On the Road Again — Adam White

A BUSY FIRST-HALF: TOURS, REISSUES, LAWSUITS, AWARDS & MORE

Last night, July 3, Stevie Wonder sang for thousands by the English seaside, at Lytham Green in Lancashire. The night before, Diana Ross performed for legions at London’s cavernous O2 concert venue. Tomorrow night, Smokey Robinson will entertain still more music lovers during the Love Supreme Jazz Festival, held on the grounds of an Elizabethan manor house, not far from Brighton.

When was the last time these three titans of Motown played so close together in the United Kingdom? It might actually have been when they were all on the same Tamla Motown tour of this sceptred isle, 60 years ago.

“I love this country, and the British people have elegance,” Ross told the Daily Mirror last month. She has certainly made the most of those circumstances, presenting a “symphonic celebration” in seven cities, with the help of the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra in London and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in Glasgow. “Ross swept on in the first of three ballgowns,” noted The Times of her arrival in the Scottish city, “white, with feathers and a vast satin train.” It added, “The hits came…came thick and fast when the concert got going.”

***Stevie Wonder at the NAMM ‘25 show with Sheléa***

All this is testimony to the enduring appeal of the music made and the stars developed in that small, two-storey house on Detroit’s West Grand Boulevard, decades back. And it’s nothing that you, dear readers, don’t already know.

What makes it newsworthy, perhaps, is the abundant activity and earning ability of so many from those halcyon days. Welcome, then, to West Grand Blog’s review of the first six months of the year we’re currently in. This involves real estate, lawsuits, high fashion, beauty (and other) awards, ocean liners, a couple of books, albums new and reissued, and, inevitably, departures from this realm.

But let’s start with an unlikely moment: the official, seven-times-platinum certification on May 2 of one of Motown’s glorious peaks of creativity: “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.

Given that the company didn’t begin seeking such awards from the Recording Industry Association of America until the 1980s – and that some of its historic tracks remain uncertified to this day (e.g., “Where Did Our Love Go”) – this particular garland seems arbitrary. Then again, Motown catalogue custodian Universal Music recently released two “exciting” remixes of the Marvin and Tammi masterpiece by producer/vocalist Vandelux, so the more related publicity there is, the better, it seems. Using found “artefacts”— like Gaye stomping his foot between takes, turning a page, and bumping into a piece of equipment — the disc jockey created a fresh percussion trap for his mix. He also pitch-shifted Terrell and Gaye’s vocals down slightly.

LAST DAYS OF THE MOTOWN SOUND

“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” belongs to that elite group of tracks which have been streamed more than one billion times on Spotify; it has also generated more than 76 million YouTube views. Had Marvin and Tammi not left us too soon under tragic circumstances, they would surely be gratified.

Gaye might have felt good, too, about the reissue of What’s Going On – no, not the album (again) but of the finest account of its making. That’s the book by the late Ben Edmonds, originally published in 2001 by an offshoot of Britain’s Mojo magazine. It is What’s Going On? Marvin Gaye and the Last Days of the Motown Sound, now newly available from Jack White’s Third Man Books. (Oh, and the RIAA has certified Gaye’s original album, for an absurdly modest 500,000 copies – that is, gold. If “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” can be multi-platinum, why not What’s Going On?)

Also, on March 28, Universal Music reissued Marvin Gaye Live! as a digital deluxe edition, containing – for the first time – the full show that the singer performed in Oakland, California on January 4, 1974. The re-release includes “Come Get To This” as sung at that historic concert, and which was not included in the original album.

This year has seen other companies bring vintage Motown repertoire back to market, under license from Universal Music. They include Elemental Music, Ace Records and a new U.K. entrant, West Grand. The first of these completed its Motown vinyl reissue series earlier this year with the Temptations’ Psychedelic Shack. Since May 2024, the Spanish firm has released 28 such LPs, plus it has just put out Leon Ware’s Musical Massage.

West Grand kicked off with a fresh vinyl (and CD) compilation in the long-established A Cellarful Of Motown! series, plus a couple of vinyl singles, while Ace continued its More Motown Guys series with a 25-track Hit & Run! package.

Meanwhile, the Motown Museum in Detroit launched its so-called “legacy vinyl project” with special, limited-edition pressings (1,500 in blue, 1,000 in gold) of “My Girl.” The initiative was announced late in 2024 to mark the 60th anniversary of the release of the Temptations’ hit, but the singles, manufactured by Third Man Pressing, were not available until this year.

One side of the 45 offers audio interviews with the song’s co-writer and producer, Smokey Robinson, Otis Williams of the Temptations, and arranger Paul Riser; the flipside has a remastered version of “My Girl” made from the original multi-track stems. The disc’s packaging includes an essay by (ahem) yours truly and an account by the late Don Paulsen of the time he photographed Robinson teaching the Temptations his new song at New York’s Apollo Theatre in October 1964.

The Motown Museum announced two other projects which are part of its ongoing expansion programme. The first is the Esther Gordy Edwards Centre for Excellence, a two-storey, 38,000 square foot building located a few blocks west of the museum which, when officially open, will be home for rehearsals, workshops, events and offices. The second concerns the final construction of the museum’s expanded facilities around the 2648 West Grand site; the new building will be directly behind the Hitsville house and feature interactive exhibits, a performance theatre, a recording studio and “community gathering spaces.”

***Motown Museum chairwoman/CEO Robin Terry (photo: Clarence Tabb Jr., Detroit News)***

As a result of this, the museum will temporarily suspend its regular tours from October 1. The site attracts some 100,000 visitors each year, many from overseas. The tours are expected to resume 12 months later, but the museum’s retail outlet and the Hitsville Next atrium shop will remain open in the meantime.

A different exhibit built around a former Motown artist is currently attracting visitors in Long Beach, California. “The Legacy of Thelma Houston” opened on June 6 at the city’s African American Culture Center, and features memorabilia from the singer’s career, including stage costumes. It runs through to July 26. Houston was also in the news in April when the National Recording Registry at the U.S. Library of Congress added her 1975, direct-to-disc album, I’ve Got The Music In Me. She was signed to Motown at the time, but it allowed her to do the project for a small audiophile label.

Another “former Motown artist” had a new album out this April: Smokey Robinson’s What The World Needs Now, recorded for Nashville’s Gaither Music Group. It follows 2023’s Gasms, and eight of the ten tracks are new versions of familiar songs, such as “You’ve Got A Friend,” “What A Wonderful World,” “Everything Is Beautiful” and “Lean On Me.” The two Robinson originals are “Food For Thought” and “Be Kind To The Growing Mind,” both of which he’s recorded before, the first in 1981’s Being With You album, the second in 1986’s Smoke Signals, performed with the Temptations.

ON SALE FOR $15 MILLION

Notwithstanding this latest album and ongoing concert tours at home and abroad, the main headlines involving Robinson have focused on the civil lawsuit filed in May by four former housekeepers, charging him with sexual assault over a period of years. The singer/songwriter has filed a countersuit, and the matter is now in the hands of attorneys, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department and – eventually, perhaps – the courts.

Another Los Angeles resident, Stevie Wonder, put his Los Angeles-area estate in Calabasas on the market this spring for $15 million. He originally bought the Mediterranean-style property for his then-wife Kai Milla-Morris (they divorced in 2012). It’s also available for rental, at $65,000 a month, according to the Wall Street Journal. The star’s rare Bösendorfer piano is currently in the house, but not included in the sale.

Wonder, meanwhile, performed two songs at the March 10 public memorial service for Roberta Flack, who died on February 24. “The great thing about not having the ability to see with your eyes,” said Wonder at the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, “is the great opportunity of being able to see even better with your heart. And so I knew how beautiful Roberta was, not seeing her visually but being able to see and feel her heart.” At the service, he sang “If It’s Magic” and “I Can See The Sun In Late December.”

As befits senior citizens, two Motown acts have become involved with ocean-going cruises this year. Diana Ross, 81, has accepted the role of “godmother” to Star of the Seas, a new liner affiliated with the Royal Caribbean cruise line. She is scheduled to bestow safekeeping onto the ship, crew and passengers during its naming ceremony in August, and to perform on board on that date.

The Temptations – with original member Otis Williams, 83 – will sail and sing on the Royal Princess liner when it departs on December 6 for a cruise marking the 60th anniversary of owner Princess Cruises. In anticipation, the quintet performed “My Girl” on January 4 on board another of the company’s ships, Discovery Princess.

This year, the Temptations have also been continuing to play shows across the U.S. with the Four Tops. The most recent dates by the two groups (the Tops no longer have any original members) included venues in Greensboro and Birmingham. Williams himself was honoured on April 6 as the 2025 recipient of the Gentleman’s Award of the Hollywood Beauty Awards; the prize was first presented in 2018 to Smokey Robinson, by Lionel Richie.

Richie has been on the road this year, too, appearing in England, Scotland and Wales during June. In continental Europe, he continues his “Say Hello To The Hits” tour tomorrow (5) in Poland and the Czech Republic on Sunday, followed by five shows in Spain. “At 76, Richie still possesses an undeniable charm and a voice that remains remarkably smooth and powerful,” wrote Scott Antcliffe in the Yorkshire Post of the star’s show in Sheffield on June 8.

***Cruisin’ with their girl: the Temptations***

Richie’s brothers in song, the Commodores, are also still performing, and have shows scheduled (including eight dates in Australia and New Zealand) through December and into 2026. The group’s line-up includes William King, J.D. Nicholas and Cody Orange, who is the son of original member Walter “Clyde” Orange.

On a more melancholy note, this year has seen the deaths of two Motown-connected figures: singer Jerry Butler and photographer Jim Hendin. Raised in Chicago and an original member of the Impressions, the former was most strongly associated with Philadelphia creatives Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff during the late 1960s and early ’70s, but he recorded three albums for Motown in 1976-77, including a duet set with Thelma Houston. Butler passed on February 20; he was 85.

Hendin, who died on April 28 at the age of 84, will be most remembered for his compelling photography on the cover and gatefold sleeve of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. He worked as an independent contractor for Motown from 1968-74, with the photo shoot for Martha Reeves & the Vandellas’ Sugar n’ Spice album being his first assignment. The Motown Museum presented an exhibit of Hendin’s work in 2020, entitled “Capturing A Culture Change.”

Finally, here are other dates from the first six months of this year which involve the stars and backroom believers of Motown Records:

January 24: As in the past, Stevie Wonder attended the annual NAMM show in Anaheim, California and, in particular, showed an interest in the Genesys G3D recording console produced by British firm AMS Neve. He also gave an impromptu performance there of “Don’t You Worry ’Bout A Thing” with one of his proteges, Sheléa.
March 29: The Motown Museum hosted a meet-and-greet and book signing for Joan Belgrave, widow of respected trumpeter Marcus Belgrave and author of The Music of Marcus Belgrave. He played on any number of tracks by Motown acts, and started the Jazz Development Workship in Detroit in the 1970s.

April 26: Smokey Robinson was one of five recipients of the American Music Honors presented at the Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. He sang “The Tears Of A Clown” at the event with Steve Van Zandt, and they were joined by Springsteen for “Going To A Go-Go.”
May 5: Stevie Wonder and Diana Ross both attended the 2025 Met Gala in New York in high-fashion, glittering outfits. The event’s theme was “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” Later, Wonder headlined the gala’s post-dinner concert.
May 5: Berry Gordy dropped his defamation action against the makers of Spinning Gold, the biopic about music industry exec Neil Bogart of Casablanca Records. The Motown founder had sued over the movie’s portrayal of him as “a thug and a monster.” It’s not known whether a settlement was reached between the parties, who included Bogart’s son, Timothy.
May 9: New York Mets shortstop Francisco Lindor added a new walk-up song, alternating the Temptations’ “My Girl” (which he has been using for the past year) with Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” He called the latter “a banger.”
May 17: Stevie Wonder played a 90-minute set at the Las Vegas Raiders’ Silver & Black Gala in Allegiant Stadium. It was part of a philanthropic fundraiser for mental health.
May 26: Diana Ross performed at the annual ThisDay awards in Lagos, Nigeria, telling the audience that she felt “deeply connected to Africa and what it represents.” Ross previously attended the event in 2007.
June 4: A new musical was announced, One More Love Song (We Could Have Been Stars), involving onetime Motown A&R head Mickey Stevenson and portraying Hodges, James & Smith, the R&B trio he signed after leaving Motown. It’s expected to debut next spring.
June 7: With his poem “Dance in the Light,” Dennis Johnstone won the £1,000 first prize in a Motown poetry contest, “motorcitysixty,” held in the U.K. The competition attracted worldwide entries, and was organised by poetry performance collective, Alarms and Excursions.

***Berry Gordy and Universal Music chairman/CEO Sir Lucian Grainge***

June 12: Gloria Jones gave a talk at an “Evolution of Finance” conference in Beckenham Spa, England. The event aimed to transform women’s relationship with finance. Five days earlier, Jones launched her own perfume, Re’Venge, “a captivating fragrance that showcases a wealth of exotic notes.”
June 19: The Jacksons revealed the forthcoming release of their first album since the September 2024 death of Tito Jackson. The brothers are due to perform on July 31 at Audley End House & Gardens, north of London. Arrival of the forthcoming Michael Jackson biopic, starring his nephew, Jaafar, has been deferred until next year. It’s directed by Antoine Fuqua, nephew of Harvey Fuqua, of Moonglows and Motown fame.
June 30: Universal Music announced the launch of the Berry Gordy Music Industry Scholarship at the UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, which last year inaugurated the Berry Gordy Music Industry Center at the university. That’s a hub dedicated to research, teaching, community engagement and career support. Among the school’s music industry lecturers is Tina Farris, granddaughter of Harvey Fuqua.

Music notes: of the above, the most-recently remastered edition of “My Girl” is available on the Motown Museum’s 60th anniversary single on vinyl, but not digitally, it seems. What is available on streaming services is Marvin’s 1974 live take of “Come Get To This” and Vandelux’s remix of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.” Stevie’s two-song performance at the Roberta Flack memorial service can be found on YouTube, but here’s another live take of “If It’s Magic” from 1995 (similarly, Lionel’s “Hello,” a crowd-pleaser everywhere he goes – in this case, Paris). Enjoy those and more on this WGB Spotify playlist.