Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy, the visionary creative duo behind the revolutionary Motown genre, saw their legacy played out on stage Friday at a pre-Grammy gala honoring their life’s work.
The Motown sound
From Robinson The love of my tears for My girl songs, defined Motown in the 1960s and influenced scores of artists who participated.
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Gordy’s now-iconic Motown Records, which the 93-year-old founded in Detroit in 1959, also played a key role in uniting black and white music fans during a decade convulsed by racial divisions.
Robinson was just 17 when he was recruited to join the label, where the balladeer became a songwriter and a seminal figure in the early days of R&B and soul.
“There was nothing like Motown before Motown,” the now 82-year-old artist told AFP on the red carpet. “There will never be another like Motown.”
The star-studded gala, which this year includes Motown prodigy Stevie Wonder, is an annual pre-Grammy tradition of MusiCares, the charity wing of the Recording Academy that raises money to help musicians in need.
Friday marked the first time the show honored two artists, a decision MusiCares said was necessary to celebrate the two music legends “equally and side by side.”
“Both are so big in music, and their stories are intertwined, that choosing only one as MusiCares Person Of The Year – an award previously given to Joni Mitchell, Quincy Jones, Aerosmith, and other figures – would be half the measure. , “he said. the institution.
‘The Motown Family’
Industry darlings turned on Motown in full swing with performers including the Four Tops, the Isley Brothers, Dionne Warwick, John Legend and Brandi Carlile.
The Temptations opened the show with a rollicking rendition of T’s smash hitThey’re How You Do The Things You Do and later crooned My girl as Gordy and Robinson flashed megawatt smiles and bopped together.
Sheryl Crow belts out the Jackson 5’s I Want You Back in a feathered, sparkling minidress, and Jimmie Allen performed “No Mountain High Enough” with Valerie Simpson, who co-wrote that hit, which Marvin Gaye and later Diana Ross made famous.
The trio of Best New Artist Grammy nominees – DOMi and JD Beck, Samara Joy, and Molly Tuttle – performed a medley of classic Motown genres.
“How did I get to be part of the Motown family? How did I get the chance to have a catalog and sit in front of two of my amazing mentors? said Lionel Richie in a heartfelt tribute.
“You mean the world to me,” he said before singing “Easy,” the beloved track he made famous with the Commodores in a sold-out performance.
Wonder has standing room again when he delivers a reggae-tinged version of Tears from the Clown.
“I wouldn’t be here” without Robinson and Gordy, said Wonder – virtuoso and music luminary who auditioned for Motown in just 11 years.
“I can’t repay you,” he said. “Thank you, I love you, thank you, I love you.”
“We should write a song like that!”
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