In 1959, two black-owned record labels, one of which would become hugely successful, made their debut: Sam Cooke's Sar, and Berry Gordy's Motown Records.

Motown Records had its first million-selling single in 1960 with The Miracles ' " Shop Around ", and in 1961, Stax Records had its first hit with Carla Thomas ' " Gee Whiz!

** Motown Records founded by Berry Gordy, Jr.

* January 29 – James Jamerson, American bass guitarist for Motown Records ( d. 1983 )

Stax Records created a classic 60's soul music, much grittier and horn-based than Motown.

* Anna Records, early Motown label

Formed in imitative style of the Motown girl group The Supremes, the group members had gradually honed their talents with White for two years previously until they signed contracts with Uni Records.

The search committee considered several cities, including Memphis ( home of Sun Studios and Stax Records ), Detroit ( home of Motown Records ), Cincinnati ( home of King Records ), New York City, and Cleveland.

The Detroit-based Motown Records also contributed to the soul canon in the 1960s, although at the time, the label described itself as a manufacturer of pop music.

Dominated by Berry Gordy's Motown Records empire, Detroit soul is strongly rhythmic and influenced by gospel music.

Motown Records ' house band was The Funk Brothers.

Originally the term was associated with mid-1960s white artists who performed soul and R & B that was similar to the music released by Motown Records and Stax Records.

The playlists originally consisted of obscure 1960s and early 1970s American soul recordings with an uptempo beat, such as those on Motown Records and more obscure labels such as Okeh Records.

* Apollo ( quintet ), a quintet that recorded for Motown Records in the late 1970s

After transcribing other people's music for a small music publisher, Webb was signed to a songwriting contract with Jobete Music, the publishing arm of Motown Records.

The group would later record for Bell / Arista Records, ABC Records, and Motown Records.

Although the group's demo tape was rejected by Motown, Gordon agreed to manage them and brought them to the attention of Johnny Rivers, who had just started his own label, Soul City Records.

Diana Ross was one of the first Motown artists to embrace the disco sound with her hugely successful 1976 outing " Love Hangover " from her self-entitled album.

James Cleveland, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin plus Motown artists The Supremes, The Four Tops and Marvin Gaye.

Music by Motown artists such as Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight & the Pips, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, and the Supremes did much to popularize what became known as the Motown sound.

The Gliderdrome was famous in the 1960s for attracting top Motown acts as well as various other artists including, in the 1970s, Elton John and Marc Bolan & T. Rex and in the early 1980s " Yam Hologram ".

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.

Gaye, who was one of the few Motown artists to write his own material, produced and co-wrote two hits for The Originals including " Baby I'm For Real " and " The Bells ".

Though social issues had been discussed by R & B artists ranging from groups such as The Impressions and The Temptations, talk of political and social commentary on an album was uncommon in Motown, which advised its artists not to delve fully into discussing serious topics.

Category: Motown artists

His top rank as songwriter and producer however dropped by the arrivals of Holland – Dozier – Holland and the team of Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong, and even Motown artists such as Gaye and Stevie Wonder.

Category: Motown artists

" He generally selected the music they performed, including songs by the Beatles, various Motown artists, James Brown and other rock standards.

Category: Motown artists

Following the end of their Motown tenure, the Isley Brothers revived their T-Neck label and began recording and producing their own compositions, something Motown had told them to avoid, due to the label's policy on artists producing their own material.

Category: Motown artists

Producer Norman Whitfield recorded four versions of the song with various artists for potential single release ; Knight and the Pips ' version was the only one that Motown chief Berry Gordy did not veto.

Category: Motown artists

Early Tamla / Motown artists included Mable John, Eddie Holland and Mary Wells.

Top artists on the Motown label during that period included Diana Ross & The Supremes, The Four Tops, and The Jackson 5, while Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Marvelettes, and The Miracles released hits on the Tamla label.

In the meantime, Berry Gordy established Motown Productions, a television subsidiary which produced TV specials for the Motown artists, including TCB with Diana Ross & the Supremes and The Temptations, Diana!

One of Sullivan's favorite and most frequent acts was The Supremes, who appeared 17 times on the show, helping to pave the way for other Motown acts to appear on the show such as The Temptations, The Four Tops, and Martha and the Vandellas.

The explosive rise in popularity during the 1980s of rap music has led to a large number of radio stations specializing in rap / hip-hop and R & B music ( with the exception of classic R & B such as Motown, which is as often as not the province of Oldies stations ).

The combination of industry and cultures, blues, and rock and roll led to an outpouring of musical creativity in the midwest during the post-Civil Rights movement years, including major contributions to jazz, funk, and R & B, and even new sub-genres such as the Motown Sound and techno from Detroit or house music from Chicago.

Among other attractions, the Railroad Festival includes southern foods — such as fried catfish, barbecue, and apple fritters — rides, arts and crafts, and live music, most notably the local band The Gents who have brought fans out for years with their Motown, Blues Brothers and classic oldies show.

Gaye was one of many who shaped the sound and success of Motown Records in the 1960s, becoming that label's top-selling solo artist of that decade with a string of hits including " How Sweet It Is ( To Be Loved By You )", " Ain't That Peculiar ", " I Heard It Through the Grapevine " and his duet singles with singers such as Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell.

Following his signing to Motown's Tamla label, Gaye having been inspired by such singers like Nat King Cole, Ray Charles and Frank Sinatra to perform standards, figuring the move would make him a crossover success, rather than perform the usual R & B performed on Motown, bringing him to conflict with the label.

Later on as his Motown career developed, Gaye would seek inspiration in fellow label mates such as David Ruffin of The Temptations and Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops as their grittier voices led to Gaye and his producer seeking a similar sound in recordings such as " I Heard It Through the Grapevine " and " That's the Way Love Is ".

Between 1962 and 1966, Robinson would also be one of the in-demand songwriters and producers for Motown, penning several hit singles such as " The One Who Really Loves You ", " You Beat Me to the Punch " and " My Guy " for Mary Wells, " The Way You Do The Things You Do ", " My Girl ", " Since I Lost My Baby " and " Get Ready " for The Temptations, " When I'm Gone " and " Operator " for Brenda Holloway, " Don't Mess With Bill ", " The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game " and " My Baby Must Be a Magician " for The Marvelettes and " I'll Be Doggone " and " Ain't That Peculiar " for Marvin Gaye.

Their musical collaboration combined pop music ( such as glam rock and Tamla Motown ) with avant-garde electronic music.

Motown producer Norman Whitfield, for example, patterned the label's forays into harder-driving, socially relevant material ( such as The Temptations ' " Runaway Child " and " Ball of Confusion ") based on their sound.

The act left Motown for a better deal with Buddah Records in 1973, and achieved full-fledged success that year with hits such as the Grammy-winning " Midnight Train to Georgia " (# 1 on the pop and R & B chart ), " I've Got to Use My Imagination ," and " You're the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me ".

( Most early Motown singles were released through other labels, such as End, Fury, Gone and Chess.

During the 1990s, Motown was home to successful recording artists such as Boyz II Men and Johnny Gill, although the company itself remained in a state of turmoil.

By 1998, Motown had added stars such as 702, Brian McKnight, and Erykah Badu to its roster.

Ironically, Seagram had purchased Motown ’ s former parent MCA in 1995, as such Motown was in effect reunited with many of its MCA corporate siblings ( Seagram had, in fact, hoped to build a media empire around Universal, and started by purchasing PolyGram ).

The style created by the Motown musicians was a major influence on several non-Motown artists of the mid-1960s, such as Dusty Springfield and The Foundations.