Six Brave Souls
THE OPTIMISM OF POST-GORDY PRESIDENTS
Following in Berry Gordy’s footsteps at the pinnacle of Motown Records was always going to be a daunting task.
Impossible, you might say. Why set yourself up for comparison with such a pioneer? Who would want the media attention, and the reality that almost every new artist signing will be measured against his original stars? At the very least, why accept the tsuris of trying to persuade Stevie Wonder that it’s time to deliver a new album?
“Some of the guys out there could do it,” Gordy once told me about the line of succession, “if it were possible to do. I’m just not sure it is possible, given the times.”
One of the guys: Andre Harrell with Diana Ross
The guys? The Motown founder might have extended his comment to include the girls, given how vital so many of them were to his business in the 1960s and ‘70s. And since he spoke those words, Motown Records has been headed by a woman – twice.
Actually, it was the recent advance of one of them which sparked this review of those who did follow in Gordy’s footsteps after the company was acquired by MCA, then PolyGram and, currently, Universal Music. Nothing too serious, of course: no precise calculation here of the number of Motown artists who became stars over the past 33 years, nor any attempt to log exactly how many chart-topping singles or albums the company had – or did not – in that time period.
Instead, you might be amused by remarks from five of the six men and women who ran post-1988 Motown. Well, four of them, anyway. The fifth seemed to avoid making too many public statements – prudently, perhaps. Moreover, she was the only Motown president of the 21st century to have a Stevie Wonder studio album to release.
And the sixth? She’s still in office: namely, Ethiopia Habtemariam, who recently advanced to chairman/CEO of the company. In a Billboard interview with her last month, it was noted that the label’s hip-hop star, Lil Baby, had America’s most popular album of 2020 with My Turn. (Success aside, another cute connection with the past is the fact that Lil Baby is signed to a Motown joint-venture with the name of Quality Control.)
On the downside, three of these five former presidents are no longer alive. Anyway, here’s what each said at some point after stepping onto the Motown bridge and taking command of the ship. The dates indicate when each did so and how long they lasted there. It’s in chronological order, so beginning with…
JHERYL BUSBY, 1988-1995
“Motown represented more than pure talent, it represented hope and opportunity. Say what you will about The Boys, I don’t think they’re God’s gift to great singing. What The Boys are is a great statement – anyone can pull it off if you’ve got the will power and the energy. In terms of it not being a totally black-owned company, well, it’s hoped that the fact I stepped into one of the greatest jobs with a piece is a statement by the corporate community.” (Hits, April 17, 1989)
Jheryl Busby: hope and opportunity (photo: Ellen Jaskol)
“The executives at some point have a dream we can put together an advisory board of major artists who have contributed to this company over the years, and that they’ll have a piece. And so that when it’s all said and done, it’s still a pride statement of black ownership. Thank God that investment bankers came along and saved it, because it could have gone away completely. I want to focus on the fact that there’s still hope and opportunity for folks at Motown. That’s why writing chapter two is such a big job.” (Hits, as above)
“I think Motown was still relying on its past, its ability to create everything inside. And it became a sort of ivory-tower company where you couldn’t get in the front door. It wasn’t accessible. DeBarge was a wonderful concept, but it looked handpicked. It looked like, ‘All right, let’s force this onto the consumer.’ I need to reposition Motown in the minds of the youth. What I want to do with the eight-year-olds, the nine-year-olds, the ten-year-olds, is hook ’em into the Boys, hook ’em into Another Bad Creation, hook ’em into Pretty In Pink, and then sell ’em some history.” (Washington Post, June 2, 1991)
ANDRE HARRELL, 1995-97
“I’m gonna bring back real soul music. I want young people with old voices that reek of life experience, of pain. Spirituality and passion. Love gone wrong. Love come back. Romance and players. I’ve created stars and celebrities. Now I want to make superstars.” (New York, October 23, 1995)
“Motown has to become the lifestyle label for the times that the active record-buying audience – the audience who’s 15 to 30 – is living in. One of the ways you do this is by putting out records that are in the groove that that audience is living in. Like if Mary J. Blige was a Motown artist, Motown would have some of her imaging on it. It’s that young, hip-hop soul, Generation X energy. Same thing if Jodeci was on the label. Back in the day, Motown talked to everybody in the ghetto – and it talked to the rest of the world, too.” (Vibe, December 1995/January 1996)
“Going to Motown, my plan is this: when you think of Motown now, you’re gonna think of Andre Harrell. I’m not gonna work for Motown, I’m gonna be Motown – in the way I dress, the records I put out, the causes I choose to get involved in, the artists from the past, the artists who are there now, and the artists in the future. Like I lived Uptown Records, I’m gonna live Motown Records. I’m gonna be Motown for this generation of young-adult record buyers. Motown was the blueprint. Berry Gordy was the blueprint for what I became.” (Vibe, as above)
GEORGE JACKSON, 1997-98
“I wasn’t a record man. I was a movie guy, and how dare I try to run a record company, and not just any record company – Motown. For a lot of people, the jury is still out.” (USA Today, February 12, 1998)
Kedar Massenburg: getting them to listen
“There’s tremendous pressure on me, nothing but pressure. But you know what? There was pressure on Berry Gordy when he borrowed $800 from his family to start Motown. Pressure can cripple you or it can inspire you. I chose the latter.” (CNN, March 26, 1998)
“Motown was not a sound; it was a standard. There was a quality of lyrics, a quality of musicianship, a quality of orchestration. Motown was a cut above the rest. There was a lot of passion, a lot of creativity, a sense of shared responsibilities. No one pointed fingers when something went wrong. Everyone shared the good and the bad. And that’s what we need to revive here.” (Detroit Free Press, February 13, 1998)
“We need to be about good music created by the best songwriters and producers. Then we need to market it to get above the noise. Because right now, you’ve got a bunch of records being churned out, and the overwhelming majority are mediocre. We’ve got to get above the noise. Then Motown can serve as a source of inspiration for the people who work here now, for the artists we are going to sign and for all the people who still love what Motown represents.” (CNN, as above)
KEDAR MASSENBURG, 1998-2004
“People were listening to Motown then as the music of the times and they are not listening to Motown now. With the help of people like Brian McKnight and Erykah Badu and Chico DeBarge and Dwayne Wiggins, we can set about bridging that gap. But we are not going to dominate the pop charts like we used to. How can we? There are too many other companies out there for that. So please don’t compare it to the Motown of yesteryear.” (Independent, March 24, 2000)
“One of the things that I hate about running this company is trying to convince the legends – people like Stevie Wonder, Smokey Robinson and the Temptations – that they have to go into a different direction. It hurts me to explain to them that they are not as viable as they were before. But they need to allow younger producers to work with them. It’s a sign of the times. Smokey’s not a problem, he’s into it, and they are all listening now, but it’s been hard getting them to listen.” (Financial Times, December 2, 2000)
“Motown is not a microwave label, it’s an oven-baked label. I’m building careers, which takes time. India.Arie was with me for two-and-a-half years before we released a record. Motown was never going to suddenly become a success overnight – no way. If you look at our competitors, at companies like Def Jam, it has taken them 10, 20 years to get established under the guidance of one visionary like Lyor Cohen. We’ve had three presidents in a few years and I’ve only been here three-and-a-half years. But we have turned the corner.” (Financial Times, as above)
SYLVIA RHONE, 2004-2011
Sylvia Rhone (left) and Ethiopia Habtemariam (right) with Clarence Avant
“I see this as a very diverse label. The Motown of old was in a different time period. People’s tastes are very broad now. So we have to adapt to this time period and make sure we appeal to the consumers.” (Billboard, October 9, 2004)
ETHIOPIA HABTEMARIAM, 2011-2022
“Early on, yeah, I had crippling fucking fear and anxiety around how do you live up to that. It’s not about competing with them. You can’t. It’s about honoring that history. When I stepped into the role, there was a question about Motown within the industry; it was like, “Motown, whatever,” and I was like, “Wait, are you serious? Motown is known around the world!” Now I have to prove people wrong. I wanted to utilise Motown as a platform for other entrepreneurs. That was really important to me, in addition to developing new artists that again represent the range of where music is today.” (Time, February 7, 2021)
As noted above, Motown’s current chieftain has generally been discreet in public remarks about the job and its responsibilities. (Since she shares that caution with Rhone, perhaps gender is a factor.) Then again, it’s taken Habtemariam – yes, she has Ethiopian origins – some time to reach this peak: she joined the label as a senior VP in 2011, while simultaneously holding a key post at Universal Music’s publishing division. Her appointment as Motown president came in 2014, and her promotion to chairman/CEO occurred two months ago. At this rate, she just might be its longest-serving leader of the post-Gordy era. Now that’s quality control.
Updated notes: Ethiopia Habtemariam’s time as Motown’s chairman/CEO finishes at the close of 2022, according to an announcement made on November 29 by corporate parent Universal Music. No successor was named at that point.
Tragic notes: the three Motown presidents who died prematurely were George Jackson in February 2000 at age 42, Jheryl Busby in November 2008 at age 59, and Andre Harrell in May 2020 also at age 59. Berry Gordy will be 92 this November.
Music notes: the single most successful Motown act of the post-Gordy era so far has been Philadelphia’s Boyz II Men, signed during Jheryl Busby’s presidency. The group scored ten Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 from 1991-98, spent a total of 50 weeks at Number One with five singles (including a non-Motown duet with Mariah Carey) and delivered three Top 10 albums. Shanice and Brian McKnight were among others who did well on the charts, and their biggest Motown hits – both of which reached No. 2 in the U.S. – are included in this West Grand playlist. Two singer/songwriters signed under Kedar Massenburg’s regime, Erykah Badu and India.Arie, have probably had the most impact culturally, as well as big-selling albums. Several original Motown superstars stayed with Motown (or left and came back) after 1988, including Smokey and Diana, while Stevie remained on the roster until recently, albeit with modest output. And in a modern music world measured by digital streaming rather than physical sales, Lil Baby is making an impressive showing for Motown under Ethiopia Habtemariam. His album, My Turn, has generated four billion streams worldwide to date, and “The Bigger Picture” (also included in this playlist) has been his highest-charting track so far. It’s a very different “Sound of Young America” to the one created more than a half-century ago at 2648 West Grand Boulevard.