Berry Gordy born: November 28, 1929, Detroit, Michigan
Nick names: none
Instruments: N/A
As the founder of the company,he was the boss that over saw the whole Motown operation.Without Berry Gordy there wouldn't have been The Funk Brothers because without him and his vision of a "cross-over" music there wouldn't have been a Motown at all.
Berry like many people in Detriot worked for Ford building automobiles but his passion was in music.He opened a record store but it never took off,so Berry turned his hand to song writing scoring success with "Reet Petite" recorded by Jackie Wilson.In 1957 he discovered Smokey Robinson and began building a portfolio of successful artists. At Robinson's encouragement, Gordy created Motown on December 14, 1959.
His gift for finding and bringing together musical talent, along with the careful management of his artists' public image, made Motown into a international success.
In June 1972, he relocated the entire Motown Records company to LA, closing the Hitsville studios and leaving many of the Funk Brothers behind.