Berry Gordy Biography
Berry Gordy III was born on November 28, 1929 in Detroit, Michigan, to Barry Gordy II and Bertha Fuller Gordy. He was the seventh child of a large middle class family that had relocated from Milledgeville, Georgia. The family was generally considered tight-knit and could trace its ancestry to a white slave-holding farmer named James Thomas Gordy, the great-grandfather of President Jimmy Carter.
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Early Life
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Berry Gordy's father worked in a Ford plant for the majority of his life, while his older siblings became prominent business owners throughout Detroit. Gordy, himself, dropped out of high school in eleventh grade and became a professional boxer before being drafted for the Korean War.
Early Career
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Following his time in Korea, Berry Gordy returned to marry Thelma Coleman and open a record store called the 3-D Record Mart. After the store folded, Gordy resigned himself to working at the Lincoln-Mercury plant.
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Songwriting
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In 1957, Berry Gordy was offered an opportunity to write a song for Jackie Wilson. The song, "Reet Petite," reached the Top 10 charts in the U.K. He then wrote more songs for the artist, including "Lonely Teardrops," which was a huge success worldwide.
The Miracles
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Berry Gordy discovered the Miracles R&B group in the late 1950s and started a record label called Tamla Records. National distribution came from United Artist Records and gave Gordy a famous name from within the recording industry.
Motown
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Gordy launched Motown on December 14, 1959. The first two hits from the record label were "Money (That's What I Want)" and "Please Mr. Postman." He established a headquarters called Hitsville USA in Detroit and began grooming new artists for promotion.
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Resources
- Photo Credit FuriousFreddy, Wikimedia Commons, Public Domain, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hitsville_USA.jpg
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Comments
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pttcrab
Aug 17, 2009
"Berry Gordy's father worked in a Ford plant for the majority of his life, while his older siblings became prominent business owners throughout Detroit." this statement is totally erred, Gordy senior here the proof: "berry gordy sr hustled through a string of odd jobsand frequently rented an empty lot where he sold everything from ice to coal , wood, christmas trees, wtermelons and old car parts. Finally he landed a gig as an apprenctice plasterer for lack contractors and in a year earned a union card. He then found steady work and saved enough to launch his own businesses. he not only started a carpentry shop but also bought the neighboring **** T. Washington Grocery sore, as well as a print shop." p6 of Gerald Posner's Motown: music, money, sex and power (using references of Gordy's to be loved autobiography) Gordy family was ambitious and owned successful businesses. only gordy J...
