- published: 31 Jan 2015
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Berry Gordy, Jr. (born November 28, 1929) is an American record producer, and the founder of the Motown record label, as well as its many subsidiaries.
Berry Gordy, Jr. (born in Detroit, Michigan) was the seventh of eight children (Fuller, Esther, Anna, Loucye, George, Gwen, Berry and Robert), born to the middle-class family of Berry Gordy II (a.k.a. Berry Gordy, Sr.) and Bertha Fuller Gordy (1899–1975), who had relocated to Detroit from Milledgeville, Georgia, in 1922. Gordy was brought up in a tight-knit family with strong morals.[citation needed] Berry Gordy II (1888–1978) was the son of Berry Gordy I and a woman named Lucy Hellum. Berry Gordy I was the son of James Thomas Gordy, a white plantation owner in Georgia, and his female slave Esther Johnson. Berry Gordy, Jr. is distantly related to former president Jimmy Carter through Carter's mother, Bessie Lillian Gordy.
Berry Gordy II was lured to Detroit by the many job opportunities for black people offered by booming automotive businesses.
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Often referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5 in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.
In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of complicated dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style influenced numerous hip hop, post-disco, contemporary R&B, pop and rock artists.
Oprah Winfrey (born Orpah Gail Winfrey; January 29, 1954) is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her self-titled, multi-award-winning talk show, which has become the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. She has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history, and was for a time the world's only black billionaire. She is also, according to some assessments, the most influential woman in the world.
Winfrey was born into poverty in rural Mississippi to a teenage single mother and later raised in an inner-city Milwaukee neighborhood. She experienced considerable hardship during her childhood, claiming to be raped at age nine and becoming pregnant at 14; her son died in infancy. Sent to live with the man she calls her father, a barber in Tennessee, Winfrey landed a job in radio while still in high school and began co-anchoring the local evening news at the age of 19. Her emotional ad-lib delivery eventually got her transferred to the daytime-talk-show arena, and after boosting a third-rated local Chicago talk show to first place, she launched her own production company and became internationally syndicated.
Actors: Smokey Robinson (actor), Jenifer Lewis (actress), Suzanne De Passe (producer), Obba Babatundé (actor), Tina Lifford (actress), Allan Arkush (director), Vanessa Bell Calloway (actress), John W. Iwanonkiw (actor), Leon (actor), Tony Amen (actor), David V. Picker (producer), Helen Robin (producer), Alan Rosenberg (actor), Mel Jackson (actor), Steve Parys (miscellaneous crew),
Plot: The true story of The Temptations, the Soul vocal group of the 1960s, as seen from the viewpoint of the last surviving member, Otis Williams. Beginning from their humble origins in the late 50s and continuing through the 90s and the deaths of the other 4 members.
Keywords: 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, african-american, alcoholism, argument, band, based-on-book, based-on-true-storyActors: Terrence Howard (actor), Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs (actor), Billy Dee Williams (actor), John W. Iwanonkiw (actor), Angela Bassett (actress), Adam M. Stone (miscellaneous crew), Suzanne De Passe (producer), Jermaine Jackson (producer), Vanessa Williams (actress), Robin Anderson (miscellaneous crew), Holly Robinson Peete (actress), Tony Amen (actor), Hope Hanafin (costume designer), Paul Rubell (editor), Joyce Eliason (producer),
Plot: The Jacksons are your average working-class family in Gary, Indiana; but when their father discovers the kids have an extraordinary musical talent they form a band. Winning talent show after talent show they soon hit it big when Motown calls. From there they become the now famous Jackson 5. But along the way their success brings trouble and turmoil
Keywords: 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, african-american, airplane, baby, brother-brother-relationship, celebrity