Following the death of Tammi Terrell in 1970, Gaye went into seclusion, emerging the following year with " What's Going On " and its subsequent album, which helped to make him one of the first artists in Motown to break away from the reins of Motown's production company to be his own artist.

The album became one of Motown's first autonomous works, without the help of Motown's staff producers.

In late 1960, the group recorded their first hit single, " Shop Around ", which became Motown's first million-selling single.

The couple had two children, daughter Tamla Robinson ( b. 1969 ) and son Berry Robinson ( b. 1968 ), named after Motown's first label and Berry Gordy respectively.

* May 2 – Lionel Richie's hit " Hello " becomes Motown's first ever UK million-selling single.

* February 12 – The Miracles ' " Shop Around " becomes Motown's first million-selling single.

Following their signing to Motown's Gordy imprint in 1962, The Vandellas struck gold with their second release, the first composition and production from the famed writing team, Holland – Dozier – Holland, titled " Come and Get These Memories ".

In 1970, the group issued Motown's first protest single, the controversial anti-war song, " I Should Be Proud ", which peaked at a modest forty-five on the R & B singles chart.

In Britain, Motown's records were released on various labels: at first London ( only the Miracles ' " Shop Around "/" Who's Lovin ' You " and " Ain't It Baby "), then Fontana (" Please Mr. Postman " by the Marvelettes was one of four ), Oriole American (" Fingertips " by Little Stevie Wonder was one of many ), EMI's Stateside (" Where Did Our Love Go " by the Supremes and " My Guy " by Mary Wells were Motown's first British top-20 hits ), and finally EMI's Tamla-Motown (" Stop!

Kendricks, who had quit the Temptations just before Williams left, produced and co-wrote Williams ' first single, " Feel Like Givin ' Up ", which was to have been issued on Motown's Gordy imprint with " Once You Had a Heart " as its b-side.

He soon began recording for Motown's Gordy label, first with the Hot Lips and then with a new version of the Stone City Band.

She was one of Motown's first singing superstars.

Though she was hailed as " the first lady of Motown ", Wells was technically Motown's third female signed act: Claudette Rogers of Motown's first star group The Miracles, has been referred to by Berry Gordy as " the first lady of Motown Records " due to her being signed as a member of the group, and in late 1959 Detroit blues-gospel singer Mable John signed to the then-fledging label a year prior to Wells ' arrival.

It became a worst-kept secret that Jackie Wilson's 1967 hit "( Your Love Keeps Lifting Me ) Higher & Higher " didn't have a Motown influence quite by accident — the Funk Brothers migrated to do the Wilson session, in an interesting reference to Motown's early history: Berry Gordy, Jr. got his first music break by getting Wilson to record some of his songs ( most famously " Reet Petite ") in the 1950s.

By the time the record reached # 1 on the US pop charts in April 1971, Kendricks had signed a solo deal with Motown's Tamla imprint and was preparing the release of his first solo album, All By Myself.

Robinson led the group from its 1955 origins as The Five Chimes until 1972 when he announced a retirement from the stage to focus on his role as Motown's vice president.

The group signed with and eventually recorded all of their singles for Motown's Gordy imprint.

The group was best known for their string of hit singles on Motown's " Soul " record label and Buddah Records from 1967 to 1975, including " I Heard It Through the Grapevine " ( 1967 ) and " Midnight Train to Georgia " ( 1973 ).

In addition to the songwriting prowess of the writers and producers, one of the major factors in the widespread appeal of Motown's music was Gordy's practice of using a highly select and tight-knit group of studio musicians, collectively known as " The Funk Brothers ", to record the instrumental or " band " tracks of a majority of Motown recordings.

During Robinson's tenure, the Miracles, known as Motown's " soul supergroup ", recorded 26 top 40 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 including eight top twenty singles, six top ten singles and one number-one single, 1970's " Tears of a Clown ", before Robinson and his wife Claudette left the group altogether in 1972.

In 2009, all the known members of the group ( including Billy Griffin ) got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, attended by Berry Gordy and Stevie Wonder, who thanked the Miracles ( in particular Ronnie White, who brought the then 11-year-old to Motown's studios ), for discovering him.

In May 1968, the group played a concert in Detroit at Motown's Grande Ballroom opening for Cream.

All three Supremes were unhappy with Motown's seeming lack of interest in promoting this line-up of the group, a line-up that recorded no hit singles, the closest being " Bad Weather ", a Stevie Wonder tune that failed on the charts at a time when everything else he was releasing went gold.

However, by the time Bogan joined the group in 1968, most of the musicians of Motown's early years had left, mainly due to financial issues in the label.

In 2009, as part of Motown's 50th Anniversary celebrations, a new limited-edition triple-CD set on the group entitled The Marvelettes: Forever – The Complete Motown Albums Vol.

Vandross discovered the band's popularity while waiting for his set to begin, shocked at the attention the group got, which group members later compared to " Beatlemania " and Motown's early phenomenon, The Jackson 5, which DeBarge was molded to follow after by its staff.

After a second altercation onstage during Motown's 1963 company Christmas party, Bryant was fired from the group.

The Robinsons have two children, both named in honor of Motown: Berry William Borope Robinson was named after Motown chief Berry Gordy with his middle name in honor of fellow Miracles group mates Bobby ( Rogers ), Ronnie ( White ) and Pete ( Moore ), and Tamla Claudette Robinson was named after Motown's original record label, Tamla Records.

Motown founder Berry Gordy gave Claudette the official title of the " First Lady of Motown ", as noted in his autobiography, because, as a member of the Miracles, ( Motown's first group and first recording act ), she was the first female artist ever signed to a Motown-affiliated record label ( Tamla ).

The song was co-written by Robinson's fellow Miracles members Pete Moore and Marv Tarplin. The Miracles also sang background on this recording, along with Motown's long-standing female back-up group, The Andantes, and Miracle Marv Tarplin played lead guitar.

The Jackson 5 essentially replaced The Supremes as Motown's main focus in the early 1970s, although Diana Ross, who left the group for a solo career not long before the release of this single, was publicized as having discovered the Jackson 5.

The Originals often called " Motown's best-kept secret ", were a successful Motown R & B and soul group during the late 1960s and the 1970s, most notable for the hits " Baby I'm for Real ", " The Bells " and the disco classic, " Down to Love Town ".

By 1969, Robinson had voiced his opinion on wanting to retire from the road to focus on raising a family with wife Claudette and their two children, and also focus his duties as Motown's vice president, a job he earned by the mid-1960s after Esther Gordy Edwards had left the position and began mentoring Motown acts on the label's Motortown Revues.

Around 1964, Smokey Robinson became Motown's vice president, while the other members of the Miracles also began to work staff jobs with the company.

Evans played saxophone with many top jazz artists for years before taking an interest in R & B, first as a musician ( including Motown's touring band and the Apollo Theater house band ) and then getting into the record business as a producer and writer, also running two other small labels prior to Carnival.

Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, The Andantes appeared as backing vocalists on many of Motown's recorded singles, as The Funk Brothers also had when providing instrumentation.

The track also reached # 1 in the UK Singles Chart, becoming Motown's second UK chart-topper after The Supremes hit # 1 with " Baby Love " in late 1964.

Gordy also joined Motown's staff team as a songwriter.

Finally, however, after the release of The Marvelettes ' " Please Mr. Postman ", which had a younger R & B sound that also attracted pop audiences and became Motown's first number-one pop single, Gordy decided to have its artists produce a much younger R & B sound.

The song was also Motown's first million selling hit single.

Other famous late-1960s versions were recorded in short order by Motown's Smokey Robinson & the Miracles ( whose cover also became an American Top 40 single in 1969, reaching # 33 ) and Marvin Gaye ( whose cover became a top-ten hit (# 9 ) in the United Kingdom in 1970 ).