Tammi Terrell: Remembering Motown's Lost Star

Tammi Terrell: Remembering Motown's Lost Star
by Oliver Wang | NPR.org

When a brain tumor claimed the life of Motown artist Tammi Terrell in 1970, she was only 24. Yet by 1967, Terrell was a star, thanks to her duets with Marvin Gaye, including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Your Precious Love" and "You're All I Need to Get By." But Terrell also had a promising solo career before and during her collaboration with Gaye. For the first time, all of her solo recordings have been collected into a new anthology, called Come On and See Me.

Remembering Teena Marie

Teena Marie is remembered as an important contributor to R&B and Soul music, who against all logic sustained a 30-year-plus singing career with an overwhelmingly Black audience base.

Remembering Teena Marie
by Mark Anthony Neal|Essence.com

In a 1985 profile in People Magazine, the late Rick James called Teena Marie "the most important White female singer since Barbara Streisand; and her own race forgot her." James' comments came on the heels of Marie's only taste of crossover success, with the top-ten pop hit "Lover Boy." Twenty-five years later, with her death at the age of 54, Marie is remembered as an important contributor to R&B and Soul music, who against all logic sustained a 30-year-plus singing career with an overwhelmingly Black audience base.

Though there have been many who might be described as "sounding Black" -- many fans on Twitter and Facebook sheepishly recalled finding out for the first time that Marie was not Black -- what was always clear in Marie's music is that she was not only influenced by Black culture, but had a legitimate passion and respect for it. That she never actively sought to find a broader audience for her music, despite the fact that she had the talent to sing anything she wanted, speaks volumes about the integrity of the woman simply known as "Lady Tee."

Born Mary Christine Brockert in Venice Beach, Calif. in 1956, Marie joined Motown Records in 1976. The label had previously signed White acts such as the band Rare Earth (Hip-Hop pioneer Kool Herc cites the group's cover of "Get Ready" as one of his favorites), Chris Clark (Berry Gordy's one-time lover) and even comedian Soupy Sales, but most were thought of as little more than novelty acts. Marie represented something all together different; a White woman whose vocal gifts were reminiscent of soulful belters like Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin and Linda Jones, whose "Hypnotized" she covered in 1994.

Read the Full Essay @ Essence.com

The Love You Save: 40 Years of Jackson Mania

The Love You Save: 40 Years of Jackson Mania
by Mark Anthony Neal

This summer marks the anniversary of the Jackson 5’s first full-blown national tour as the signature act of the legendary Motown label. More to the point, it marks the beginnings of a phenomenon known as Jackson-Mania.

Read the Full Essay @ Soul Summer.com

'Sampling Motown' @ The Nasher Museum

'Sampling Motown' Lecture Open to the Public

Harry Weinger, vice president of A&R for Universal Music Enterprises, is the guest speaker.

DURHAM, N.C. -- Harry Weinger, vice president of A&R for Universal Music Enterprises and a 30-year veteran of the entertainment industry, is the guest speaker at next week’s “Sampling Motown” class at Duke University.

Weinger’s lecture, at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 23, in the lecture hall at Duke’s Nasher Museum of Art, will focus on the music of Motown. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.; the lecture is free and open to the public.A recording of the event will be available at Duke on Demand.

The spring semester course, “Sampling Soul,” is co-taught by African and African American Studies professor Mark Anthony Neal and Grammy Award-winning music producer 9th Wonder. Each weekly class emphasizes a different aspect of sampling, from its history to legal considerations. The “Sampling Motown” class will highlight the music of the civil rights era.

“Harry is one of the most important shepherds of the soul music tradition and we all have a greater understanding of the impact that soul music has on American culture because of Harry's thoughtful explorations of Motown's musical archive," Neal said.

Weinger has produced, mixed, written and edited liner notes for hundreds of reissues, compilations and music DVDs, notably the Motown family of classic recordings, the James Brown catalog, the Verve Music catalog, and prominent funk, soul and jazz artists.

Among several projects, Weinger has documented every Motown single released during the company’s heyday in a multi-disc box set series. He also helped organize the many events and releases surrounding Motown Records’ 50th anniversary.

The “Sampling Soul” class explores how the songs that made up the soundtrack of social movements, such as the civil rights and black power movements of the 1960s and 1970s, remain relevant in contemporary culture. Students learn how soul music is continuously referenced in popular culture via movies, commercials and television sitcoms, forming a lucrative cultural archive.

Weinger’s appearance complements an upcoming Nasher exhibition, “The Record: Contemporary Art & Vinyl,” which will explore the culture of vinyl records within the history of contemporary art. The exhibition, set to open in September, is comprised of sound, sculpture, drawing, painting, photography, video and performance.

Mark Anthony Neal is the author of four books, including “New Black Man: Rethinking Black Masculinity” and the forthcoming “Looking for Leroy.” His essays have been anthologized in a dozen books, such as the recently released “Born To Use Mics: Reading Nas’s Illmatic,” edited by Michael Eric Dyson and Sohail Daulatzai.

9th Wonder, born Patrick Douthit, is a former member of the hip-hop trio Little Brother which released the critically acclaimed albums “The Listening” and “The Minstrel Show.” He has produced music for Jay-Z, Destiny’s Child, Mary J. Blige, and Erykah Badu among others. He also scored the music for “The Boondocks” animated television series. He was recently selected as the NAACP’s national ambassador for hip-hop relations and culture.

Motown: 'High Negro Style'

High Negro Style: The Motown Effect
by Mark Anthony Neal

When Berry Gordy founded Motown records in January of 1959, his efforts were little more than a hunch and a hustle. At the time Gordy could not have imagined that his little Detroit-based record company would go on to produce some of the most timeless music of the 20th century. For all of the two-and-a-half minute classics that came off the label’s automobile-like assembly line, there is perhaps no more endearing tribute to Motown than the image of upscale sophistication that so many of the label’s artists embodied during the 1960s. Motown’s “High Negro Style” as one of its later heads would term it, is on full display on new the release Motown the DVD: Definitive Performances.

Andre Harrell took over the helm of Motown Records in 1995, when the label was well removed from its heyday as one of the premier record companies in the country. Harrell was faced with the daunting, and ultimately unsuccessful, task of making the label relevant to an industry that had long passed it by. Though the label boasted the talents of the platinum-selling group Boyz II Men on its roster—Harrell’s tenure with the label coincides with the beginning of the group’s descent from the top of the pop charts—the label’s most notable commodity was its tradition and back catalogue.

To his credit, Harrell understood the value of that tradition and began to place his own stamp on the aging brand as an example of what he called “High Negro Style”—upscale, urban, urbane, and just street enough to remind you that the Detroit housing projects supplied Motown with much of its talent in the early 1960s. “Ghetto glamour,” as Harrell described “High Negro Style” in a 1995 cover story for New York magazine, would have been incomprehensible for those audiences who flocked to Motown performances in the 1960s. There’s no denying though, that just below the sheen of respectability and mainstream acceptance that Gordy craved, were the gritty realities of the social world that made his hustle palpable.

Read the Full Essay @ Soul Summer

Michael Jackson--The Motown Years

Michael Jackson
Hello World- The Complete Motown Solo Collection
SITE SHIP DATE: 7/03/09
LIMITED EDITION QUANITITY: 7,000

“Michael Jackson could make you forget he was so young.”

So writes Suzee Ikeda, a Motown A&R assistant who was a creative confidante of a teenage Michael, in her introductory essay to Hello World: The Motown Solo Collection, a new 3-CD set that features every MJ recording released from 1971 to 1975, plus the Motown-era songs that were released after he left the company.

At the height of Jacksonmania in 1970-71, when everyone in the world, it seemed, was focusing on the hot kids’ group from Gary, Indiana, a solo career for Michael was not necessarily a given. But when 13-year-old Donny Osmond went solo while staying in the Osmonds family group, so did Michael, then turning 14, who was given material that made him sound even wiser and more mature as an artist. “Got To Be There” was his first solo hit, which featured a stunning, declamatory phrase that provided the name of this collection.

The LP Got To Be There, released in January 1972, also included the hits “Rockin’ Robin” and “I Wanna Be Where You Are.” It was followed by Ben, after the hit title song from a film about a pet rat—a song that became an unlikely No. 1 smash for Michael. The album was first issued with a cover featuring lurid artwork from the film, which was quickly replaced by a simpler image of MJ; our package reproduces both covers in the 48 page booklet.

Music And Me was next, an experiment in softening Michael’s sound—the album featured a few Adult Contemporary covers—followed by Forever, Michael. That LP had a harder dance age, and included the now-classic, sample-favorites “We’re Almost There” and “Just A Little Bit Of You.”

Those four albums might have been the end of the story for Michael and Motown, as the J5 left in 1975 to go to Epic Records. In the aftermath of the huge success of MJ’s solo Off The Wall, however, came the compilation One Day In Your Life, whose title song—lifted from Forever, Michael—turned into a No. 1 hit in the U.K. and top 40 AC in the U.S. Following the crazy ride of Thriller, Motown released Farewell My Summer Love, a batch of songs from the vault with contemporary overdubs; the title song went top 10 R&B.

There’s more: in 1986 Motown issued Looking Back To Yesterday, a collection of more vault masters—some with the J5—that contained further unexpected gems.

Hello World has all of that and these extra gems: all nine songs from Farewell My Summer Love are included in their original, undubbed mixes. Plus, we unearthed the original mix of “Twenty-Five Miles”—Michael’s cover of the Edwin Starr hit that has previously been available only in a 1987 vault collection. It’s all in a splendid 8” x 5.5” package with Ms. Ikeda’s intro, a main essay by Mark Anthony Neal, pages of annotations, rare photos and repros of the LP jackets. It’s deserving of the one of the greatest performers the world has ever known, at any age.

Read More at Hip-O-Select.com

From the Soul Sister Chronicles: Valerie Simpson

from Vibe.com

The Soul Sister Chronicles: Valerie Simpson
(the Women's History Month Mix)
by Mark Anthony Neal

At the height of Motown's popularity in the mid-1960s, some of the song writers and producers were just as famous as the recorded talent. Smokey Robinson wore dual hats, but figures like Holland Dozier Holland and later Norman Whitfield were deservedly major stars in their own right and even more so because of Motown's sheen. It was a competitive environment and the young Nick Ashford and his writing partner Valerie Simpson were undaunted when they signed on to Motown as songwriters and producers in 1966. Indeed the duo had already had Aretha Franklin (who was not quite that Aretha yet) and Ray Charles ("Let's Go Get Stoned") on their resume when they walked into the door.

The rest is history as signature Ashford and Simpson tunes recorded by the duo of Tammi Terrell and Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross are still in regular rotation on the radio, in commercials and on film soundtracks. After leaving Motown in 1973, the duo went on to a distinguished recording career releasing nearly 15 studio albums for the Warner Brothers and Capitol labels culminating with the release of a remix of their most famous single, "Solid" earlier this year in celebration of the presidency of Barack Obama.

Less well known is the solo recording career of Valerie Simpson, who before she and Nick Ashford began their run as Ashford and Simpson, recorded two solo albums for the Motown label. Exposed (1971) and Valerie Simpson (1972) represented the cutting edge of a generation of black women artists that included LaBelle, Betty Davis, and Minnie Riperton (particularly her Charles Stepney produced Come into My Garden) that harked back to the great Blues Women of the 1920s like Bessie Smith, Mamie Smith, Ethel Waters and Ma Rainey--all women who used their music to speak forcefully about the realities of being black women. This was an era that was perhaps best captured by the publication of the Toni Cade Bambara edited anthology The Black Woman (1970).

Read the Full Essay HERE

Motown @ 50!

from The Root

Half a century later, the Motown sound is still the soundtrack of American life.

Happy Birthday! Motown Turns 50
by Mark Anthony Neal

In the months leading up to the presidential election, much was made about the size of the crowds and the energy level at Obama rallies. For clues, some looked to the Obama playlist—the songs that served as the soundtrack for those frenzied events. True to his overall political strategy, Obama’s playlist cut across various popular genres—country music stalwarts Brooks and Dunn were as likely to be heard as much as the McFadden and Whitehead disco-era classic “Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now.”

But the common denominator at so many of those rallies was the sound of Motown, the once fledgling and once black-owned record label founded in Detroit 50 years ago today. The campaign’s embrace of the Motown Sound was likely not happenstance nor simply inspired by the president-elect’s fondness for soul music from the 1960s. More probably, it is the result of the campaign’s legendary attention to minute details and the understanding that the Motown catalogue was uniquely suited to bring together a nation of disparate opinions, concerns and beliefs. As Suzanne Smith writes in Dancing in the Street: Motown and the Cultural Politics of Detroit, “Motown’s music symbolized the possibility of amicable racial integration through popular culture. But as a company Motown represented the possibilities of black economic independence.”

Read the Full Essay @

Remembering Norman Whitfield

from Vibe.com

CRITICAL NOIR
Soul Revolt: Remembering Norman Whitfield
by Mark Anthony Neal

At the root of Motown's success in the 1960s was a stable of youthful and innovative producers and songwriters. Though figures like William "Smokey" Robinson and the trio of Brian Holland, Eddie Holland and Lamont Dozier are legendary for their roles in Motown's rise as the "Sound of Young America," Norman Whitfield, the fiery Harlem born producer, is often given short shrift. Whitfield, who died on September 16th of complications related to diabetes, was arguably the most important of those first generation of Motown producers as he adeptly adapted the Motown sound, in the late 1960s, to fit the tenor of one of the most tumultuous political and cultural moments in American society. In the process, Whitfield put a lasting stamp, not just on Soul music, but pop music for years to come.

Read the Full Essay @

A Soul Christmas: The Jackson Five and the Temptations

A Soul Christmas: The Jackson Five & The Temptations
by Mark Anthony Neal

Like most kids who didn't grow up in a house, I guess I was perplexed for much of my childhood, trying to find out how some 300-plus pound man in a red suit -- in the absence of a fireplace and a chimney -- managed to deliver gifts every year to the five-story walk up I lived in. On more than one occasion I asked my mother whether or not Mr. Claus had keys to our apartment and in that classic "shrug -- don't ask me no more questions -- I don't know" mode that I have now perfected for my daughters, my mother dodged yet another life altering question from her budding seven-year-old ghetto existentialist.

I was perhaps also perplexed by the Christmas music that my parents played every Christmas -- music that I never heard in the department stores where we did Christmas shopping, never heard during television commercial breaks and we for damn sure never sang in grade school. In my young mind the Christmas music my parents listened to, didn't venture too far from the down-home, down and out Soul music that they listened to every other time of the year. Somehow the voices of Otis Redding, Joe Tex and Clarence Carter, never seemed to conjure the "White Christmas" dreams I thought I should be having.

My sense of Christmas and Christmas music forever changed when my mother bought me a copy of The Jackson Five's Christmas Album. It was 1972, I was seven, and the Jackson Five were the most important people in my life. And true indeed, more than 30 year later, I can't imagine a Christmas without hearing The J5's Christmas Album or The Temptations's Christmas Card, both recently re-issued as The Best of the Jackson Five: The Christmas Collection and The Best of The Temptations: The Christmas Collection (Universal/Motown).

Released in October of 1970, The Jackson Five Christmas Album remains not only one of the most exciting pop Christmas albums (The J5's "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" ranking with Springsteen's "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town" in my mind), but also of the great performances by the J5 in their developing years. The Jackson Five were at the height of their popularity when The Christmas Album was released having dropped three albums from late 1969 through 1970 and achieving four number one pop singles in succession with "I Want You", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There" and the group didn't disappoint bringing their pop-inflected proto-funk to Rudolph, Frosty, and a host of other melodious icons of holiday cheer.

To this day, the Christmas season begins for me the first time I hear Jermaine's plaintive and still underrated tenor singing "Have Your Self a Merry Little Christmas," the song that opens The Christmas Album. Though the first part song is performed in a fairly traditional mode (the same with Jermaine's reading of "The Christmas Song"), it is the hoot and hollerin' breakdown that begins mid-way through the song that announces that "Christmas Wont Be the Same" after the Jackson Five gets done celebrating it. And make no mistake about that energy had everything to do with the still evolving soul prodigy who would one day become the biggest pop star on the earth.

Throughout The Christmas Album then 11-year-old Michael Jackson captures all of the bright-eyed joy of Christmas. When he yelps "Wow! Mommy's kissing Santa Claus" on the album's closing tune, your heart tugs at the fear, bewilderment and naiveté that only a child could express in that situation. It was a fleeting early glimpse into the world of a young man, who would always perform in his music, the childhood that he was never able have as a pre-pubescent pop star. Michael sounds on the verge of a head explosion as he yelps "Santa Claus is coming to town" turning the always happy holiday tune into a JB-inspired fit of frenzy. And "Up on the House Top," a Motown original, sounds right out of the session that gave the world "ABC." The combination of Michael's earnest vocals and classic J5 funk, makes for a joyous and ebullient holiday recording.

Unlike the Jackson Five, The Temptations were past their commercial prime, when they released Christmas Card in November of 1970. Two years removed from the classic Temptations formation that featured David Ruffin as lead vocalists, the group was still in transition trying to compete in an ever-changing industry, in which the stamp of Motown no longer guaranteed hit records. This partially explains why Christmas Card was the group's first holiday album. If Motown wanted to exploit the J5's immense popularity with The Christmas Album, with Christmas Card they wanted to squeeze what they perceived as the last bit of commercial viability out of the Temps.

Though The Temptations would have its biggest hit in 1972 with the very capable Dennis Edwards at the helm of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone", the essential core of the group would be gone after Eddie Kendricks's departure in 1972 and the death of Paul Williams in 1973. In this regard, Christmas Card represents one of the last sonic glimpses at that core group.

Given that they were The Temptations, the quintet is to be commended, for not phoning it in and actually delivering a project that spoke to why the group was so important in the first place. Given ample and inventive arrangements by producers Clay McMurray and Barrett Strong, on tracks like "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (bottomed by Melvin Franklin, of course) and "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," it is hard to hear these songs without imagining the Temps up on stage showing the world why the were pop music's greatest dancers. But the clear favorite on Christmas Card has always been the Temptations's rendition of "Little Drummer Boy" which suggest that lil' homie was hearing that Motown back-beat when he rolled up in the manger that night. Eddie Kendricks shines throughout particularly on tracks like "White Christmas" and "My Christmas Tree" (unforgivably left off the Best of… collection)

The history of the Temptations has been rife with debates over which version of the group was the best and it's no different in a discussion of Temptation Christmas albums. A decade after the release of Christmas Card, the Temps (minus all of the originals, except Melvin Franklin and Otis Williams) went back in the studio and recorded Give Love at Christmas. Dennis Edwards' always commanding vocals were on display on tracks like the group's remake (and tribute to) of Donny Hathaway's Christmas standard "This Christmas" and "The Christmas Song". But the highlight of the recording and arguably the best Christmas song ever by the Temps, is their six-minute version of "Silent Night" which draws on Edwards's sanctified riffs, Glenn Leonard's lilting falsetto and the oceanic boom, that could only be the voice of the late Melvin Franklin. Christmas Card may have been the better album, but the later version of "Silent Night" represents the Temps at their best.