Motown/UMe has announced the start of its year-long celebration of the 60th anniversary of Grammy-winning “Emperors of Soul” The Temptations. A wide variety of multi-media events and releases is planned to honor the profound legacy and ever-increasing influence of the trailblazing Motown luminaries. The announcement marks the fact that the group signed their first contract with […]
In 1959, an aspiring songwriter and record producer named Berry Gordy Jr. borrowed $800 to start his own record label in Detroit. Good investment. Within a year, Motown had its first million-selling record, with the Miracles’ “Shop Around.” By 1969, the label would place dozens of records in the Billboard Top 10 as it reshaped the sound of pop music for […]
In honor of Black History Month, Robin Roberts, Misty Copeland, Forest Whitaker and more nominate those who are making history in our world right now. Black History Month has become a time-honored tradition since it was first conceptualized as “Negro History Week” in 1925 by Carter G. Woodson and the Association for the Study of […]
Martha Reeves got her final letter from Mary Wilson two weeks ago. She didn’t realize that’s what it would be. But Reeves now cherishes the note from her “dear angel friend” and fellow Motown star, who was home in Las Vegas, eager to get through the pandemic and back onto the road. Someday, they’d be together, […]
As the National Museum of African American Music opens its doors, journalists from the USA TODAY Network explore the stories, places and people who helped make music what it is today in our expansive series, Hallowed Sound. Motown Records’ creative ingenuity and commercial prowess made it a hit machine, one that’s still chugging along today — […]
Our Lives and Times: An AIN’T TOO PROUD Special Event WATCH NOW Presented in partnership with American Express Video of Our Lives and Times: An AIN'T TOO PROUD Special Event The story of the legendary Temptations, AIN’T TOO PROUD is uniquely positioned at the intersection of the way things were – and the way things can be […]
Billboard spoke with Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick, Booker T. Jones and other legendary acts who faced extreme racism to bring their music to the American South in the 1950s and ’60s. One day in the early ’50s, three jazz legends were on a road trip from East St. Louis to California. Miles Davis, Charles Mingus […]
Check out the Temptations’ Christmas Card playlist on YouTube, including a brand new lyric video for “Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer” and last year’s charming animation for “Silent Night”. Watch here.
