(Vocals, b. 1938) Ben E. King was lead singer on The Drifters’ 1959 hits, including ‘There Goes My Baby’ and ‘Save The Last Dance For Me’. He quit in 1960 over royalty payments, finding solo success with 1961’s ‘Spanish Harlem’, and co-wrote the follow-up, ‘Stand By Me’, a US top 5 hit and his meal-ticket recording. King escaped the revival circuit in 1975 with a surprise US disco hit ‘Supernatural Thing’ ...
(Founder, Motown Records, b. 1929) Gordy co-wrote Jackie Wilson’s ‘Reet Petite’ in 1957 while working on Detroit’s Ford assembly line and started Motown in 1959 with an $800 loan, creating a factory-like hit-making process. Gordy scouted talented Detroit performers and matched them to equally talented in-house writers and producers. He fostered a family atmosphere of (mostly) friendly rivalry, which earned him the nickname Pops. Gordy exercised strict control of Motown’s output. The ...
(Vocal group, 1955–present) Originally known as The Juvenaires, this doo-wop group was formed in 1955 while members Danny Rapp, Frank Maffei, Joe Terranova and Dave White were still at high school in Philadelphia. They signed to Singular Records, owned by Artie Singer, and made the 1957 million-seller ‘At The Hop’, which topped the US singles chart for seven weeks on ABC-Paramount, and made the UK Top 3. Originally titled ‘Do The ...
(Vocal group, 1961–77) The jewels in the crown of Motown’s golden years, The Supremes’ sophisticated act and sound were the TV-friendly face of soul music, winning them 12 No. 1s including a 1964–65 run of five in a row from hitmakers Holland-Dozier-Holland. Many, like: ‘You Can’t Hurry Love’ and ‘You Keep Me Hanging On’, became pop classics. The writing team’s departure from the label, founder Florence Ballard’s ousting from the group and ...
(Vocal group, 1958–present) Formed in New York’s Bronx in 1958 by Dion DiMucci, Angelo D’Aleo, Carlo Mastangelo and Fred Milano, this doo-wop group had had several US hits by 1960, including 1959’s ‘A Teenager In Love’, also a UK hit. Dion went solo in 1960, scoring more US hits, the biggest 1961’s million-selling US No. 1, ‘Runaround Sue’, but label changes and drug addiction limited his big hits to the million-selling ...
(Vocal group, 1955–65) New Yorker Lymon (1942–68) was invited to join a school vocal group with Sherman Gaines (1940–78), Jimmy Merchant, Joe Negroni and Herman Santiago. Before finding Lymon, the others, who were known as The Premiers, were working on a song they had written, but needed a soprano lead voice, a vacancy Lymon filled. The result was the 1956 million-selling US Top 10 hit, ‘Why Do Fools Fall In Love’, ...
(Vocal group, 1952–88) One of many 1950s doo-wop groups scraping a reputation on the R&B circuit, Gladys Knight and The Pips (brother Merald and cousins William Guest and Edward Patten) only came to mainstream attention on signing with Motown in 1966, where they had minor hits and the 1967 million-seller original of ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’. Overlooked by the Motown machine, they switched to Buddah in 1973 just as ...
(Piano, vocals, 1947–97) An ill-fated performance at 1967’s Monterey Festival arrested the commercial progress of the late New Yorker, whose songs – imaginative fusions of jazz, gospel and folk – were to be covered by the diverse likes of Blood, Sweat and Tears, Fifth Dimension, Three Dog Night, Barbra Streisand and Frank Sinatra, jackpot of all songwriters. A long vinyl silence ended with a 1975 album, Smile. There followed another withdrawal ...
(Vocals, 1937–68) Arkansas-born William Edgar John, who moved to Detroit as a child, was signed to King Records from 1955. A string of US R&B Top 20 hits followed, several of which crossed over to the US pop chart. He is said to have influenced many major soul singers of the 1960s, and his best-known hits included ‘Need Your Love So Bad’ (1956, covered by Fleetwood Mac), and ‘Fever’ (1956, US ...
(Vocal group, 1963–72) Two lucky breaks for Motown secretary Martha and friends Annette Beard and Rosalind Ashford launched their career: covering for absent backing singers on the 1962 session for Marvin Gaye’s ‘Stubborn Kind Of Fellow’, and taking the lead vocal on ‘I’ll Have To Let Him Go’ when Mary Wells did not show in 1963. Taking their name from raunchy gospel singer Della Reese, The Vandellas were the earthy alternative ...
(Singer-songwriter, b. 1941) Born in Canada of Lebanese parents, Anka was a child prodigy, whose chart career started with 1957’s multi-million selling UK/US No. 1, ‘Diana’ (written about the family babysitter). 1959’s ‘Lonely Boy’, another US No. 1 was another of his 53 US hit singles by 1983. Rarely a rocker, he duetted with protégée Odia Coates on his third US chart-topper, 1974’s sentimental ‘(You’re) Having My Baby’. Anka also wrote ...
(Vocals, 1928–2006) Beginning in 1949 Ruth Brown’s soulful voice put Atlantic Records on the map with a string of R&B classics like ‘So Long’, ‘Teardrops In My Eyes’ and ‘(Mama) He Treats Your Daughter Mean’. Two-dozen hits later in 1960 Brown left the music business, enduring difficult times before resurging in the mid-1970s as a Broadway star. Her attempts to regain unpaid royalties led to the formation of the Rhythm and ...
(Vocal group, 1958–78) The Miracles – Smokey Robinson, Claudette Rogers, Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White and Warren Moore – were a cornerstone of Motown’s early success. Their 1960 hit ‘Shop Around’ set the gospel-and-soul tone for the label (later tempered with girl-group pop). Robinson was also a producer and songwriter of great lyricism for other Motown acts, notably Mary Wells, The Temptations and The Marvelettes. He was vice-president of the label from ...
(Vocal group, 1965–80) Originally a doo-wop group, The Detroit Spinners signed to Motown in 1965 but were overshadowed by the label’s excess of talent. Their only big hit there was the Stevie Wonder composition ‘It’s A Shame’. Switching to Atlantic in 1971 and switching lead singer G.C. Cameron for newcomer Philippe Wynne, they teamed with Philly producer Thom Bell, whose orchestrations matched their complex harmonies in several chart entries starting with ...
(Vocal group, 1950–65) The Dominoes were an R&B/pop vocal group led by Billy Ward, a child prodigy and army choir director who attracted singers like Clyde McPhatter and Jackie Wilson to the group. The Dominoes’ biggest R&B hit was the raunchy ‘60-Minute Man’. The group’s version of ‘Stardust’ reached No. 12 on the pop charts in 1957. Ward’s strict-disciplinarian ways led to a high turnover rate. McPhatter became lead singer of ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.