A Motown Timeline: 1961
SHREWD SIGNINGS, JUDICIOUS HIRES — AND ITS FIRST POP #1
In the summer of ’61, Berry Gordy was nervous.
“Over the past year,” he admits in To Be Loved, “we had released about twenty records, many of which I thought should have been bigger hits than they were, and I still hadn’t gotten paid all the money for my big hit, ‘Shop Around.’ ”
At the time, Gordy was right to be concerned – and yet in retrospect, 1961 was remarkable for being when his business signed music makers who took Motown to the world: the Supremes, the Temptations, Stevie Wonder. Not forgetting the Marvelettes, who delivered the company’s first Number One pop hit only six months after arriving, nor Mary Wells, who was signed in 1960, but scored her first hit in this year.
Both 45s were, indeed, hits
The truth is that in ‘61, Gordy and his small team lacked sufficient experience in the record business to navigate its more difficult paths. He knew some of the gatekeepers – the disc jockeys of R&B radio – and had their support. But distribution was critical: to get records – however good – into the hands of retailers, and to get paid when those records sold in quantity to the public.
Major record companies such as RCA, Columbia and Capitol had their own nationwide distribution operations. Small labels like Gordy’s relied on local, independent distributors not only to supply stores with the “product,” but also to pitch it to local radio. In 1961, Motown couldn’t afford to employ its own promotion staff in all the cities where sales would make (or break) its future.
Initially, Gordy had given the responsibility for overseeing sales, manufacturing, distribution and receivables to his sister Loucye. She was an organised, capable woman, but lacked the industry know-how and contacts at a critical point: when the Miracles’ “Shop Around” and Mary Wells’ “Bye Bye Baby” began to break out nationally.
In Detroit, Motown was handled by Aurora Distributing. Its sales manager, Barney Ales, had gained experience and respect while working locally for Capitol and Warner Bros. He met Gordy after Aurora began distributing Tri-Phi Records, the start-up owned by songwriter/producer Harvey Fuqua and another Gordy sister, Gwen. Soon, the Motown founder offered Ales a job.
That it was a smart move became apparent when “Please Mr. Postman” was issued in August 1961. Ales not only secured radio play, but made sure stock was in retailers’ racks beforehand. “That way, if a record was played,” he said, “you could tell right away whether you had a hit. Then you could double it with your distributors across the country. That’s also when I learned that you had to take care of their promotion men.”
“Postman” proved to be what Gordy called the “clean-up” record – the big hit that distributors paid for promptly so that they could get the next hit from this small but promising “Hitsville U.S.A.”
His other critical hire that year was William “Mickey” Stevenson, recruited to handle A&R. The two music men already knew each other, not least as clients of a local barber, Benny Mullins. Stevenson had his own tiny label, Stepp Records, and was well-acquainted with the Detroit scene. In particular, he knew some of the best musicians. “They were the first ones – more than the artists – who I gave my pledge to,” he told me.
Among such players were drummer Benny Benjamin, bassist James Jamerson, saxman Hank Cosby and percussionist Eddie “Bongo” Brown. They and others shaped and later formularised the Motown sound, first under bandleader Joe Hunter (who had previously done sessions for Stepp) and then under Earl Van Dyke.
Even so, a number of Motown’s 1961 releases on its Tamla and Motown imprints were dreary or ordinary, and their failure should not have been a surprise. Others were lively (the Supremes’ “Buttered Popcorn,” the Temptations’ “Check Yourself”) but did not chart. In the event, a total of 11 of its ‘61 single releases reached the Billboard Hot 100, plus “Shop Around” and “Bye Bye Baby” from 1960.
The Marvelettes visit TV’s American Bandstand
Moreover, the company began to attract press coverage beyond the trade weeklies and local newspapers. Some acts could be booked way further than Detroit: the Marvelettes, for instance, played San Francisco’s Cow Palace – although Ales paid four Bay Area girls to sing behind Gladys Horton. “We didn’t have the money to fly the whole group from Detroit,” he recalled.
Even so, Motown Records was beginning to make its mark. Berry Gordy was proud of his protégés, particularly Brian Holland, who had configured “Please Mr. Postman” with Robert Bateman. “I had seen that Brian had brilliant producing instincts,” Gordy remarked, “but this was the first tangible proof of what he could do.”
As the year neared its end, the proof became more apparent, not only with Holland, but also with other backroom talent. By now, the founder of Hitsville U.S.A. had less reason to be nervous about the future. That was just as well, because Gordy himself had less time for creativity as the business expanded. In 1961, he produced 28 of the firm’s 50 single releases; the following year, he produced 14.
There was another reason why Gordy was likely gaining confidence about the road ahead. At an undetermined point in 1961, he was introduced to tax attorney Harold Noveck, whose advice (together with that of his accountant brother, Sidney Noveck) he then formally sought. They helped to shape and sustain Motown’s financial health for decades to come.
Now, to the detail. Below is an effort, selective rather than exhaustive, to convey 1961’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 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.
MOTOWN 1961
January 1: In and around the nation’s capital, the Miracles’ “Shop Around” is Top 5 at WUST Bethesda, while Mary Wells’ “Bye Bye Baby” is Top 10 at WOOK Washington, D.C.
January 15: Newly branded as the Supremes, Diana Ross, Mary Wilson, Florence Ballard and Barbara Martin are inked to Motown Records. To provide parental consent, their mothers accompany them; only Martin is of legal age (18) to sign herself.
January 25: Performing rights organisation BMI hands out its annual songwriter awards at New York’s Pierre Hotel. Berry Gordy is recognised for Marv Johnson’s “You Got What It Takes” and “I Love The Way You Love.” With him at the event are his sister, Anna Gordy, and Jackie Wilson, whose song “(You Were Made For) My Love” is another of the night’s winners.
Two hits out of three ain’t bad, albeit that neither was Top 10
January 28: Aurora Distributing sales manager Barney Ales in Detroit tells trade weekly Cash Box that two new Motown releases are “busting loose,” namely Debbie Dean’s “Don’t Let Him Shop Around” and the Satintones’ “Tomorrow And Always.”
February 12: The backstory of the Miracles’ chart-climbing “Shop Around” is featured in the Sunday Star of Washington, D.C., quoting Motown sales manager Loucye Wakefield. “It was a swinging session,” she says. “They sounded so great, the secretaries were running in and out of their offices to hear.”
February 20: “Shop Around” reaches its No. 2 peak on the Billboard Hot 100, held from the summit by Lawrence Welk’s “Calcutta.” On the magazine’s R&B charts, the record continues at Number One, which it holds for a total of eight weeks.
February 24-26: The Miracles are among the acts appearing at the Michigan State Fair as part of the Rod-O-Rama “Cars and Stars of ’61” show. Before one performance, Berry Gordy joins the group on stage – to their surprise – to present a gold disc for “Shop Around.”
March 17: Two years before joining Motown, the Four Tops kick off a two-week run at Detroit’s 20 Grand, opening for Ruth Brown.
March 24: Lloyd Price plays the Jefferson County Armory in Louisville, Kentucky, with pianist Earl Van Dyke thought to be in the singer’s band. He joins Motown in 1963.
April 18: Berry Gordy buys the house next door to Hitsville. It’s 2644-46 West Grand Boulevard, which then accommodates the company’s sales, billing and collections, and publicity departments, as well as Jobete Music.
April 22: Motown releases the Supremes’ second single, “Buttered Popcorn,” after Berry Gordy was inspired to write the song following a cinema visit. At the Krim Theater in Detroit’s Highland Park, he and his wife Ray, with Barney Ales and wife Mitzi, all picked the same treat to eat during the screening. “It’d be a great song title,” said Ales after he realised the coincidence. Gordy authored the song and shared credit with him.
April 24: Motown’s release on this date of the Satintones’ “Tomorrow And Always” soon provokes a lawsuit from Aldon Music. The song is an “answer” to the Shirelles’ “Will You Love Me Tomorrow,” written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Because of its near-identical nature, Aldon claims that only Goffin/King should be credited for the song on the Satintones’ disc; Motown withdraws it.
May 15: The Temptations – Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Elbridge (Al) Bryant, Melvin Franklin, Otis Williams – sign to Motown, after changing their name from the Elgins.
June 16: Hi! We’re The Miracles is the group’s first LP release, with liner notes authored (without credit) by Billie Jean Brown, who had joined Motown the year before to write press releases and answer fan mail.
June 17: Cash Box reports on the formation of Tri-Phi Records by Gwen Gordy and Harvey Fuqua, with its first two releases being the Spinners’ “That’s What Girls Are Made For” and Johnny & Jackey’s “Carry Your Own Load.”
July 8: The Marvelettes – Wyanetta Cowart, Georgeanna Tillman, Gladys Horton, Wanda Young, Katherine Anderson – are contracted to Motown, bringing the song “Please Mr. Postman” with them. (Young replaced original member Georgia Dobbins, whose father would not sign the deal.)
July 15: Stephen Hardaway Judkins, professionally known as “Little Stevie Wonder,” signs with Motown Record Corp. The four-year contract provides him with a two percent royalty rate on 90 percent of records sold. On August 4, he is inked to Berry Gordy, Jr. Enterprises for management, with commission at 25 percent.
July 22: Barney Ales is appointed national sales manager/promotion director for Tamla/Motown, per trade press reports. He takes over from Loucye Wakefield, who is upped to vice president. Ales was formerly with Capitol and Warner Bros. in Detroit.
August 2: The Miracles appear in the “Top Recording Stars of ’61” package show at the Norfolk Arena, Virginia. Also on the bill: Chuck Jackson, Dee Clark and Jimmy Reed.
August 3: Jet magazine reports that Berry Gordy has signed a contract with Lloyds of London to insure his artists for $50,000 each in the event that they lose their voices.
August 13: Detroit’s Gospel Stars join a “Stars of Faith” concert at Atlanta’s City Auditorium, in the company of the Atlantians and Philadelphia’s Nightingales. The Gospel Stars’ Tamla album is three months from release.
September 8: Advertised as “rock ’n roll singers and dancers,” the Four Tops join Arthur Braggs’ 1961 Idlewild Revue at the Flame Show Bar. Etta (“Don’t Go To Strangers”) Jones is also on the bill.
September 17: Motown Records hosts a showcase at the National Association of Radio Announcers’ convention at Detroit’s Sheraton-Cadillac Hotel. Among those appearing are Mary Wells, the Contours, the Marvelettes and the Temptations. Disc jockeys at the event include WJLB’s Joe Howard and Bristoe Bryant.
September 26: New to King Records after his Billboard career, Seymour Stein contacts Berry Gordy to propose an unusual approach for the Detroit firm’s latest label. “Since Miracle is a new venture on your part,” Stein writes, “why not consider running it different from Tamla and Motown,” by having King handle its distribution. Whether or how Gordy responded is unknown.
An unfortunate typo
October: After winning a talent contest, Martha Reeves performs a two-song “happy hour” set at the 20 Grand for three days. There, Motown A&R head Mickey Stevenson introduces himself and invites her to audition at the company.
October 1: The Supremes sing “Buttered Popcorn,” their most recent 45, at Keith’s 105th Theatre in Cleveland as part of the “Hit-Makers of 1961” package tour, headlining Chuck Jackson and Timi Yuro. Also on the bill are the Spinners.
October 20: Released on this date, Eddie Holland’s “Jamie” is the first Motown success for Mickey Stevenson as a producer (he also co-wrote the song). The record peaks at No. 30 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 1962. Plus, it’s the first Motown hit to feature background singers, the Andantes.
October 28: Rev. Columbus Mann appears with a number of gospel performers in a “singarama” held at Michigan’s Lansing Church of God in Christ. His Tamla album is released next year.
November: The Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman” is licensed to Fontana Records in the U.K. It’s the first of four 45s released by the London-based label over the next four months. Motown’s previous (and first) licensee there was Decca.
November: Chess Records’ subsidiary, Argo, releases Etta James’ “Seven Day Fool,” a previously-unheard song co-authored by Berry Gordy.
November 11: The trade press notes that Marv Johnson has re-signed with United Artists Records, in a three-year deal agreed between the singer’s manager, Berry Gordy, and UA president Art Talmadge.
November 22: Eight Motown acts appear at the IMA Auditorium in Flint, Michigan, among them, the Miracles, Marv Johnson, Mary Wells, the Marvelettes and Sammy Ward. The so-called “Tamla/Motown dance concert” predates the company’s first touring package the following year
November 25: An early Motown employee, Bill Mitchell, is reported to have left the company to join Columbia Records in Chicago. His duties at Hitsville included record promotion.
December 2: Jackie Wilson headlines a show at the Boston Arena, with Jerry Butler, the Marvelettes, Maxine Brown, Tommy Hunt and the Impressions on the bill. Tickets range from $1.75 to $4.
December 11: Motown Records secures its first Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 with the Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman” in its 15th chart week. The record continues atop the R&B rankings, which it reached one month earlier. On the Cash Box Top 100, “Postman” peaks at No. 2 for two weeks.
December 23: Loyal to Berry Gordy’s young company, R&B powerhouse WJLB Detroit ranks Eddie Holland’s “Jamie” and the Temptations’ “Check Yourself” in the station’s latest Top 10.
December 25: The Temptations, the Del-Fi’s and Henry Lumpkin join more than a dozen acts performing at a “Christmas Teen Age Dance” at Detroit’s Arcadia Roller Rink.
December 26: The Marvelettes appear on the Pepsi-sponsored “Big Show” at Chicago’s Medinah Temple, with other stars including Brenda Lee, Freddy Cannon, Solomon Burke and Dion.
December 31: Harvey Fuqua’s Tri-Phi act, the Spinners, close out a week of performances at Detroit’s Fox Theatre. The show headliner is Gene McDaniels.
SELECTED SINGLES (by release date)
January 11: Henry Lumpkin, “I’ve Got A Notion,” Motown 1005
January 31: Jimmy Ruffin, “Don’t Feel Sorry For Me,” Miracle 1
February: Debbie Dean “Don’t Let Him Shop Around,” Motown 1007
February: The Miracles, “Ain’t It Baby,” Tamla 54036
February 8: Barrett Strong, “Money And Me,” Tamla 54035
February 20: The Contours, “Whole Lotta Woman,” Motown 1008
March 9: The Supremes, “I Want A Guy,” Tamla 54038
April 24: The Satintones, “Tomorrow And Always,” Motown 1006
May 25: Marvin Gaye, “Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide,” Tamla 54041
June: Andre Williams, “Rosa Lee (Stay Off The Bell),” Miracle 4
June 3: The Miracles, “Mighty Good Lovin’,” Tamla 54044
July 21: The Supremes, “Buttered Popcorn,” Tamla 54045
July 24: The Temptations, “Oh, Mother Of Mine,” Miracle 5
August 21: The Marvelettes, “Please Mr. Postman,” Tamla 54046 (#1 R&B, #1 pop)
September: Rev. Columbus Mann, “They Shall Be Mine,” Tamla 54047
September 19: The Miracles, “Everybody’s Gotta Pay Some Dues,” Tamla 54048
October 6: Mary Wells, “Strange Love,” Motown 1016
October 20: Freddie Gorman, “The Day Will Come,” Miracle 11
October 20: Eddie Holland, “Jamie,” Motown 1021
October 23: The Valadiers, “Greetings (This Is Uncle Sam),” Miracle 6
November: Mable John: “Actions Speak Louder Than Words,” Tamla 54050
November 7: The Temptations, “Check Yourself,” Miracle 12
November 22: Bob Kayli, “Small Sad Sam,” Tamla 54051
November 27: The Twistin’ Kings, “Xmas Twist,” Motown 1022
December 6: The Marvelettes, “Twistin’ Postman,” Tamla 54054
December 14: The Miracles, “What’s So Good About Goodbye,” Tamla 54053
SELECTED ALBUMS (by release date)
June 8: Marvin Gaye, The Soulful Moods Of Marvin Gaye, Tamla 221
June 12: Various, Tamla Special No. 1, Tamla 224
June 16: The Miracles, Hi! We’re The Miracles, Tamla 220
August: Mary Wells, Bye Bye Baby, Motown 600
November 13: The Gospel Stars, The Great Gospel Stars, Tamla 222
November 13: The Miracles, Cookin’ With The Miracles, Tamla 223
November 20: The Marvelettes, Please Mr. Postman, Tamla 228
December: The Twistin’ Kings, Twistin’ The World Around, Motown 601
December 2: Rev. Columbus Mann, They Shall Be Mine, Tamla 227
Music notes: Motown’s 1961 single releases which made the Billboard Hot 100 ranged from the Miracles’ “Broken Hearted” (peaking at No. 97) to the Marvelettes’ “Please Mr. Postman” (Number One). Its second-biggest release was Eddie Holland’s “Jamie,” which was issued in October and peaked at No. 30 the following March. All of those Hot 100 charters can be heard in this West Grand Blog playlist on Spotify.