key of life?) Wonder also stopped by the Hyundai Motor Co. and CERAGEM booths, the latter of which makes healthcare products, such as massage beds and chairs.

In February, the Michigan superstar honoured Tony Bennett during an “In Memoriam” segment of this year’s Grammy awards, performing “For Once In My Life” alongside archival video of the late singer (he died last year). The pair won a Grammy in 2007 for their collaboration on the song. “I love you always and God bless that God allowed us to have you, and have us, in this time and space in our lives,” Wonder said of Bennett during the telecast.

He had another moment in the spotlight this year, accepting honorary citizenship of the African nation of Ghana. Wonder, who has often spoken about moving there, appeared in its capital, Accra, on May 13 – his 74th birthday – in the company of president Nana Akufo-Addo. “The truth is, as now a Ghanaian citizen, I am committed to being a part of fulfilling the dream that we’ve had for so many years, of bringing people of Africa, those at the diaspora, United States, Caribbean, all of the people together.” Wonder concluded, “Because as I have said for many years, the only way the world would come together is that we unite as united people of the world.”

Stevie was united with others from his past on March 27, when Martha Reeves was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Also at the ceremony were Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson and Mickey Stevenson, who all spoke of Reeves’ accomplishments. Present, too, were Claudette Robinson, Janie Bradford, Iris Gordy, Scherrie Payne, Karla Gordy Bristol and Cornelius Grant. The event was livestreamed.

***Smokey thanks painter DeMaciiio for the mural unveiled at the Detroit Grand Prix***

That Reeves finally received her star – the Walk of Fame’s 2,776th – was a tribute to the diligence and determination of her manager, Chris Roe, over the past two years, and to financial donations by many of her fans, whose names appeared in the day’s programme booklet. “I am still floating on clouds from the honour,” the singer told Billboard’s Gail Mitchell during “A Conversation with Martha Reeves” hosted by the Grammy Museum later that day. “It is wonderful to be loved. I had been praying for the star.”

It was a sprightly, engaging Berry Gordy (he’s 94) who appeared at the Walk of Fame event. Like the stars he helped to create, this senior citizen has been in the news lately – even making it known publicly that he had wished the owner, manager and coach of the Detroit Lions much luck in their NFC championship game on January 28 against the San Francisco 49ers (unfortunately, they lost).

More significantly, Gordy in May pledged a $5 million gift to the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music for the purpose of setting up the UCLA Berry Gordy Music Industry Center. This is being designed to offer new courses and a curriculum with the emphasis on songwriting and music production. On June 8, the university hosted a party to mark the donation; guests included Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Eddie Holland, Suzanne de Passe and Diana Ross’ daughters, Rhonda and Chudney. It’s hoped to open the new centre in the 2024/25 academic year.

Also concerned with education is Carleton College professor of music, Andy Flory, author of 2017’s authoritative I Hear A Symphony: Motown and Crossover R&B. His next book is Marvin Gaye: The Detroit Years, for which he recently received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Philosophical Society. Publication is expected in 2025.

This year, Gaye’s exile in Belgium during the early 1980s yielded the prospect of rare recordings from that time being made available – if legal issues can be resolved. He appears to have given a family with which he stayed in Ostend a stash of costumes, notebooks and tape cassettes, and a lawyer for that family is talking about getting the music released. However, handling the rights issues will be complicated, not to mention expensive, and Gaye’s estate has had negative experience in dealing with such matters in the recent past.

One of the star’s children, Marvin Gaye III, was said to be developing a new musical about his father to open in 2023, but nothing has since emerged. Gaye junior was working with writer/producer Je’Caryous Johnson – who can claim a connection to another Motown-based project, namely, Super Freak: The Rick James Story. Johnson worked with the late punk-funkster’s daughter, Ty James, to create this jukebox musical, drawing in part on her father’s autobiography with David Ritz, Glow.

The show has been touring the U.S. this year, taking in Chicago, Memphis, Houston, Philadelphia, St. Louis and Los Angeles, among other sites. It will return early in 2025 in Atlanta. Stokley Williams, former frontman of Mint Condition, best known for their 1991 success, “Breakin’ My Heart (Pretty Brown Eyes),” takes the role of Rick, singing the likes of “Super Freak,” “Give It To Me Baby,” “Mary Jane” and “Ebony Eyes.” Unsurprisingly, the producers note that the musical “may not be suitable for children under the age of 12.”

Rick James, you’ll remember, rocked up on the Temptations’ 1982 hit, “Standing On The Top.” Last month, the group’s 82-year-old founder member, Otis Williams, happily stood at the top of an avenue newly bearing his name. From 1968-70, he lived on Detroit’s northwest side at 17376 Wisconsin Street, now Otis C. Williams Street, as approved by the city council after a two-year process initiated by his nephew, Ali Little. In a tone like that of Martha Reeves for her Hollywood moment, the Temptation said at the official ceremony on June 15, “To have my name on the street that I used to live on – I never would have imagined that such wonderful accolades would be bestowed on me, and I am so very thankful.”

The Temptations are continuing to tour the U.S. this year, with and without the Four Tops, but an itinerary of British dates with Martha Reeves & the Vandellas and Tavares this autumn will not now take place. “Please do not be fooled by the advertisements of The Temptations being promoted in shows for the month of September,” declared a statement from the quintet’s management, which added that it will be seeking “legal remedies” against the promoters involved.

The Four Tops – or, at least, one of them – have their own legal woes. Alexander Morris, lead singer for the past five years, is now suing a suburban Detroit hospital for racial discrimination and mistreatment over an incident which occurred in April 2023. He had gone to the facility after breathing difficulties and chest pain, but was disbelieved and assumed to be mentally ill after he said he was a member of the Tops. Morris is seeking more than $75,000 in damages.

There has been more – much more – Motown-related activity during the first six months of what is the company’s 65th anniversary year, and it’s summarised here:

Flo, a new musical paying tribute to the Supremes’ Florence Ballard was recently staged in Portland, with Abigail Lawrence in the title role.
Gladys Knight has been continuing her farewell tour, and is currently in the U.K.
In February, Rolling Stone ran an admiring piece about Carolyn Crawford, including an interview with the singer. Britain’s Kent Records just issued a couple of her post-Motown tracks on a vinyl 45.
Crawford and the Andantes’ Louvain Demps spoke during a panel which was part of a “Motown D.C.” exhibit of photographs and memorabilia in the capital (it’s due to close on July 7).
The Motown Museum continued its exhibit on Detroit’s Riverwalk in May with eight new panels, under the title “Pushin’ Culture Forward.” Claudette Robinson, Paul Riser, Miller London and Cornelius Grant were among those at the opening.
Riser talked about his Motown career to WDET Detroit’s Ann Delisi in January at the city’s Willis Show Bar, as detailed here.
Actor Billy Dee Williams published an autobiography (What Have We Here?) earlier this year in which he reminisced about starring with Diana Ross in Lady Sings The Blues and Mahogany.

Doubtless there are omissions in this summary of Motown’s 2024 so far, but perhaps nothing too egregious. One other highlight has been the reissue on vinyl of a number of classic Motown LPs by Spain’s Elemental Music. Under license from Universal Music, this has included titles by the Supremes, the Temptations, Smokey Robinson and the Four Tops, while many more are due this year and next. Also, Ace Records in the U.K. released in April a compilation of Holland/Dozier/Holland songs, as interpreted by Motown and non-Motown acts. The latter included Laura Nyro, Bettye Swann, Vanilla Fudge and Dusty Springfield. And also in April, SoulMusic and The Second Disc collaborated on a 2CD reissue set of the Miracles’ final four studio albums, as highlighted here.

In a broader music industry context, singers, songwriters and others have signed an open letter urging technology companies to stop developing AI music generation models which plunder existing recordings and plagiarise their work without permission or payment. They have grouped together in the Artist Rights Alliance; among the letter’s signatories are Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson, Otis Williams and the estate of Mary Wilson.

Wonder also figures in this closing note, admittedly for banal reasons. It was reported that last month, his wife, Tomeeka Robyn Bracy, bought goods from a bakery in Prince George’s County, Maryland – and then returned the next day with her husband. “She liked the cookie so much she decided to have him come back,” recalled the owner of Pro Cakes, Antoine Lee. “The cookies Stevie liked are the snickerdoodles.” It was said that Pro Cakes’ use of brown sugar for the cookie dough makes them special.

Go on, then, pick those song titles: “Dough You Worry ’Bout A Thing”? “Dough I Dough”? “You Are The Snickerdoodle Of My Life”? “Shoo-Be-Dough-Be-Dough-Da-Day”? “You Haven’t Do… [That’s enough – Ed].

West Grand Blog is taking a short break. See you on the other side, with luck.