| The Motown Heritage Club? |
| The Motown Heritage club is a music producer/songwriter's club that is being established by three Motown alumni familiar with what it takes to make a successful music release. Its purpose is to foster teamwork, collaboration and friendly competition among Motorcity music producers for everyone's benefit and in the "vibe" that was established by Motown Records in the 1960's. It seeks to team up established music professionals with "the new kids on the block." Members must be Motorcity music makers, past or present, and membership is free. The first meeting of the Motown Heritage Club will be held April 19, 2006 at Recording Institute Of Detroit (7:00 PM - 9:00 PM). |
| Why? |
| Motown in the mid 1960's was run more like a "family" then a a business. Berry Gordy managed to get a "team" of new talent working together, helping each other out, while competing to make hit records. The formula worked well as Motown became the number one independent record company in the world. The Motown Heritage Club intends to revive this vibe. |
| In the end, however, the Motown money (profits) went primarily in one person's pocket. Although it "acted" like a family, it really was a business. In the end, the decision was made to do things that were right for the business, even if this went against the "family" vibe. The rise and fall of Motown Records is chronicled in Part 11 of this series. |
| There's one hard and fast guideline to the Motown Heritage Club, which is, "People Own Their Own Creativity." To join the club you don't need to sign an "exclusive contact" giving away the rights to your stuff (as Motown Records required in the 1960's). If two, three or more members work on on something they co-own that something. One of the topics you'll hear at meetings is how to work out the business and paperwork when more than one person is involved, but the relationship is the business of the people involved, not the club. |
| Funding of the club operation will be by sponsorship, not by grabbing a piece of the members' pie. The founding sponsor of the club is the Recording Institute Of Detroit. |
| The Players |
| The following music professions either influenced the theme of the Motown Heritage Club (provided the "model") or are working to establish a club that will keep the Motorcity as an influential force in the music industry. |
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Berry Gordy Jr.
c. 1961 |
Holland-Dozier-Holland c. 1964 |
Bob Bateman,
2006 |
Harold Bowles
2006 |
Bob Dennis
2006 |
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| Berry Gordy Jr. was the founder of Motown Records, better known at the time as "BG." He conceived it, he founded it and he made it work. He was the initial producer for all of the product and he was the undisputed head of a black music family called Motown, fostering "friendly competition" by team members. The original vibe is the operating goal of the club. |
| Holland-Dozier-Holland was the most successful production/songwriting team mentored by BG, the creative team behind the success of the Supremes and many other early Motown artists in the 1960's. They also spearheaded a big exodus from Motown Records when it became obvious that business and profits were really more important to BG then the "family vibe." This team exemplifies the level of success that can be achieved by club members. |
| Bob Bateman was Motown's original engineer/producer and co-writer of Motown's first Gold Record Hit, "Please Mr. Postman." With co-writing credit on yet another hit in 2006, Bob is one of the Motown alumni that is founding the Motown Heritage Club (along with Harold Bowles & Bob Dennis). |
| Harold Bowles is the son of Beans Bowles, Motown's first musical director & road manager. At the age of 11, Harold began working for Motown as "Little" Stevie Wonder's handler. Today Harold runs a Movie Production company (In The Black Productions) and runs the Marketplace Theatre, a downtown Detroit venue, in addition to teaching production at the Recording Institute Of Detroit. |
| Bob Dennis supervised mastering for the 1960s Motown hit factory and was in charge of final technical quality control of the sound quality of releases. Bob founded and currently runs the Recording Institute of Detroit and is an executive at The Disc, Ltd recording studios. |
| Joining The Club |
| Although membership and attendance at the meetings is free, there is very limited seating. Registration is therefore necessary. To participate, please call Bob Dennis at RID (800)-6831RID. |
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