Music Blog

Monday Motown Magic 3.18

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

The Motown Sound has something extra-special about it. Berry Gordy, Jr. knew people would be listening on their car stereos and transistor radios and he was going to do what it took to make songs sound good and memorable. Even if you couldn’t put your finger on it, when a Motown song came on, baby, you knew it. Still do.

Before Motown, there was Tamla. Berry Gordy realized that the way to make money was to produce his own records for his own label. In 1959 he founded Tamla Records with an $800 loan from his family; he added the Motown label later that year. The Tamla label remained in operation until being merged with Motown’s main line at the end of 1986. Tamla’s first release was Marv Johnson’s “Come To Me” in January 1959.

An R&B singer, songwriter and pianist, Marv Johnson achieved early success in the US but ultimately became more popular overseas, especially in the UK and Australia. Let’s listen to a couple of his tunes; from 1959, this is “Come To Me”, Tamla Label’s first release.

And this is what was on the B Side …. “Whisper”.

Thanks for joining me today.

See you on the flip side. 😎

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