The tragic tale of Shorty Long: Motown’s forgotten party starter
An unconquerable musical empire built upon the euphoric sounds of Detroit soul, Motown Records had a vice-like grasp on the music industry in the 1960s; however, even the mightiest are not without their tragedies.
With its extensive range of upbeat pop hits and the brightly coloured images of artists like The Supremes, Stevie Wonder, or Martha Reeves, it is easy to view the golden age of Motown as an optimistic, loved-up celebration of American soul and R&B music. While that music was certainly always at the heart of Berry Gordy’s business, there was also a dark underbelly to Hitsville USA, unexposed to mainstream audiences until years after that mid-1960s golden age had long passed by.
For every star that Motown launched into the marketable consciousness, there were a multitude more that fell into obscurity, often owing to exploitative contracts and poor treatment from the label. This selective harshness towards artists, producers, and songwriters lost them a lot of key talent, from Mary Wells, who left in the midst of a contract dispute following her number-one single ‘My Guy’, to Holland-Dozier-Holland, who argued that their royalty rates were exploitative given just how many of Motown’s defining hits they were responsible for writing.
Some of the label’s tragedies were certainly self-inflicted; even the label’s flagship outfit, The Supremes, was placed under authoritative and damaging control by Gordy, leading to Diana Ross developing an eating disorder and a range of mental health struggles. On the other side of the spectrum, some Motown tragedies were unforeseeable, as in the case of producer, songwriter, and vocalist Shorty Long.
Long on his musical journey beginning at the Tri-Phi label, owned by Gordy’s sister, Gwen, his inaugural release in 1962 immediately established the Alabama-born performer as a bold and passionate new voice in the soul landscape. By 1964, he was signed to Motown and quickly became a leading figure of Gordy’s Soul imprint, reserved for the more blues and soul-focused artists rather than their primary pop output.
Although Long’s career never matched the dizzying heights of some of his label comrades, his work amassed a cult audience in the years that followed, particularly within the northern soul scene blossoming in England during the early 1970s, which adopted a few of Long’s more high-energy recordings into its repertoire. His work as a songwriter and producer was essential in driving the Soul imprint forward, and the performer’s outgoing, party-centric persona made him an affable presence within the offices of Hitsville USA.
As Motown’s Philadelphia promotion manager, Weldon McDougal, recalled in Bill Dahl’s Motown: The Golden Years, Long was “a real fun guy. Very talented”, adding, “He was always singing and playing. When we went into the hotel, I’ll never forget it, he would ask ’em, do they have a piano anywhere around? And if they did, if I ever wanted to see him anymore, he would be up there playing and writing and doing songs.”
In an unfortunate turn of events, that bright, soulful spark drowned in the summer of 1969, when Long and a friend crashed their vessel while sailing down the Detroit River. In the wake of his passing, Motown issued Long’s second and final album, The Prime of Shorty Long, acting as a fitting epitaph to one of the most promising artists to ever call the label home.
