Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever

Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever is a 1983 television special, produced by Suzanne de Passe for Motown Records, to commemorate Motown's 25th year (Motown was founded in January 1959). The program was taped before a live studio audience at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium in Pasadena, California on March 25, 1983, and broadcast on NBC on May 16. Among its highlights were Michael Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean", Smokey Robinson's long awaited reunion with The Miracles, a Temptations / Four Tops "battle of the bands", Marvin Gaye's inspired speech about black music history and his memorable performance of "What's Going On", a Jackson 5 reunion, and an abbreviated reunion of Diana Ross & the Supremes, who performed their final #1 hit, "Someday We'll Be Together" from 1969. The show was co-written by de Passe with Ruth Adkins Robinson who would go on to write shows with de Passe for the next 25 years, including the follow-up label tributes—through "Motown 40," Buz Kohan was the head writer.

Motown

Motown is an American record company. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960, in Detroit, Michigan. The name, a combination of motor and town, has also become a nickname for Detroit. Motown played an important role in the racial integration of popular music as an African American-owned record label which achieved significant crossover success. In the 1960s, Motown and its subsidiary labels (including Tamla Motown, the brand used outside the US) were the most successful proponents of what came to be known as the Motown Sound, a style of soul music with a distinct pop influence. During the 1960s, Motown achieved spectacular success for a small record company: 79 records in the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 record chart between 1960 and 1969.

Gordy relocated Motown to Los Angeles in 1972, and there it remained an independent company until June 28, 1988, when Gordy sold the company to MCA and Boston Ventures (which took over full ownership of Motown in 1991). Motown was then sold to PolyGram in 1994, before being sold again to MCA Records' successor, Universal Music Group, when it acquired PolyGram in 1999.

Motown (album)

Motown is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter Michael McDonald. The album was released on June 24, 2003, by Universal Music International and Motown.

Track listing

Charts

References

Motown: The Musical

Motown: The Musical is a Broadway jukebox musical. With a book by Berry Gordy, based on his 1994 autobiography To Be Loved: The Music, the Magic, the Memories of Motown, the musical is based on the story of Gordy's founding and running of the Motown record label, and his personal and professional relationships with Motown artists such as Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Marvin Gaye, and Michael Jackson. The music and lyrics for the musical are taken from selections from the Motown catalog. The musical premiered on Broadway in April 2013.

Motown: The Musical received four Tony Award nominations at the 67th edition.

Productions

Motown: The Musical premiered on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on April 14, 2013, after previews starting on March 11. Direction is by Charles Randolph-Wright, with choreography by Patricia Wilcox, scenic design by David Korins, costumes by ESosa, lighting by Natasha Katz, sound design by Peter Hylenski, and projection design by Daniel Brodie. The current cast includes Brandon Victor Dixon, Krystal Joy Brown (Diana Ross), Raymond Luke Jr. and Prince George Maynard as the young Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder and Berry Gordy, Bryan Terrell Clark (Marvin Gaye) and Charl Brown (Smokey Robinson).