Tamla Motown Records
Berry Gordy Jr. had a dream, and in 1959 with a loan of $800 he started Motown records in Detroit. The name Tam ![]() ![]() ![]() As well as the Tamla and Motown labels he also developed Gordy-Soul-VIP. The first artist to be issued on the Soul label was Shorty Long. William Stevenson produced "Devil With A Blue Dress On". In 1966 he recorded "Function At The Junction" which became a chart hit. He went on to record four singles and two albums and remains a very under rated talent who died in a boating accident in June 1969. During the sixties Motown was not the only successful label in Detroit. Ric Tic the label owned by Ed Wingate had an impact on the chart seen and Motown bought them out, now with artist such as Rare Earth, Laura Lee, J.J.Barnes, Edwin Starr and the Fantastic Four more hits followed. Edwin Starr had the biggest hits on Gordy with "25 Miles" "War" (sold over 3 million copies) and "My Weakness is You". Originally on Golden World he moved to Ric Tic, hits included "Agent OO Soul", "Stop Her On Sight" and the catchy "Headline News". Mean while back in the UK, the early Motown records were issued on a variety of labels, as we shall see in the continuing story in Part Two of The Tamla Motown Records Story
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Wanted One Soul Singer - Johnnie Taylor ¦ Wilson Pickett ¦
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