With a dream and an $800 loan from his family’s savings club (the Ber-Berry Co-op), Berry Gordy proceeded to build the most successful independent record label of the 1960s. Motown was a shining symbol of African-American empowerment, an example of how a confident young man with the right family support and a plan could make musical magic by attracting an abundance of young Detroit talent and guiding them straight to the winner’s circle. Of course, it didn’t hurt that Berry knew how to write a hit song, and how to promote his acts into the pop arena.

Born in Detroit in 1929, Gordy grew up in a tight-knit, supportive family. His early enterprises weren’t always successful (his 3-D Record Mart–House of Jazz was a bust), but Berry co-wrote a series of smashes for Jackie Wilson beginning with 1957's “Reet Petite (The Finest Girl You Ever Want To Meet)” for Brunswick Records and continuing with the majestic “To Be Loved” and “Lonely Teardrops.” Those national successes and his discovery of the Miracles, Mable John, and Marv Johnson gave Berry the gumption to launch Motown and Tamla Records. He purchased a humble two-story building to house Hitsville U.S.A. in August of 1959, installing a studio and getting down to business. In 1960, Tamla nailed a smash with Barrett Strong’s “Money (That’s What I Want),” and the Miracles, Marvelettes, and Mary Wells proved consistent hitmakers as the decade picked up steam. Soon Tamla and Motown were joined by the Gordy, Soul, and V.I.P. subsidiaries, all of them dominating the pop and R&B charts as “The Sound of Young America” systematically took the nation by storm.

Hitsville was one of the hottest studios in the country–open around the clock at its zenith - until Gordy shifted his base of operations to sunny Los Angeles in 1972. The move marked the end of an amazing era, though Motown continued to flourish as a label. The music created during those golden years sounds as fresh and vital now as it did the day it was made. Motown and Detroit have become synonymous because of the extraordinary vision of Berry Gordy.

Written by Bill Dahl