Post by Diamond Girl on May 6, 2006 20:39:46 GMT -5
MOTOWN WISDOM: Berry Gordy Jr. returns to give address at MSU
BY BRIAN McCOLLUM
FREE PRESS POP MUSIC WRITER
May 5, 2006
EAST LANSING -- For nearly two decades, the notoriously private Berry Gordy Jr. has kept about as low a profile as a pop-hit-maker could manage.
But this week finds a rare reemergence of the man who gave the world Motown, changing popular music and its business while reshaping Detroit history. Gordy, 76, is ready to talk.
At Michigan State University, where he arrived late Wednesday, he said he's eager to impart a bit of wisdom about individual success -- and, for a couple of days at least, to shed his wariness of the public.
This afternoon, Gordy will receive an honorary doctor of humanities degree from the university before giving the convocation address for 6,252 graduating students and their guests. It follows a question-and-answer session Thursday night before a crowd of about 300 at the Wharton Center. The session was hosted by MSU's music and business schools.
Gordy spoke mostly about Motown's early days, citing what he called the "love and competition" that served as the company's guiding principles.
"I have a chance to do what I love best, and that's teach," Gordy said during a short break Thursday afternoon between rehearsals for his speech. "It's a chance to teach these kids what has helped me to be what I am and helped Motown be what it is. "
Michigan will take all it can get. Gordy has been an elusive figure in his home state since moving the Motown operation out of Detroit and into Los Angeles in the early '70s. He's been even less visible -- here or anywhere -- since selling the record label in 1988, the first step in a process that has seen the multimillionaire steadily relinquish control of the entertainment empire he hand-built in the 1960s.
In 2004, he ceded the last parcel, completing a $325-million transaction with EMI Publishing for ownership of the lucrative, Detroit-born songs that continue to thrive on radio and television.
He's a salesman first
Gordy made a point Thursday to emphasize that he's not retired. And why should he be?
Dressed in a colorful tracksuit, looking spry and fit, there's still a magnetic energy to the figure who was responsible for Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations and numerous other talents pulled from Detroit neighborhoods and groomed into global stars.
Since the EMI deal, he's been busiest consulting on "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," a Motown musical set to premiere next year and what he described Thursday night as most likely his final business venture.
Gordy published his autobiography in 1994 but otherwise seems to have had little need for the attention of the world -- or even Detroit, where residents have maintained a kind of cautious adoration for the mogul since he uprooted the label named for the city.
On Thursday, he said he agrees with the assessment of one former Motown associate, who said Gordy is forever a salesman first, intent that the focus remain on what he's selling: pop stars and their music.
"I'm not looking for popularity -- I've never looked for popularity. I'm just looking for happiness and success, and I teach that to other people," Gordy said. "Why would I want to be on the front page? To be more popular? That doesn't thrill me. It doesn't mean anything to me. While I'm busy trying to get my picture in the paper, I could be doing something meaningful."
Still, with the business of Motown now in other hands, Gordy has had a chance to think about the big picture. That includes the legacy of Motown -- and the legacy of Motown is inextricably tied to the legacy of Berry Gordy, who turned an $800 family loan into what by 1973 was the nation's biggest black-owned corporation.
He has a new kind of appreciation for his home city and state, he said, one that wasn't as clear to him when he received his first honorary degree, from Eastern Michigan University in 1971.
"Now, it's a very incredible feeling that I have coming back home," he said. "I think the human values that I got from being raised here in Michigan were so valuable to me and my foundation. ... My roots in Detroit are just so special to me."
Whether that will mean an increased investment in Detroit remains unclear. Gordy declined to commit to a timetable for the long-discussed Motown museum and entertainment complex proposed for the theater district, saying only, "We're in the process," and noting that the project is "one of those things that keeps me busy and off TV."
And he's a teacher, too
For this trip home, his mind has been on today's address, where he plans to describe the principles and values behind Motown's triumph.
"I think it's very easy to be successful," he said. "There are certain rules you have to follow. And if you're a good person it helps you even more, because you're already halfway there."
Gordy doesn't pause when asked what he wants to be remembered for, what he'd like history to say about him in 100 years.
"I'm an eternal optimist, so I still expect to be here then," he said, laughing. "But what I am really is a teacher. I do a lot of things. I do a lot of stuff, but when it all boils down, I'm really kind of a teacher.
"I think all people should ultimately want to be teachers, to give back to their communities their knowledge, in whatever field they're in."
Contact BRIAN McCOLLUM at 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.
Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.
BY BRIAN McCOLLUM
FREE PRESS POP MUSIC WRITER
May 5, 2006
EAST LANSING -- For nearly two decades, the notoriously private Berry Gordy Jr. has kept about as low a profile as a pop-hit-maker could manage.
But this week finds a rare reemergence of the man who gave the world Motown, changing popular music and its business while reshaping Detroit history. Gordy, 76, is ready to talk.
At Michigan State University, where he arrived late Wednesday, he said he's eager to impart a bit of wisdom about individual success -- and, for a couple of days at least, to shed his wariness of the public.
This afternoon, Gordy will receive an honorary doctor of humanities degree from the university before giving the convocation address for 6,252 graduating students and their guests. It follows a question-and-answer session Thursday night before a crowd of about 300 at the Wharton Center. The session was hosted by MSU's music and business schools.
Gordy spoke mostly about Motown's early days, citing what he called the "love and competition" that served as the company's guiding principles.
"I have a chance to do what I love best, and that's teach," Gordy said during a short break Thursday afternoon between rehearsals for his speech. "It's a chance to teach these kids what has helped me to be what I am and helped Motown be what it is. "
Michigan will take all it can get. Gordy has been an elusive figure in his home state since moving the Motown operation out of Detroit and into Los Angeles in the early '70s. He's been even less visible -- here or anywhere -- since selling the record label in 1988, the first step in a process that has seen the multimillionaire steadily relinquish control of the entertainment empire he hand-built in the 1960s.
In 2004, he ceded the last parcel, completing a $325-million transaction with EMI Publishing for ownership of the lucrative, Detroit-born songs that continue to thrive on radio and television.
He's a salesman first
Gordy made a point Thursday to emphasize that he's not retired. And why should he be?
Dressed in a colorful tracksuit, looking spry and fit, there's still a magnetic energy to the figure who was responsible for Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations and numerous other talents pulled from Detroit neighborhoods and groomed into global stars.
Since the EMI deal, he's been busiest consulting on "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," a Motown musical set to premiere next year and what he described Thursday night as most likely his final business venture.
Gordy published his autobiography in 1994 but otherwise seems to have had little need for the attention of the world -- or even Detroit, where residents have maintained a kind of cautious adoration for the mogul since he uprooted the label named for the city.
On Thursday, he said he agrees with the assessment of one former Motown associate, who said Gordy is forever a salesman first, intent that the focus remain on what he's selling: pop stars and their music.
"I'm not looking for popularity -- I've never looked for popularity. I'm just looking for happiness and success, and I teach that to other people," Gordy said. "Why would I want to be on the front page? To be more popular? That doesn't thrill me. It doesn't mean anything to me. While I'm busy trying to get my picture in the paper, I could be doing something meaningful."
Still, with the business of Motown now in other hands, Gordy has had a chance to think about the big picture. That includes the legacy of Motown -- and the legacy of Motown is inextricably tied to the legacy of Berry Gordy, who turned an $800 family loan into what by 1973 was the nation's biggest black-owned corporation.
He has a new kind of appreciation for his home city and state, he said, one that wasn't as clear to him when he received his first honorary degree, from Eastern Michigan University in 1971.
"Now, it's a very incredible feeling that I have coming back home," he said. "I think the human values that I got from being raised here in Michigan were so valuable to me and my foundation. ... My roots in Detroit are just so special to me."
Whether that will mean an increased investment in Detroit remains unclear. Gordy declined to commit to a timetable for the long-discussed Motown museum and entertainment complex proposed for the theater district, saying only, "We're in the process," and noting that the project is "one of those things that keeps me busy and off TV."
And he's a teacher, too
For this trip home, his mind has been on today's address, where he plans to describe the principles and values behind Motown's triumph.
"I think it's very easy to be successful," he said. "There are certain rules you have to follow. And if you're a good person it helps you even more, because you're already halfway there."
Gordy doesn't pause when asked what he wants to be remembered for, what he'd like history to say about him in 100 years.
"I'm an eternal optimist, so I still expect to be here then," he said, laughing. "But what I am really is a teacher. I do a lot of things. I do a lot of stuff, but when it all boils down, I'm really kind of a teacher.
"I think all people should ultimately want to be teachers, to give back to their communities their knowledge, in whatever field they're in."
Contact BRIAN McCOLLUM at 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.
Copyright © 2006 Detroit Free Press Inc.
