A Motown Timeline: 1983
THAT TV SPECIAL, WHILE RICK ‘N’ RICHIE ALSO PROSPER
This was the year when Motown 25 re-energised the brand (as they say today) and the careers of several of its acts, while also reminding tens of millions of Americans of their younger years, when challenge and change was soundtracked by the music made inside that modest property in the Motor City.
“How do you clearly remember a night when so much of it was spent remembering?” reflected the founder of the company celebrated by Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever. “A night when you have the most complicated series of emotions you ever felt – images of the past and present constantly colliding.”
More than 30 million Americans watched it
The past and the present did, indeed, collide during the TV special’s two-hour broadcast on May 16, 1983, even if the mathematics were debatable. (The first recording issued by Berry Gordy’s family-funded start-up was, uh, 24 years earlier.)
The performances which resonated the most that night were by Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye, both of whom had departed Motown Records. Yet the firm was soon to double its profits, partly fuelled by Motown 25 but also by another on-screen celebration of nostalgia – The Big Chill – and the popularity of newer headliners like Rick James and a solo Lionel Richie.
With Diana Ross, Richie had been responsible for what proved to be one of Motown’s biggest-selling singles, 1981’s “Endless Love.” Then, two years later, his Can’t Slow Down accelerated into one of the company’s all-time biggest albums, at ten million-plus.
The Big Chill, meanwhile, was a movie of baby-boomer nostalgia, viewed before release by Motown’s business affairs chief, who then recommended acquiring its soundtrack to label president Jay Lasker. The eventual result? Sales of more than six million albums.
Lasker had already exploited the appetite for Motown’s catalogue in 1983 with a series of “great songs and performances” albums by its top acts, and other releases such as 25 #1 Hits From 25 Years and 25 Years Of Grammy Greats. The company also produced The Motown Story, an audio documentary (including artist interviews) which it serviced to radio stations across the country.
A QUARTET OF MOTOWN CONNECTIONS
Other elements of the past were evident in ’83: the return to Motown of the Four Tops and Jr. Walker, who had new LPs released during the course of the year. Meanwhile, Rick James’ Cold Blooded topped the R&B album best-sellers for ten weeks that autumn, and his nationwide tour – with the Stone City Band and the Mary Jane Girls – was a huge success. Moreover, Cold Blooded was one of only four long-players to rule the Billboard rhythm & blues charts in 1983. The others? Richie’s Can’t Slow Down, and two by acts previously signed to – and elevated by – Motown, namely, Michael Jackson’s Thriller (an extraordinary 37 weeks at the top) and the Isley Brothers’ Between The Sheets.
A more tragic reminder of past Hitsville glories was the premature death in August of bassist giant James Jamerson, at age 45. He succumbed to pneumonia, but had been afflicted by alcohol addiction for years.
Rick James: ten weeks at the top, cold or not
Motown also bid farewell in ’83 to a key component of its business past, switching from independent distributors around the U.S. to a single national deal with MCA, beginning in July. A number of the indies sued Motown over the defection, aggrieved after supporting the firm since its earliest days.
But Motown 25 remains the single most important element of that year, perhaps best summarised, in retrospect, by one of its architects, Suzanne de Passe. “I don’t think any of us really understood what we had accomplished together and sort of bringing the family back together,” she said. “Motown was a family, and I don’t think until Motown 25, the rest of the world really got to understand that. That regardless of anything else, the coming back together was the greater good and the bigger feeling of love and appreciation for what they had experienced together.”
Now, to the detail. Below is an effort, selective rather than exhaustive, to convey 1983’s endeavours and progress at Motown. It’s divided into three sections: the first, a chronological run-down of significant dates during those 12 months, followed by examples of notable single and album releases. (If anything important is missing, feel free to point it out.) When a 45 or album topped the Billboard R&B or pop charts, that entry is shown in bold-face italics. Other Motown timelines can be found here, under the “Looking Ahead, and Back” category.
January: “Diana [Ross] did everything she could to advance her career,” says Marvin Gaye in a rare, candid interview, published this month by Essence magazine. “I did everything I could to hurt mine. Diana worked harder than anyone. She deserves what she has.” He adds, “I must say, though, that she and I have always been very cautious with each other. But that may be because I’ve been jealous of all the attention and money spent on her.”
January 31: Jr. Walker & the All Stars begin a 12-night run at Annie’s Lounge in Toledo’s Ramada Inn Southwyck. Their “return to Motown” album is issued later this year.
February 6: The Los Angeles Times reports Rick James’ claim that video channel MTV’s programming format is racist. “I’m a pop musician,” he says, “and so is Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye and I don’t see MTV playing any of our videos.”
February 8: Motown Latino artist Jose Feliciano performs at the Memorial Coliseum, Corpus Christi, Texas. His second album for Motown Latino, Escenas de Amor, continues to appear on the Billboard Hot Latin charts.
February 13: Marvin Gaye sings the National Anthem at the NBA All-Star Game in Los Angeles. He previously performed it during the 1968 World Series at Detroit’s Tiger Stadium.
February 23: The 1982 Grammy awards are handed out at the Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. With “Truly,” Lionel Richie wins in the Male Pop Vocal Performance category, while the Dazz Band takes the R&B Duo/Group Vocal Performance prize with “Let It Whip” (in a tie with Earth, Wind & Fire’s “Wanna Be With You.”) Stevie Wonder has four nominations, but no wins; Marvin Gaye’s post-Motown “Sexual Healing” triumphs in the R&B Song category, announced on the Grammy TV show by Rick James.
March 15: Diana Ross’ All The Great Hits is certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, for sales of 500,000 copies. The compilation was released in 1981.
A quarter-century of Hitsville U.S.A.
March 25: The Motown 25 television special is taped at the Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California, for transmission on NBC-TV in May. Per the press release issued on this date, the line-up includes Smokey Robinson, Lionel Richie, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross and Jermaine Jackson. Proceeds will benefit the National Association for Sickle Cell Disease, and tickets are tax deductible.
April 21: Motown Productions president Suzanne de Passe is honoured at the yearly Leader Luncheon of the YWCA Los Angeles, at the city’s Bonaventure Hotel.
May: Black Enterprise publishes its annual report on the largest black-owned businesses in the U.S., pegging Motown Industries as the leader with 1982 sales of $104.3 million, with 231 employees. (Its 1983 numbers are published the following year.)
May 7: Stevie Wonder appears on NBC-TV’s Saturday Night Live, including in a sketch as a rock critic, Rodney Rhythm, complete with fake British accent.
May 8: Marvin Gaye headlines a Mother’s Day show at the Hirsch Memorial Coliseum in Shreveport, Louisiana. Opening for him are DeBarge and Con Funk Shun.
May 16: NBC-TV’s broadcast of Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever yields a 22.8 rating and a 35 share to make it the week’s highest-rated show. Michael Jackson’s moonwalk performance during “Billie Jean” is hailed as one of the highlights, in addition to the reunion with his brothers and that of Smokey Robinson with the Miracles. Another highlight: the “battle of the bands” between the Temptations and the Four Tops. The “reunion” of the Supremes is seen to be more contentious, while the absence of a number of Motown’s earlier stars is noted, as is the lack of recognition for its studio musicians.
May 27: “I seriously believe there’s a devastating, cataclysmic change coming at the end of this century,” Marvin Gaye tells Jon Marlowe of the Miami Times, on the eve of his concert in Sunrise, Florida. “I’m just a messenger telling people this.”
June 18: The Dazz Band open for Cameo at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, with a set including a version of the Miracles’ “Bad Girl,” drawn from their 1982 album, On The One.
July 1: Motown and MCA agree a U.S. distribution deal, and the former notifies its independent distributors of the intention to switch within weeks. The decision prompts several bitter lawsuits by indies, some of which have handled the Motown labels since 1959.
July 7: MCA Inc. COO Sid Sheinberg and MCA Records Group president Irv Azoff host a gala on the Universal lot to celebrate the company’s new distribution deal with Motown. Among those in attendance are Berry Gordy, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Jose Feliciano and Rick James.
July 11: Two Motown acts, Ozone and Kagny & the Dirty Rats play The Music Machine this night in Los Angeles. Both Ozone’s first LP and Kagny’s fifth came out in March.
July 17: The Four Tops and the Temptations play Seattle’s Paramount Theatre to launch their national tour together. They “erased a lot of years on the way toward reimbursing each hot body in a packed Paramount theatre with the retail equivalent of a double album’s worth of songs,” reviews one local newspaper.
July 19: DeBarge’s All This Love album is certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, for sales of 500,000 copies. The 1982 release is still on the charts.
Diana Ross in Central Park: come rain or shine
July 21: A severe thunderstorm forces the shutdown of Diana Ross’ much-anticipated free concert in New York’s Central Park after less than an hour. Rescheduled for the following night, the show draws a crowd of approximately 350,000, but gangs of youths attack and rob fans on departure. Revenues from a live cable TV broadcast of the event are to help the rebuilding of a children’s playground in the park.
July 30: “The Crown” by Gary Byrd & the G.B. Experience reaches No. 6 in the U.K., its highest chart rating worldwide. The track was written by disc jockey Byrd and Stevie Wonder, who also sings on it. The original U.S. release appeared on his Wondirection label.
August 2: Motown musician James Jamerson, once described by Berry Gordy as “a genius on the bass,” dies of pneumonia in Los Angeles at age 45. He is later laid to rest at Detroit’s Woodlawn Cemetery.
August 20: A TV-marketed compilation of Motown hits by the Jackson 5 and solo Michael tops the British charts for three weeks, in the wake of the success of Thriller.
September 3: “Cold Blooded” by Rick James becomes Motown’s first Number One on the Billboard R&B singles chart this year, soon followed by seven weeks at the summit for Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long (All Night)” and four weeks for DeBarge’s “Time Will Reveal.”
September 24: Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena plays host to Lionel Richie, with the Pointer Sisters as opening act. This national tour is his first since leaving the Commodores; the Pointers join him on stage to sing “Jesus Is Love.”
September 25: Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever is an Emmy award winner as Outstanding Variety, Music or Comedy Program, with recognition for the TV special’s executive producer, Suzanne de Passe, and producers Suzanne Coston, Don Mischer and Buz Kohan.
October 17: The Supremes featuring Mary Wilson play the Frontier club in Batley, Yorkshire, part of a three-week U.K. tour. “We really just use the name The Supremes so that people will know who they are going to see, but we make it clear we are not trying to be the original Supremes,” she later tells a local newspaper.
October 18: Stevie Wonder kicks off a sold-out six nights at New York’s prestigious Radio City Music Hall. His set includes a new song, “Campaign For Love.” Joining Wonder on stage at one point was Eddie Murphy, who did his familiar imitation of the music superstar.
October 19: Smokey Robinson makes a number of U.K. concert appearances – his first in some years – including tonight at London’s Hammersmith Odeon. K-Tel is currently marketing a compilation album, The Smokey Robinson Story.
November 2: President Ronald Reagan signs the King Holiday Bill into law, two decades after Rev. Martin Luther King spoke of his dream at the Lincoln Memorial (Motown released an album of the speech). In October, campaigner Stevie Wonder was among those in the U.S. Senate’s gallery when the 78-22 vote approved the federal holiday legislation.
November 12: “All Night Long (All Night)” by Lionel Richie moves to Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first of four weeks there. On the Cash Box Top 100 Singles, it steps up on November 19 for a three-week run at the peak.
December 3: Lionel Richie’s Can’t Slow Down spends the first of its three weeks atop the Billboard Top LPs & Tapes chart – the first Motown album to reach the summit since Stevie Wonder’s Songs In The Key of Life in 1976.
December 12: Rick James’ Cold Blooded album and Lionel Richie’s “All Night Long (All Night)” single are both certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, for sales of 500,000 copies each.
December 16: Lionel Richie’s “Running With The Night” is premiered on MTV – a rare video by a black artist on the channel. It’s directed by Bob Giraldi, who previously directed Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” video.
SELECTED SINGLES (by U.S. release date)
January 12: The Commodores, “Reach High,” Motown 1661
Gary (and Stevie): a royal hit in the United Kingdom
January 21: Robert John, “Bread And Butter,” Motown 1664
January 28: Charlene, “I Want To Go Back There Again,” Motown 1663
January 28: The Dazz Band, “On The One For Fun,” Motown 1659
February 15: The Mary Jane Girls, “Candy Man,” Gordy 1670
February 18: The Temptations, “Love On My Mind Tonight,” Gordy 1666
March 4: Ozone, “Strutt My Thang,” Motown 1668
March 25: Lionel Richie, “My Love,” Motown 1677
March 31: DeBarge, “All This Love,” Gordy 1660
March 31: Jose Feliciano, “Lonely Teardrops,” Motown 1679
April 20: Finis Henderson, “Skip To My Lou,” Motown 1669
May 13: The Temptations, “Surface Thrills,” Gordy 1683
May 21: The Stone City Band, “Bad Lady,” Gordy 1681
June 3: Smokey Robinson & Barbara Mitchell, “Blame It On Love,” Tamla 1684
June 3: Michael Lovesmith, “Baby I Will,” Motown 1685
June 24: The Mary Jane Girls, “All Night Long,” Gordy 1690
July 7: Rick James, “Cold Blooded,” Gordy 1687
July 7: High Inergy, “Back In My Arms Again,” Gordy 1688
August 4: Jr. Walker, “Blow The House Down,” Motown 1689
August 18: The Stone City Band, “Ladies Choice,” Gordy 1693
August 18: The Commodores, “Only You,” Motown 1694
September 8: Lionel Richie, “All Night Long (All Night),” Motown 1698
September 29: The Temptations, “Miss Busy Body (Get Your Body Busy),” Gordy 1707
September 29: The Mary Jane Girls, “Boys,” Gordy 1704
September 29: DeBarge, “Time Will Reveal,” Gordy 1705
September 29: The Four Tops, “I Just Can’t Walk Away,” Motown 1706
October 6: Rick James, “U Bring The Freak Out,” Gordy 1703
October 27: Smokey Robinson, “Don’t Play Another Love Song,” Tamla 1700
November 17: Lionel Richie, “Running With The Night,” Motown 1710
November 17: The Temptations, “Silent Night,” Gordy 1713
November 24: Bobby Nunn, “Hangin’ Out At The Mall,” Motown 1711
December 1: Rick James featuring Smokey Robinson, “Ebony Eyes,” Gordy 1714
SELECTED ALBUMS (by U.S. release date)
The year’s biggest-selling album
January 7: Charlene, The Sky Is The Limit, Motown 6024
January 7: Smokey Robinson, Touch The Sky, Motown 6030
January 14: The Dazz Band, On The One, Motown 6031
January 21: Jose Feliciano, Romance In The Night, Motown 6035
February 18: The Temptations, Surface Thrills, Motown 6032
March 3: Ozone, Glasses, Motown 6037
March 23: Kagny & The Dirty Rats, Kagny & The Dirty Rats, Motown 6038
April 13: The Mary Jane Girls, Mary Jane Girls, Motown 6040
April 21: High Inergy, Groove Patrol, Motown 6041
April 21: Syreeta, The Spell, Motown 6039
May 5: The Commodores, Anthology, Motown 6044
May 5: Diana Ross, Anthology, Motown 6049
May 25: Various, The Motown Story: The First Twenty-Five Years, Motown 6048
June 21: Michael Lovesmith, I Can Make It Happen, Motown 6045
July 8: The Stone City Band, Out From The Shadow, Motown 6042
August 5: Rick James, Cold Blooded, Motown 6043 (#1 R&B, #16 pop)
August 5: Smokey Robinson, Blame It On Love & All The Great Hits, Motown 6064
August 5: Soundtrack, Get Crazy, Motown 6065
A hot, six million-selling soundtrack
August 5: Junior Walker, Blow The House Down, Motown 6053
August 8: Marvin Gaye, Every Great Motown Hit Of Marvin Gaye, Motown 6058
September 1: The Commodores, 13, Motown 6054
September 1: Bobby Nunn, Private Party, Motown 6051
September 8: Soundtrack, The Big Chill, Motown 6062
September 29: DeBarge, In A Special Way, Motown 6061
October 6: The Temptations, Back To Basics, Motown 6085
October 8: The Four Tops, Back Where I Belong, Motown 6066
October 14: Lionel Richie, Can’t Slow Down, Motown 6059 (#1 R&B, #1 pop)
November 15: The Dazz Band, Joystick, Motown 6084
November 15: Monalisa Young, Knife, Motown 6029
November 29: Soundtrack, Christine, Motown 6086
Forever notes: in any significant year, choosing the “best” or even the most representative music can be challenging. Still, this WGB playlist cherry-picks a few tracks with the flavour of Motown in 1983. As for the musical highlights of Motown 25, here are links to Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” and Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On,” as performed on that historic TV special. “Yesterday, Today, Forever” certainly applies to the work of those two magicians.