Motown Motown was founded on, on April 14, 1960 in Detroit, Michigan where Motown quickly became another Detroit factory, Motown assembled the soul and pop classics that changed America .Motown was arriving at the height of the civil rights movement. Motown was the first record label owned by a black men name Berry Gordy Jr. his primarily goals feature African-American artists who achieved crossover success. In the 1960 Motown started to have that Motown sound that was a style of soul music with a distinct pop influence mix in. Motown was famous for its releases in the music genres of rhythm and blues, soul, hip hop, and pop. Now let go to the early age of Berry Gordy. Berry Gordy got his start as a songwriter for local Detroit acts such as Jackie Wilson and The Matadors .Berry Gordy was also a boxer and automobile worker and a jazz record store owner. Berry family connections led him to meet up and coming singer Jackie Wilson at Detroit's Flame Show Bar. Wilson enjoyed a national hit with "Reet Petite" in 1957, a song co-written by Gordy. by January 12, 1959, he started Tamla Records, with an $800 loan from his http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1870975,00.htm Lindsey2

family to get him started. Its first hit was Barrett Strong's "Money (That's What I Want) in 1959, which made it to #2 on the Billboard R&B charts. Gordy's first signed The Matadors, a group he had written and produced songs for, who changed their name to The Miracles when Tamla signed them in 1959. Their first release was "Bad Girl". Miracles lead singer Smokey Robinson became the vice president of the company and later named his daughter Tamla and his son Berry out of gratitude to Gordy and the label. in 1959, Gordy purchased the property that would become Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. studio. Gordy founded a second label, Motown