Gwen Gordy Fuqua (November 26, 1927 – November 8, 1999) was the elder sister of Motown founder Berry Gordy, sister of Motown songwriters Anna Gordy Gaye, Robert Gordy and George Gordy, sister of Motown Museum founder Esther Gordy Edwards, sister of Fuller Gordy and also Loucye Gordy, and the former wife of Harvey Fuqua. She was also an important contributor to the early years of the label as a songwriter herself.

Fuqua began her music career in the mid-1950s co-writing hit singles for Jackie Wilson with boyfriend Roquel Billy Davis (who then went by the pseudonym Tyran Carlo) and her brother Berry. As a team, the trio would write twelve songs together. Fuqua and Davis soon departed to form Anna Records (with sister Anna as a limited partner) in 1959, around the same time Fuqua's brother Berry formed Motown's first label, Tamla Records.

That year, when Gordy co-wrote and produce the Barrett Strong single, "Money (That's What I Want)", he asked Fuqua and Davis to distribute the song for national release. Released on Anna Records, the song rose to the top thirty on the pop charts in 1960 and became Anna's biggest hit and Motown's first hit single.

Jack Leroy "Jackie" Wilson, Jr. (June 9, 1934 – January 21, 1984) was an American singer and performer. Known as "Mr. Excitement", Wilson was important in the transition of rhythm and blues into soul. He was considered a master showman, one of the most dynamic and influential singers and performers in R&B and rock history. Gaining fame in his early years as a member of the R&B vocal group Billy Ward and His Dominoes, he went solo in 1957 and recorded over 50 hit singles that spanned R&B, pop, soul, doo-wop and easy listening. During a 1975 benefit concert, he collapsed on-stage from a heart attack and subsequently fell into a coma that persisted for nearly nine years until his death in 1984. By this time, he had become one of the most influential artists of his generation.

A two-time Grammy Hall of Fame Inductee, Jackie Wilson was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Jackie Wilson #69 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Davis Eli "David" Ruffin (January 18, 1941 – June 1, 1991) was an American soul singer and musician most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations from 1964 to 1968 (or the group's "Classic Five" period as it was later known). He was the lead voice on such famous songs as "My Girl" and "Ain't Too Proud to Beg." Known for his unique raspy and anguished tenor vocals, Ruffin was ranked as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone magazine in 2008. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989 for his work with the Temptations. Fellow Motown recording artist Marvin Gaye once said admiringly of Ruffin that, "I heard in [his voice] a strength my own voice lacked."

Ruffin was born Davis Eli Ruffin on January 18, 1941 in the rural unincorporated community of Whynot, Mississippi, the son of Eli, a Baptist minister, and Ophelia Ruffin (née Davis). His father was strict and at times violently abusive. Ruffin's mother died just months after his birth and his father married a schoolteacher, Earline, in 1942. As a young child, Ruffin, along with his other siblings (older brothers Quincy and Jimmy, and sister Rita Mae), traveled with their father and their stepmother as a family gospel group opening shows for Mahalia Jackson and The Five Blind Boys of Mississippi among others. He also had an older sister Rosetta who died as a child. Ruffin sang in the choir at Mount Salem Methodist Church, talent shows, and wherever else he could. In 1955, at the age of fourteen, he left home under the guardianship of a minister and went to Memphis, Tennessee with the purpose of pursuing the ministry.

Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins; January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012) was an American singer. Her style spanned a variety of music genres including blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, soul, gospel and jazz. Starting her career in the mid-1950s, she gained fame with hits such as "Dance With Me, Henry", "At Last", "Tell Mama", and "I'd Rather Go Blind" for which she wrote the lyrics. She faced a number of personal problems, including drug addiction, before making a musical resurgence in the late 1980s with the album The Seven Year Itch.

James is regarded as having bridged the gap between rhythm and blues and rock and roll, and is the winner of six Grammys and 17 Blues Music Awards. She was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1993, the Blues Hall of Fame in 2001, and the Grammy Hall of Fame in both 1999 and 2008.Rolling Stone ranked James number 22 on their list of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time and number 62 on the list of the 100 Greatest Artists.

Jamesetta Hawkins was born on January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles, California, to Dorothy Hawkins, who was only 14 at the time. Her father has never been identified. James speculated that her father was the pool player, Rudolf "Minnesota Fats" Wanderone, and met him briefly in 1987. Due to her mother being often absent from their Watts apartment, conducting relationships with various men, James lived with a series of foster parents, most notably "Sarge" and "Mama" Lu. James referred to her mother as "the Mystery Lady".

Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye (he added the 'e' as a young man), was an acclaimed American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range, who achieved major success in the 1960s and 1970s as an artist for the Motown Records label. He was shot dead by his father on April 1, 1984.

Starting his career as a member of the doo-wop group The Moonglows in the late 1950s, he ventured into a solo career after the group disbanded in 1960, signing with Motown Records subsidiary, Tamla. He started off as a session drummer, but later ranked as the label's top-selling solo artist during the 1960s. He was crowned "The Prince of Motown" and "The Prince of Soul". because of solo hits such as "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)", "Ain't That Peculiar", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," and his duet singles with singers such as Mary Wells and Tammi Terrell.

His work in the early- and mid-1970s included the albums, What's Going On, Let's Get It On, and I Want You, which helped influence the quiet storm, urban adult contemporary, and slow jam genres. After a self-imposed European exile in the early 1980s, Gaye returned on the 1982 Grammy-Award winning hit, "Sexual Healing" and the Midnight Love album before his death.