Born November 28, 1929
Detroit, Michigan

Music industry business manager;
founder of Motown Records

Berry Gordy Jr. AP/Wide World Photos. Reproduced by permission.

In 1959, thirty-year-old Berry Gordy Jr. was a former professional boxer, failed record-store owner, ex-automobile plant assembly line worker, and moderately successful songwriter. That year he started his own company, which came to be known as The Motown Record Corporation. The company began releasing singles and record albums featuring African American artists. The following year, the Motown single "Shop Around" by The Miracles gave Gordy his first gold record, selling five hundred thousand copies. Many more gold records were to follow. During the 1960s, Motown became one of the leading independent record companies in the United States. It was also the country's biggest and most successful black-owned entertainment-industry business. Its distinctive "Motown Sound" appealed to people of all races and was among the...