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.