Motown Weeks....Barry White

Ainda sob a influência da Motown, dediquemos um espaço a Barry White...não só porque o merece inteiramente, mas também porque o seu reportório musical recebe grandes influências do estilo "Motown".

Vamos ficar com este charmosíssimo e marcante músico...

Motown Weeks....Smokey Robinson and The Miracles

Of all the R&B vocal groups formed in Detroit, Michigan, USA, in the mid-50s, the Miracles proved to be the most successful. They were founded at the city's Northern High School in 1955 by Smokey Robinson

Like many of the veteran Motown acts, the Miracles went into a sales slump after 1967 - the year when Robinson was given individual credit on the group's records. Their slide was less noticeable in Britain, where Motown gained a Top 10 hit in 1969 with a reissue of 'The Tracks Of My Tears', which most listeners imagined was a contemporary record.

In 1975, 'Love Machine' became the Miracles' first US chart-topper, while the concept album City Of Angels was acclaimed as one of Motown's most progressive releases.

Motown weeks....Stevie Wonder

Sem dúvida alguma, Stevie Wonder deve ser um nome a enaltecer na música moderna, e ainda mais no contexto da Motown e  da música norte-americana. A par de Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson e outros grandes nomes, este artista contriubuiu em muito para a diversificação musical.

Born in Saginaw, Michigan, Stevie Wonder moved to Detroit at an early age and has become one of that city's most famous sons.  Blind from birth, Stevie has never allowed that to be an obstacle or handicap.

Berry Gordy, the company's founder, who instantly recognized his tremendous musical potential and signed him to Motown in 1961.  He has been with the label ever since and recently signed a life-long deal.

Motown Weeks....The Supremes

The Supremes left Detroit in early summer on a Dick Clark tour bus at the bottom of the bill, but with excitement mounting, they returned with their first No. 1 record of five in a row.

If "Baby Love," the second Supremes No. 1, was crafted in a classic follow-up strategy, the sophisticated yet swinging "I Hear a Symphony" took the formula to the sparkling musical and emotional conclusion.

Motown Weeks...Diana Ross

Não consigo ouvir o "Chain Reaction" sem que o meu corpo não responda. Diana Ross dança de uma maneira elegante mas sensual, discreta mas arrebatadora.

Arrisco-me a dizer que apenas no Pulp Fiction podemos ver movimentos tão sublimes com Uma Thurman.

Fica um pouco da história e um videoclip desta cantora.

While still in high school Ross became the fourth and final member of the Primettes, who recorded for Lu-Pine in 1960, signed to Motown Records in 1961 and then changed their name to the Supremes. She was a backing vocalist on the group's early releases, until Motown boss Berry Gordy insisted that she become their lead singer, a role she retained for the next six years. In recognition of her prominent position in the Supremes, she received individual billing on all their releases from 1967 onwards.

Throughout her final years with the group, Ross was being groomed for a solo career under the close personal supervision of Gordy. In late 1969, he announced that Ross would be leaving the Supremes, and she played her final concert with the group in January 1970. The same year, following the relative failure of "Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand)", Ross began a long series of successful solo releases with the US chart-topping "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". She continued to enjoy success with lightweight love songs in the early 70s, with "I'm Still Waiting" topping the UK charts in 1971, and "Touch Me In The Morning" becoming her second US number 1 in 1973.

In April 1971, she had married businessman Robert Silberstein. Motown's plan to widen Ross' appeal led her to host a television special, Diana!, in 1971. In 1972, she starred in Motown's film biography of Billie Holiday, Lady Sings The Blues, winning an Oscar nomination for her stirring portrayal of the jazz singer's physical decline into drug addiction. However, subsequent starring roles in Mahogany (1975) and The Wiz (1978) drew a mixed critical response. In 1973, she released an album of duets with Marvin Gaye, though allegedly the pair did not meet during the recording of the project. She enjoyed another US number 1 with the theme song from Mahogany, subtitled "Do You Know Where You're Going To", in 1975.

Her fourth US chart-topper, "Love Hangover" (1976), saw her moving into the contemporary disco field, a shift of direction that was consolidated on the 1980 album Diana, produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic. Her choice of hit material continued to be inspired and the 80s started with a major hit, "Upside Down", which rooted itself at the top of the US chart for a month, and reached number 2 in the UK. Similar but lesser success followed with "I'm Coming Out" (US number 5) and "It's My Turn" (US number 9), although she enjoyed another UK Top 5 hit with the jaunty "My Old Piano". The following year a collaboration with Lionel Richie produced the title track to the movie Endless Love.


Oldie.

Motown weeks...The Commodores

Quem não se lembra do famoso Lionel Richie e o seu video icónico "Hello"? Pois bem, este artista que ainda hoje se mantém em actividade surgiu do fim dos Commodores, grupo que lhe trouxe toda a notoriedade a quem ele terá que agradecer ainda hoje...

The Commodores were formed in at Tuskegee Institute in Alabama in 1967 as the Mystics, becoming the Commodores in 1969. All students at the Institute, the original line-up consisted of Lionel Richie, William King, Thomas McClary, Milan Williams, Ronald LaPread, and Walter "Clyde" Orange.

Motown Weeks......Marvin Gaye

Um dos meus artistas favoritos de todos os tempos...não só por fazer parte da cultura musical revivalista dos anos 60 e 70, mas porque terá sido, por ventura, dos músicos mais libertos, mais sensíveis, transpondo o seu amor pela música a tudo em que se envolvia...

O teor altamente sensual e envolvente de algumas das suas músicas é bem evidente, e transversal ao seu reportório é o Amor.

Brilliant, enigmatic, and headstrong, Marvin Gaye was an innovator. In 2009, he would have been 70 years old, and it has been 25 years since his tragic death. But today Marvin remains as influential and exciting as ever: Rolling Stone recently named him one of the greatest singers of all time.

Motown Weeks.....Rick James

Quem não se lembra deste grande som? Surgiu nos anos 70, mas mais tarde MC Hammer veio a dar-lhe nova vida, mas não com o mesmo "glamour"...

The nephew of Temptations vocalist Melvin Franklin, James pioneered a crossover style between R&B and rock in the mid-60s.

Signed to Motown in 1977, initially as a songwriter, he rapidly evolved a more individual style, which he labelled "punk funk".

James chose to present himself as a social outlaw, with outspoken views on drugs and sex.

James' own recordings, predominantly in the funk vein, continued to corner the disco market, with "Give It To Me Baby" and "Super Freak", on which he was joined by the Temptations, achieving notable sales in 1981.

Motown Weeks...Temptations

Quem não se lembra do "My Girl" dos Temptations, tema de uma banda sonora de um filme dos anos 90. Esta banda fica na história como a "The most successful group in black music history" e aqui fica a devida homenagem...

The most successful group in black music history was formed in 1961 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, by former members of two local R&B outfits. Eddie Kendricks (b. 17 December 1939, Union Springs, Alabama, USA) and Paul Williams (b. 2 July 1939, Birmingham, Alabama, USA, d. 17 August 1973) both sang with the Primes ; Melvin Franklin (b. David English, 12 October 1942, Montgomery, Alabama, USA, d. 23 February 1995, Los Angeles, California, USA), Eldridge Bryant and Otis Williams (b. Otis Miles 30 October 1941, Texarkana, Texas, USA) came from the Distants.

Initially known as the Elgins, the quintet were renamed the Temptations by Berry Gordy when he signed them to Motown in 1961. After issuing three singles on the Motown subsidiary Miracle Records, one of them under the pseudonym of the Pirates, the group moved to the Gordy label. 'Dream Come Home' provided their first brief taste of chart status in 1962, although it was only when they were teamed with writer, producer and performer Smokey Robinson that the Temptations achieved consistent success.

The group's classic line-up was established in 1963, when Eldridge Bryant was replaced by David Ruffin (b. 18 January 1941, Meridian, Mississippi, USA). His gruff baritone provided the perfect counterpoint to Kendricks' wispy tenor and falsetto, a contrast that Smokey Robinson exploited to the full. Over the next two years, he fashioned a series of hits in both ballad and dance styles, carefully arranging complex vocal harmonies that hinted at the group's doo-wop heritage. 'The Way You Do The Things You Do' was the Temptations' first major hit, a stunningly simple rhythm number featuring a typically cunning series of lyrical images. 'My Girl' in 1965, the group's first US number 1, demonstrated Robinson's graceful command of the ballad idiom, and brought Ruffin's vocals to the fore for the first time. This track, featured in the movie 'My Girl', was reissued in 1992 and was once again a hit. 'It's Growing', 'Since I Lost My Baby', 'My Baby' and 'Get Ready' continued the run of success into 1966, establishing the Temptations as the leaders of the Motown sound. 'It's Growing' brought a fresh layer of subtlety into Robinson's lyric writing, while 'Get Ready' embodied all the excitement of the Motown rhythm factory, blending an irresistible melody with a stunning vocal arrangement.

Norman Whitfield succeeded Robinson as the Temptations' producer in 1966 - a role he continued to occupy for almost a decade. He introduced a new rawness into their sound, spotlighting David Ruffin as an impassioned lead vocalist, and creating a series of R&B records that rivalled the output of Stax and Atlantic for toughness and power. 'Ain't Too Proud To Beg' introduced the Whitfield approach, and while the Top 3 hit 'Beauty Is Only Skin Deep' represented a throwback to the Robinson era, 'I'm Losing You' and 'You're My Everything' confirmed the new direction. The peak of Whitfield's initial phase with the group was 'I Wish It Would Rain', a dramatic ballad that the producer heightened with delicate use of sound effects. The record was another major hit, and gave the Temptations their sixth R&B number 1 in three years. It also marked the end of an era, as David Ruffin first requested individual credit before the group's name, and when this was refused, elected to leave for a solo career. He was replaced by ex- Contour Dennis Edwards, whose strident vocals fit perfectly into the Temptations' harmonic blend. Whitfield chose this moment to inaugurate a new production style.

Conscious of the psychedelic shift in the rock mainstream, and the inventive soul music being created by Sly And The Family Stone, he joined forces with lyricist Barrett Strong to pull Motown brutally into the modern world. The result was 'Cloud Nine', a record that reflected the increasing use of illegal drugs among young people, and shocked some listeners with its lyrical ambiguity. Whitfield created the music to match, breaking down the traditional barriers between lead and backing singers and giving each of the Temptations a recognizable role in the group. Over the next four years, Whitfield and the Temptations pioneered the concept of psychedelic soul, stretching the Motown formula to the limit, introducing a new vein of social and political comment, and utilizing many of rock's experimental production techniques to hammer home the message. 'Runaway Child, Running Wild' examined the problems of teenage rebellion; 'I Can't Get Next To You' reflected the fragmentation of personal relationships (and topped the US charts with the group's second number 1 hit); and 'Ball Of Confusion' bemoaned the disintegrating fabric of American society. These lyrical tracks were set to harsh, uncompromising rhythm tracks, steeped in wah-wah guitar and soaked in layers of harmony and counterpoint.

The Temptations were greeted as representatives of the counter-culture, a trend that climaxed when they recorded Whitfield's outspoken protest against the Vietnam War, 'Stop The War Now'. The new direction alarmed Eddie Kendricks, who felt more at home on the series of collaborations with the Supremes that the group also taped in the late 60s. He left for a solo career in 1971, after recording another US number 1, the evocative ballad 'Just My Imagination'. He was replaced first by Richard Owens, then later in 1971 by Damon Harris. This line-up recorded the 1972 number 1, 'Papa Was A Rolling Stone', a production tour de force which remains one of Motown's finest achievements, belatedly winning the label its first Grammy award.



Oldie.