Who was the first artist signed to Motown Records?
Record labels rise and fall in popularity, but very few are afforded the same legendary status as Motown Records.
Founded by Berry Gordy Jr back in 1959, the Detroit-based record label orchestrated a cultural revolution during the 1960s, almost single-handedly bringing the sweet sounds of soul music to the masses. During its golden age, the label produced a colossal number of hit singles by now-iconic artists like Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, and Marvin Gaye. It is easy to forget, all these years later, the modest origins of Gordy’s label.
Soul music had been around for a long time prior to Motown’s involvement in the scene. Developing from the worlds of gospel and R&B, the first soul stars began to emerge during the early 1950s. For the most part, though, these early records did not trouble the mainstream of American music, largely resigned to local independent record labels that could not distribute on a national scale. Berry Gordy had been interested in the music industry from a young age and, in his late 20s, began to write songs for leading soul artists like Jackie Wilson.
During that time, Gordy already had ideas of starting his own record label to share the joys of soul music far and wide, but simply did not have the finances to compete with established labels. Instead, the budding music mogul would record songs by local artists in Detroit and then lease those songs to other record labels who would publish them. The first instance of this came in 1957 when Gordy met Smokey Robinson and his band The Matadors – who would later become The Miracles – and recorded their song ‘Got A Job’.
That song was Gordy’s first taste of music publishing and was essential in the formation of the Motown label. You could easily cite that 1958 track by The Miracles as being the first Motown song, were it not for the fact that Gordy leased it out to the New York label End Records, who pressed and published the single. The first official Motown release came a few months later when Gordy started working with pianist Marv Johnson.
Together, Gordy and Johnson penned the song ‘Come To Me’. Immediately recognising the potential of the classic soul track, the future Motown boss decided to press the single on his own newly-formed imprint, Tamla Records, rather than leasing the song out to a pre-existing record label.
With money borrowed from his family, Gordy pressed the singles, achieving a modest hit in the Detroit area and starting the ball rolling for hit factory Motown. Unable to distribute the song nationally, Gordy sold the rights of the tune to United Artists, which reissued the song shortly thereafter.
That 1959 single marked the official beginning of Tamla, the label that later renamed itself Motown. Over the course of the next few months, Gordy would continue to expand upon his newly formed empire, publishing tracks by the likes of Barrett Strong, Mary Wells, Debbie Dean, and, of course, The Miracles. Tamla became Motown on a widespread basis in 1960, ushering in the label’s most prolific and successful period.
By the time the 1960s had drawn to a close, Motown was a household name throughout the United States. Not only did the label establish groundbreaking stars like Marvin Gaye or The Supremes, it also provided a soundtrack to Black identity in the United States during the period of discrimination, segregation, and the civil rights movement. Motown was essential, not just in the musical development of the nation, but in the cultural fabric of the USA as a whole.
But who was the most successful artist on Motown?
Motown was always synonymous with chart domination. Even in its early days, the label’s output regularly featured in the R&B charts both in Detroit and around the rest of the United States. During the label’s golden age, between 1961 and 1971, Berry Gordy’s label produced a huge 110 top ten singles in the US, including multiple chart-topping tracks. Gordy became acutely aware of how to make a hit. Even still, some Motown artists were more successful than others.
Unsurprisingly, the most successful artist on Motown was Diana Ross, who released material on the label both in a solo capacity and with The Supremes. As a member of The Supremes, Ross achieved a total of 12 number-one hit singles with the label, earning an additional six as a solo performer. The only other artist to come close to that level of enduring success on Motown was Stevie Wonder, who achieved eight number ones during his tenure with the label.
