Books like Motown by J. Randy Taraborrelli

Gerald L. Posner’s biography chronicles Berry Gordy’s founding of Motown Record Corporation, its rise to chart dominance, and the triumphs and trials of iconic Detroit‑grown artists amid the civil rights era.

A visual history of Motown Records, the Detroit-based independent record company which became a style unto itself, a prolific and hugely successful production line of suave, sassy and sophisticated music through the sixties, seventies and eighties. Featuring extensive, specially commissioned photography of treasures gathered from the archives, this publication also captures the graphic and design iconography that underpinned Motown's extraordinary creativity. Packed with fresh insights gleaned from scores of interviews with key players, this revealing book delves into the workings of the Motown machine and details how a dedicated team of backroom believers, white and black, turned a small family business into a popular music powerhouse.

Motown was part of growing up in the 1960's and 70's. An amazing number of well-known stars worked for Motown: Diana Ross and the Supremes, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Jr Walker and the All Stars, Mary Wells, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Tammi Terrell, Edwin Starr, David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Lamont Dozier, Shorty Long, the Temptations, the Four Tops, the Fifth dimension, the Marvelettes, the Contours, the Isley Brothers, the Spinners, the Originals, the Jackson Five, the Commodores, Rare Earth, Rick James, and many others. Most were Motown stars. Many started and ended with Motown. Motown is important for other reasons. A black company, Motown made black music popular among Americans of all ages.

A concise account of Motown’s rise, spotlighting its African‑American musicians, key personalities, and lasting impact on soul and popular music.

In late 1948, Muddy Waters burst upon the Chicago music scene with his first record on the Aristocrat label. In 1950, Leonard and Phil Chess became sole owners of the label and changed its name to Chess Records. The Chess story evolved because Chicago was the chosen destination of two distinct migrations, of rural blacks from the South and European Jews. This relatively small record label had, within ten years, irrevocably altered the course of twentieth-century popular music, introducing black music to white America and to the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and every rock musician since. The Story of Chess Records is the first book to be devoted to the label.

Now the man who made Motown, the revolutionary who shattered the color barrier in the American entertainment industry, the visionary who forever changed the way the world hears its music, finally breaks his silence after decades of rumor, gossip and misinformation. In TO BE LOVED, Berry Gordy tells it from the inside, as he lived it, as he made it happen. The son of a plastering contractor in Detroit's inner city, Gordy rose to become one of the twentieth century's most stunning success stories, following a sometimes stumbling, but always determined course. Within this kid, known as the "black sheep" of his family, burned an aspiration to greatness, a desire to be special, a fire lit by the heroes of his youth - the legendary boxers, as well as the artists and musicians flourishing in Detroit's club scene - who showed him there was a way out of the ghetto. Torn between boxing and music, the teenage Gordy took his professional plunge as a boxer, then turned to his real love - songwriting. The tenacity of this young fighter, along with the creative drive of a developing songwriter, laid a strong foundation for the company he established in 1959 in a Detroit house that came to be known as Hitsville, USA. Gordy's standards were ferociously exacting. With determination and constant innovations, he cultivated a music that communicated basic feelings, cutting through cultural and language barriers. By the mid-60s, Motown dominated the nation's pop music charts, becoming the soundtrack for the lives of millions of young Americans - black and white. Full of joy and heartbreak, triumph and disaster, TO BE LOVED is one extraordinary man's saga - an adventurous yet tumultuous journey that chronicles the building and the selling of Motown...and finally, the sacrifices made in order to preserve its unparalleled legacy and black heritage. Gordy's belief in the potential of all people resulted in the music the world listened to, danced to, made love to - even today. And what ultimately emerges is someone whose labor of love and very being became a source of instruction and inspiration for young and old of all colors. Featuring over 30 pages of rare photographs that capture the personalities and excitement of an astonishing era, TO BE LOVED is the very intimate and powerful story of the man who created the sound heard 'round the world.

An engaging, photo‑rich history of Motown, based on interviews with its artists, producers and songwriters, revealing how the label shaped American popular music.

"1960s Detroit was a city with a pulse: people were marching in step with Martin Luther King, Jr., dancing in the street with Martha and the Vandellas, facing off with city police. And through it all, Motown provided the beat. This book tells the story of Motown - as both musical style and entrepreneurial phenomenon - and of its intrinsic relationship to the politics and culture of Motor Town, USA."--BOOK JACKET.

A history and analysis of Motown Records, celebrating its 'glorious' moment in American culture and music history.

A sweeping exploration of America’s roots in country and popular music, tracing the evolution from blackface minstrels and yodeling cowboys to Motown and rockabilly, and spotlighting iconic figures like Elvis and Jerry Lee Lewis.