0:00:02 > 0:00:05'Ladies and gentlemen, Mr Ray Charles.'
0:00:05 > 0:00:09# Get down on your knees, if you have to get dirty, get down... #
0:00:09 > 0:00:12# Oooh... #
0:00:12 > 0:00:17# R-E-S-P-E-C-T Find out what it means to me... #
0:00:17 > 0:00:22# Hit me! The rhythm was there... #
0:00:31 > 0:00:33It's 1967, and the mastermind
0:00:33 > 0:00:37behind the most successful black-owned business in history
0:00:37 > 0:00:39has achieved his dream.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45With a unique vision,
0:00:45 > 0:00:49he had created a music that appealed equally to black and white.
0:00:49 > 0:00:52He had created the sound of young America.
0:00:52 > 0:00:54RADIO CRACKLES
0:00:56 > 0:01:00With a musical empire based in the industrial city of Detroit,
0:01:00 > 0:01:04he employed a group of artists envied across the world.
0:01:04 > 0:01:09# ..my world is empty without you, babe... #
0:01:09 > 0:01:11The Supremes. The Four Tops.
0:01:11 > 0:01:14The Temptations. The Miracles.
0:01:14 > 0:01:18Martha and the Vandellas. Mary Wells.
0:01:20 > 0:01:24Respected and admired, he was the puppet-master.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28You know, he was the guy. He was pullin' the strings.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31Loved and feared, he was a born leader,
0:01:31 > 0:01:33a man on a mission.
0:01:33 > 0:01:36He was...king around here.
0:01:36 > 0:01:40Emperor, king, and his majesty and all that rolled into one.
0:01:40 > 0:01:46Enigmatic and controlling, he shied away from publicity.
0:01:46 > 0:01:50He knows how to use people to get what...
0:01:50 > 0:01:52To get the job done.
0:01:52 > 0:01:56This is the story of how one man in the early 1960s
0:01:56 > 0:01:58had a vision for soul music.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02How he set up a small independent label called Motown,
0:02:02 > 0:02:05which would beat the majors at their own game.
0:02:08 > 0:02:12How even his strongest rivals in Chicago
0:02:12 > 0:02:13were left lagging behind.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18Chicago and Detroit were like gangsters.
0:02:18 > 0:02:22It was like, we didn't want to have nothin' to do with Motown,
0:02:22 > 0:02:26and they didn't want to have nothin' to do with us.
0:02:26 > 0:02:31But, by 1967, his empire was showing the strain of the times.
0:02:31 > 0:02:36# ..My world is empty without you, babe
0:02:36 > 0:02:38# Without you, babe... #
0:02:38 > 0:02:43With the Detroit riots came an end to an era of innocence.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45GLASS SMASHES
0:02:45 > 0:02:48This is the story of Berry Gordy,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51black music's greatest svengali,
0:02:51 > 0:02:54and his creation, Motown Records.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13The city that gave the world Motown was not, in the 1950s,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17known for its music, but for its cars.
0:03:17 > 0:03:21Throughout America, it was known as the Motor City.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28And it was on a motor-assembly line that Gordy,
0:03:28 > 0:03:32after serving in the Korean War and running his own jazz record store,
0:03:32 > 0:03:34began working in 1955.
0:03:37 > 0:03:40The tedium of the work infuriated Gordy,
0:03:40 > 0:03:44but it did allow him the time to compose songs in his head.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Believing he had talent, he decided to quit the assembly line
0:03:48 > 0:03:50and try his luck as a song-writer.
0:03:52 > 0:03:56# ..My heart is cryin', cryin'
0:03:56 > 0:04:00# Lonely teardrops
0:04:00 > 0:04:03# My pillow's never dry of... #
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Gordy's first big break
0:04:06 > 0:04:09was when he was introduced to Detroit's hottest young star,
0:04:09 > 0:04:13a man known as Mr Excitement.
0:04:14 > 0:04:16Jackie Wilson was such a sexy guy.
0:04:19 > 0:04:23Women would come to the stage... They were so frantic over him,
0:04:23 > 0:04:27and he was so frantic in doing what they wanted him to do.
0:04:27 > 0:04:30They would just keep their lips up to the stage
0:04:30 > 0:04:34and he would get down on his knees and he'd kiss them all.
0:04:34 > 0:04:38Kiss 'em all, I don't mean one of those kind of kisses,
0:04:38 > 0:04:39I mean a KISS, OK?
0:04:45 > 0:04:49Jackie was the first big, big thrill of my life.
0:04:49 > 0:04:54I was a song-writer around Detroit, trying to get my songs heard.
0:04:54 > 0:04:57Jackie recorded Lonely Teardrop,
0:04:57 > 0:04:59and it was his biggest record ever.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02When I heard this record on the air,
0:05:02 > 0:05:06I just got so excited. I thought I would be rich forever!
0:05:09 > 0:05:13But although Gordy wrote five consecutive hit songs for Wilson,
0:05:13 > 0:05:16he didn't become rich.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18Berry Gordy was always a great writer.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23I mean, all the great records of Jackie's were written by Berry.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27Berry probably felt that he should be receiving more money than he was,
0:05:27 > 0:05:32and when the manager didn't want to change his thinking,
0:05:32 > 0:05:37there was a disagreement and Berry then no longer wrote the songs.
0:05:38 > 0:05:42Gordy may not have made any real money from Jackie Wilson,
0:05:42 > 0:05:44but he did learn that there was money to be made.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48Leaving Jackie, he turned his attention to an emerging song-writer
0:05:48 > 0:05:51called Smokey Robinson.
0:05:53 > 0:05:58Together, in 1959, they decided that the only way to make real money
0:05:58 > 0:06:00was to start their own company.
0:06:00 > 0:06:03In a city without an established musical identity,
0:06:03 > 0:06:07Gordy was about to put Detroit on the musical map.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14He called the company Motown, after Detroit's nickname, the Motor City.
0:06:15 > 0:06:20When Motown was started up it would have been perceived in a positive way in the black community
0:06:20 > 0:06:24because black people have a strong belief in business,
0:06:24 > 0:06:28and entrepreneurship. Cos black people find it so difficult
0:06:28 > 0:06:31to get jobs, any black entrepreneur who can create jobs
0:06:31 > 0:06:35is gonna be seen in a very positive light.
0:06:35 > 0:06:39Black people want to run businesses, they wanna be successful.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43So he started up this business. He was using black acts and so forth,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47and employing black people. It would be seen in a very positive way.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57Gordy came from a middle-class family with entrepreneurial tradition,
0:06:57 > 0:07:01and it was with their help he was able to move into Motown's new home
0:07:01 > 0:07:06on Detroit's West Grand Boulevard. Although modest in appearance,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09Gordy showed no modesty in naming the building.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15The name was to prove no idle boast,
0:07:15 > 0:07:20when Gordy achieved his first big hit with Smokey Robinson and the Miracles.
0:07:23 > 0:07:27# ..And then she said, just because you've become a young man now
0:07:27 > 0:07:31# There's still some things That you don't understand
0:07:31 > 0:07:35# Before you ask some girl for her hand, now
0:07:35 > 0:07:38# Keep your freedom for as long as you can, now
0:07:38 > 0:07:43# My mama told me You better shop around
0:07:43 > 0:07:46# Oh, yeah You better shop around... #
0:07:46 > 0:07:50Shop Around was Motown's first number one big hit,
0:07:50 > 0:07:56and Smokey was the writer for Motown. The main writer.
0:07:56 > 0:08:02Smokey was definitely the guy to get a song from,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05if you were a group or an act there in Motown.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09# ..You better shop around Oh, yeah
0:08:09 > 0:08:12# You better shop around... #
0:08:12 > 0:08:15Shop Around was a hit not only in the black rhythm'n'blues charts,
0:08:15 > 0:08:18but also in the white pop charts.
0:08:18 > 0:08:22Gordy knew that the white record-buying public was enormous,
0:08:22 > 0:08:26and that if he could crack that market, his success was assured.
0:08:32 > 0:08:35'I didn't like tags on my music.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39'I didn't consider it black music, or white music, or green music.
0:08:39 > 0:08:43'I didn't like labels. I didn't like race music - black, whatever.
0:08:43 > 0:08:48'I just felt it's music for all people, music people would love.'
0:08:50 > 0:08:52What Gordy was looking for was crossover music -
0:08:52 > 0:08:55music that had no racial boundaries.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58And with this in mind, he began to surround himself
0:08:58 > 0:09:01with a family of like-minded individuals.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07Lamont Dozier, songwriter.
0:09:07 > 0:09:09'When I came along in '62,
0:09:09 > 0:09:13'I had some definite ideas of how I wanted to approach it.'
0:09:13 > 0:09:18First of all, I wanted to eliminate, or annihilate, in this case,
0:09:18 > 0:09:20this race music idea.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Brian and Eddie Holland, producer and lyricist.
0:09:25 > 0:09:29'If Berry Gordy didn't like you, he wouldn't deal with you.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33'He liked people around him who were talented, especially young people.'
0:09:33 > 0:09:36He loved young, creative people.
0:09:36 > 0:09:38He enjoyed the relationship,
0:09:38 > 0:09:42which was very helpful and fruitful to the development of the company.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45Mickey Stevenson, A&R man and talent scout.
0:09:45 > 0:09:49'I came as a singer, and I brought my songs to sing.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51'He listened to my songs,'
0:09:51 > 0:09:55and said, "This is great." So I kept singing 'em,
0:09:55 > 0:09:57kept bringing out more and more,
0:09:57 > 0:10:02and he said, "OK..." and I said, "What? What what what?"
0:10:02 > 0:10:05He said, "Well, your songs are pretty good.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08"But your voice, that's for shit."
0:10:08 > 0:10:12So I said, "Oh, wait a minute." That's it for me, you know?
0:10:12 > 0:10:16I started collecting my music up - I'm outta here. I couldn't sing.
0:10:16 > 0:10:19He said, "Wait a minute! I know you handle musicians,
0:10:19 > 0:10:23"and you know all the guys and they've got a lot of respect for you.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28"Why don't you consider being an A&R man for my company?"
0:10:28 > 0:10:32And it was Mickey Stevenson who was to hire a group of musicians
0:10:32 > 0:10:35who would play on almost every record Motown released -
0:10:35 > 0:10:38The Funk Brothers.
0:10:41 > 0:10:45But Gordy was a black businessman in a white-dominated industry.
0:10:45 > 0:10:51His masterstroke was to hire a man who knew that industry inside-out.
0:10:51 > 0:10:55I was the first white person that was brought into Motown.
0:10:55 > 0:10:58I had the knowledge of the record industry.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00We had a great combination.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04I had no interest in going into the studio whatsoever,
0:11:04 > 0:11:09and Berry had no interest as far as the marketing or sales of records.
0:11:09 > 0:11:12And we came out together great.
0:11:14 > 0:11:18One group of youngsters who were desperate to be part of this success
0:11:18 > 0:11:21were three teenage girls from the Brewster projects,
0:11:21 > 0:11:24a working-class estate in downtown Detroit.
0:11:26 > 0:11:30Diana Ross, Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson.
0:11:30 > 0:11:35The one thing about the Supremes is that, I always thought,
0:11:35 > 0:11:39that we, together, made one perfect human being.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41We were totally different.
0:11:42 > 0:11:47Myself being sort of like a middle person -
0:11:49 > 0:11:51very calm, I used to be.
0:11:58 > 0:12:02'Florence was a very sort of soulful, earthy...
0:12:02 > 0:12:04'Extremely earthy girl.'
0:12:04 > 0:12:08Didn't take any stuff from anybody, OK?
0:12:08 > 0:12:13Diana was always very kind of fun, and very, very playful.
0:12:15 > 0:12:20When we auditioned for Mr Gordy, we sang all of the songs we loved.
0:12:20 > 0:12:24We were just so thrilled, and we knew that we had done a great job.
0:12:24 > 0:12:29Then Mr Gordy said, "Well, you girls are really good..."
0:12:29 > 0:12:33I liked them a lot, and they wanted me to sign them right away,
0:12:33 > 0:12:37and I said, "Well, not until you've finished high school."
0:12:37 > 0:12:40We were like, "What?!"
0:12:40 > 0:12:43We couldn't quite understand why he wouldn't sign us, you know?
0:12:43 > 0:12:47Then years later we found out he was just concerned.
0:12:47 > 0:12:49We were young girls, just barely 16,
0:12:49 > 0:12:54and he just didn't want to have anything to do with underage girls.
0:12:54 > 0:12:58I recall leaving the studio, and Florence said,
0:12:58 > 0:13:02"Hmph. He couldn't be so smart, if he didn't recognise how great we were."
0:13:04 > 0:13:07But the Supremes were nothing if not persistent.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13They came back to the studio, and had learned everything they could.
0:13:13 > 0:13:16And when the semester was up, we signed them.
0:13:17 > 0:13:20Florence Ballard chose the name Supremes,
0:13:20 > 0:13:23but after a string of unsuccessful recordings,
0:13:23 > 0:13:27the group became known as the No-Hit Supremes,
0:13:27 > 0:13:32despite achieving modest success with a song written by Gordy himself.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36# ..Don't lead me astray
0:13:36 > 0:13:41# Hey, let me go the right way
0:13:42 > 0:13:45# My heart
0:13:45 > 0:13:50- # My baby, is all weak for you - All weak for you
0:13:50 > 0:13:54- # So please- Ba-doo, ba-doo
0:13:54 > 0:13:58- # Be careful and treat me true - Treat me true... #
0:13:58 > 0:14:02'Let Me Go The Right Way was a record we really thought would be a hit.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06'I think what we really liked about it is that it was soulful,
0:14:06 > 0:14:12'and we, like everybody else, were black and wanted something soulful.'
0:14:12 > 0:14:14It was like, "That was gonna be our hit!"
0:14:14 > 0:14:18And it did do a little bit locally, I think,
0:14:18 > 0:14:21but it just didn't hit the charts and go all the way.
0:14:22 > 0:14:26But if Gordy couldn't rely on the No-Hit Supremes,
0:14:26 > 0:14:29his other investments were proving a better bet.
0:14:29 > 0:14:35# ..Nothing you can say Would tear me away from my guy
0:14:37 > 0:14:44# Nothing you can do Cos I'm stuck like glue to my guy
0:14:44 > 0:14:49# I'm sticking to my guy Like a stamp to a letter
0:14:49 > 0:14:53# Like birds of a feather We stick together
0:14:53 > 0:14:59# I been telling you from the start I can't be torn apart from my guy. #
0:14:59 > 0:15:02"Nothing you can say will take me away from my guy.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06"No handsome face will ever take the place of my guy."
0:15:06 > 0:15:10It was just easy to remember, and it had a rhythm to it
0:15:10 > 0:15:12that you could sing along with.
0:15:15 > 0:15:19And it was these sing-along, easy-to-remember, feel-good lyrics
0:15:19 > 0:15:23that seemed in perfect tune with the aspiration and optimism of the times.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29There was a strong air of optimism about race relations in the US.
0:15:29 > 0:15:34People thought that society would be integrated by the end of the '60s,
0:15:34 > 0:15:39and there was a great commitment on the part of younger black people.
0:15:39 > 0:15:44There seemed to be change in the air. We got this young president in 1960, John F Kennedy,
0:15:44 > 0:15:50who was attractive, and he seemed to have sympathy for African-Americans.
0:15:50 > 0:15:54- # ..take my hand from my guy - From my guy
0:15:54 > 0:15:58# No handsome face Could ever take the place
0:15:58 > 0:16:00- # Of my guy- My guy... #
0:16:00 > 0:16:03You could say that JFK, you could say that Martin Luther King,
0:16:03 > 0:16:07you could say that the music and sound of Motown were all synonymous.
0:16:07 > 0:16:13I think it took all these things to kind of wake the world up.
0:16:13 > 0:16:16To hey, we've got to care more about one another,
0:16:16 > 0:16:19and give us all some understanding.
0:16:19 > 0:16:22MUSIC: "Dancing In The Street" by Martha and the Vandellas
0:16:22 > 0:16:26And no song represented the peoples of the world and Motown's attitude
0:16:26 > 0:16:30better than Mickey Stevenson's anthem Dancing In The Street.
0:16:30 > 0:16:35# Calling out around the world
0:16:35 > 0:16:38# Are you ready for a brand-new beat?
0:16:38 > 0:16:42# Summer's here and the time is right
0:16:42 > 0:16:45# For dancin' in the street... #
0:16:45 > 0:16:50I think it's like an anthem for all dance music.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53It's like the grandfather of all dance music.
0:16:53 > 0:16:57It's gone from generation to generation, because of the feel.
0:16:57 > 0:17:02Again, the feeling that connects with the human psyche, or the human spirit, I should say.
0:17:02 > 0:17:08No matter what race or colour or whatever, it just grabs you.
0:17:08 > 0:17:11That's what makes it, I guess, such a phenomenon.
0:17:14 > 0:17:19'When I first heard it I didn't like it. I didn't feel it.'
0:17:19 > 0:17:23And after singing it my best the first time, not having a machine on,
0:17:23 > 0:17:27a little bit of rage came in the second delivery,
0:17:27 > 0:17:29but it's an exciting rage,
0:17:29 > 0:17:33and one that... Sometimes producers will do that.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37I don't know if they did it intentionally, but they got a good performance out of me.
0:17:38 > 0:17:43The right voice, the right arrangement, the Funk Brothers -
0:17:43 > 0:17:48everything seemed to be gelled for the song.
0:17:48 > 0:17:53It all came together in such a way that it was just spirit-driven.
0:17:53 > 0:17:56Gordy had now found a perfect formula
0:17:56 > 0:17:59to ensure that his music was played not only on black radio stations,
0:17:59 > 0:18:02but more importantly, on white ones too.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05# ..music, sweet music... #
0:18:05 > 0:18:11I think one of the great reasons for the great success of Motown
0:18:11 > 0:18:14was that they crossed over to white radio.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16Once Motown discovered
0:18:16 > 0:18:19that white radio looked at their records as white records,
0:18:19 > 0:18:23rather than black records from the ghetto, they built on that
0:18:23 > 0:18:28and made their sound more and more acceptable to the white radio.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32What Gordy had done was to transform Detroit from the Motor City
0:18:32 > 0:18:35into its new incarnation as the Music City.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38# ..dancin' in the street... #
0:18:38 > 0:18:41# 1, 2, 3... #
0:18:41 > 0:18:45Just up the road, in Chicago, Detroit's legendary rival,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48no such transformation was necessary.
0:18:48 > 0:18:51Chicago had a rich musical history.
0:18:52 > 0:18:56Black workers had migrated here throughout the 20th century,
0:18:56 > 0:19:00and brought with them their own music - the blues.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03I came from the South,
0:19:03 > 0:19:07and a lot of people migrated from the South to Chicago.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10And we all settled right in that area on the south side
0:19:10 > 0:19:13and music was very important.
0:19:13 > 0:19:18I think music was probably our way of escaping some of the realities
0:19:18 > 0:19:21that were going on.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23Raw, dangerous and intense,
0:19:23 > 0:19:27this was music that was never played on white radio.
0:19:27 > 0:19:31HE SINGS BLUES
0:19:32 > 0:19:34And since the 1940s,
0:19:34 > 0:19:38Chicago had had its own hugely successful label, Chess Records,
0:19:38 > 0:19:42founded by Polish immigrants Phil and Leonard Chess.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47We primarily were a blues record company,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51starting in 1947, Chess beginning in 1950.
0:19:51 > 0:19:54Artists like Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Howlin' Wolf -
0:19:54 > 0:19:58we had 'em all. We were the best label in Chicago.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01Chess was the best, there's no doubt.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03But by the early 1960s,
0:20:03 > 0:20:06the blues market seemed old-fashioned and irrelevant
0:20:06 > 0:20:09to a new generation of aspirational black society.
0:20:11 > 0:20:15Chicago was changing, and it needed music that reflected that change.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18It needed soul.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22# Oh, sometimes
0:20:22 > 0:20:26# I get a good feeling, yeah... #
0:20:26 > 0:20:29When I came over to Chicago,
0:20:29 > 0:20:32I wanted to sing what they were singing there,
0:20:32 > 0:20:35because what they were singing there was really cool.
0:20:35 > 0:20:39It just gave you a feeling, you know, of "All right!
0:20:39 > 0:20:42"All right, I'm gettin' it now!"
0:20:42 > 0:20:45# ..I got a feeling
0:20:45 > 0:20:49# That I never, never, never, never had before, no, no... #
0:20:49 > 0:20:53First time I remember Etta was at the 2120 Michigan office.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56She came in with an entourage -
0:20:56 > 0:21:01midgets, dressmakers, chauffeurs...
0:21:01 > 0:21:05It was like when you see the picture of elephants in a long chain.
0:21:05 > 0:21:09Etta walked in the front like the queen, with all these people behind.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12# ..Yeah, yeah Yeah, yeah... #
0:21:12 > 0:21:14My father admired her talent.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18He would say, "That bitch can sing like no-one else."
0:21:18 > 0:21:22# ..Something's got a hold on me Yeah, yeah
0:21:22 > 0:21:25# Oh, something's got a hold on me
0:21:25 > 0:21:28# Right now, yeah child
0:21:28 > 0:21:30# Let me tell you now
0:21:30 > 0:21:32# I got a feeling I feel so strange
0:21:32 > 0:21:35# Everything about it seems to have changed
0:21:35 > 0:21:38# Step by step I got a brand-new walk
0:21:38 > 0:21:41# It even sounds sweeter when I talk
0:21:41 > 0:21:44# I said, oh, oh,
0:21:44 > 0:21:47# Oh!
0:21:47 > 0:21:50# Hey, hey, whoa It must be love... #
0:21:50 > 0:21:52When I started recording,
0:21:52 > 0:21:55Leonard would come down and get in the booth with me,
0:21:55 > 0:21:58and just punch me in the side. "Come on, mother!"
0:21:58 > 0:22:01I would say, "Now why is he doing this?"
0:22:01 > 0:22:06But he liked to... He wanted to feel like he was producing, you know?
0:22:06 > 0:22:13Me especially, since I was the new young thing there at the company.
0:22:15 > 0:22:20But Leonard Chess knew that to compete with the crossover success of his rivals at Motown,
0:22:20 > 0:22:23he would have to change Etta's image.
0:22:23 > 0:22:25He wanted to take Etta James
0:22:25 > 0:22:29from that rough kind of black music, black sales only,
0:22:29 > 0:22:31to the crossover.
0:22:31 > 0:22:35For us, crossover was, get the white audience to buy it. That was the big sale.
0:22:35 > 0:22:40To expand out of the black market to the white radio and white audience
0:22:40 > 0:22:44meant many more sales. There are many more white people in American than black people.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50# ..I'm so sorry for you... #
0:22:50 > 0:22:53I didn't know what crossover was.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57I said, "What does that mean?" "Just that you're gonna get a pop record,
0:22:57 > 0:23:02"and you're going to be a very pop artist."
0:23:02 > 0:23:04And I went, "Oh, my goodness..."
0:23:04 > 0:23:09because I wasn't really... into singing that stuff.
0:23:09 > 0:23:11I mean, I wanted to rock and roll.
0:23:11 > 0:23:15And he says, "Are you kidding? You wanna be a pop artist!
0:23:15 > 0:23:19"You make more money and everything." So I said, "OK, that's cool."
0:23:19 > 0:23:22In order to achieve crossover,
0:23:22 > 0:23:26Leonard and Phil Chess employed what they called "the sweetening".
0:23:27 > 0:23:33Sweetening. Mostly it referred to strings or background voices -
0:23:33 > 0:23:35anything like you could add.
0:23:35 > 0:23:38A good analogy would be an ice-cream sundae.
0:23:38 > 0:23:41It starts out with scoops of ice-cream,
0:23:41 > 0:23:44and you add the chocolate sauce, the nuts and the cherry on the top.
0:23:44 > 0:23:46That's the sweetener.
0:23:46 > 0:23:52# ..Put your arms around me
0:23:55 > 0:24:00# I can't go on with this make-believe
0:24:03 > 0:24:08# I hope you'll find someone you won't deceive... #
0:24:08 > 0:24:12I know for sure that strings did put a white sound,
0:24:12 > 0:24:18a whiter sound... It was white, or at least whiter, on the music.
0:24:18 > 0:24:22If you were singing something and it was bluesy,
0:24:22 > 0:24:25when you put those strings on it took the blues and made it sweet.
0:24:25 > 0:24:27People would just shut they eyes,
0:24:27 > 0:24:31and just, "Oh, my goodness, this is so great - these strings."
0:24:31 > 0:24:34They call it the "lush" sound.
0:24:34 > 0:24:37# ..feel the pain
0:24:37 > 0:24:40# You'll find you're not so smart
0:24:40 > 0:24:43# You'll only end with a broken heart... #
0:24:43 > 0:24:49Etta James was Chess's crossover star, and Chicago was on the up.
0:24:49 > 0:24:52With the addition of strings, they had transformed the blues
0:24:52 > 0:24:55into sophisticated soul.
0:24:56 > 0:24:59But no amount of sweetening could compete
0:24:59 > 0:25:03with what Gordy had up his sleeve for the No-Hit Supremes.
0:25:03 > 0:25:05One day Berry Gordy said to us,
0:25:05 > 0:25:08"You know, you girls are so serious!
0:25:08 > 0:25:12"I'll put you with my best writing team, Holland-Dozier-Holland."
0:25:12 > 0:25:15# Baby, baby
0:25:15 > 0:25:19# Where did our love go?
0:25:19 > 0:25:22# Don't you want me?
0:25:22 > 0:25:25# Don't you want me no more? #
0:25:26 > 0:25:29Holland-Dozier-Holland's first hit song for the Supremes
0:25:29 > 0:25:33received, at first, a lukewarm response from the girls.
0:25:35 > 0:25:38What did we particularly dislike about Where Did Our Love Go?
0:25:38 > 0:25:40Everything!
0:25:40 > 0:25:43It was, it was like this song...
0:25:45 > 0:25:47# Baby, baby
0:25:47 > 0:25:49# Where did our love go? #
0:25:49 > 0:25:52And so Florence and I, we're used to singing, right?
0:25:52 > 0:25:54So all we had to sing in this song was...
0:25:54 > 0:25:55# Baby, baby
0:25:55 > 0:25:58# Ooh, baby, baby
0:25:58 > 0:26:00# Baby, baby... #
0:26:00 > 0:26:01I mean, it was like nothing
0:26:01 > 0:26:05so we felt like we were insignificant as singers.
0:26:05 > 0:26:08But as the No-Hit Supremes,
0:26:08 > 0:26:11Diana, Florence and Mary had little say in the matter
0:26:11 > 0:26:14and were ordered to learn the song anyway.
0:26:16 > 0:26:20# I got this yearning burning, baby
0:26:20 > 0:26:24# Feel it inside me. Oh! #
0:26:24 > 0:26:26It's still early, boys.
0:26:26 > 0:26:29But even when the song had been perfected,
0:26:29 > 0:26:31Diana Ross remained unhappy.
0:26:33 > 0:26:34She said, "I'm gonna call Berry"
0:26:34 > 0:26:37and I looked at her and said, "I tell you what.
0:26:37 > 0:26:40"There's the telephone, you go call Berry."
0:26:40 > 0:26:42I said, "But when you call him,
0:26:42 > 0:26:45"You tell him to come over and take you into the studio."
0:26:45 > 0:26:51So when she looked at me, I guess she said, "He's got that much!"
0:26:51 > 0:26:52She said, "OK" and she didn't.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57# Baby, baby
0:26:57 > 0:27:00# Baby, don't leave me
0:27:00 > 0:27:03# Ooh, please don't leave me
0:27:03 > 0:27:07# All by myself... #
0:27:07 > 0:27:08But she was unhappy
0:27:08 > 0:27:12so she sang the song as dry as she could
0:27:12 > 0:27:16and I remember the engineer turned round and looked at me.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19I said, "Leave it alone, just let it go. This is perfect."
0:27:19 > 0:27:23He could tell by her attitude that she was saying "To hell with this,"
0:27:23 > 0:27:25but her voice WASN'T, see?
0:27:25 > 0:27:30She had that natural, beautiful, sultry voice that was coming through.
0:27:30 > 0:27:35And then she went right through the whole song and she said, "Is this what you want?"
0:27:35 > 0:27:39I said, "Thank you, that's EXACTLY what I want! Thank you."
0:27:39 > 0:27:41And that was the end of it.
0:27:43 > 0:27:48Diana, Florence and Mary's misgivings were shared by an unlikely ally.
0:27:48 > 0:27:54I loved Diana Ross, she was always sweet and Florence was cool
0:27:54 > 0:27:57and Mary was glamour girl
0:27:57 > 0:28:00but that was what used to bug me so.
0:28:00 > 0:28:06SHE IMITATES BABY # Baby, baby, tell me Baby, doo de doo... #
0:28:06 > 0:28:08I didn't care for that kind of stuff.
0:28:08 > 0:28:13Not that they were bad in any kind of way, but it was like, "Why are they singing like that?"
0:28:13 > 0:28:18Gordy though knew that The Supremes' singing style was exactly what made them so special.
0:28:20 > 0:28:24I think that Berry saw that we were what he was looking for
0:28:24 > 0:28:27to take the Motown sound a step further.
0:28:27 > 0:28:32In Diane, he saw that her sound was a little more unique
0:28:32 > 0:28:35in that it was very different from others.
0:28:35 > 0:28:39Sometimes when you have so many people who sound soulful, it's like, "Whatever."
0:28:39 > 0:28:41She had a uniquely different sound.
0:28:45 > 0:28:49# Ooh, ooh
0:28:49 > 0:28:52# Baby love, my baby love
0:28:52 > 0:28:55# I need you Oh, how I need you
0:28:55 > 0:28:58The huge success of Where Did Our Love Go?
0:28:58 > 0:29:02was followed by an astonishing eight Number One hits for The Supremes,
0:29:02 > 0:29:04all written by Holland-Dozier-Holland.
0:29:04 > 0:29:07Together, they had found a perfect pop formula.
0:29:10 > 0:29:15If we didn't get the goosebumps or the hair standing on the arms,
0:29:15 > 0:29:17then something was missing.
0:29:17 > 0:29:21We would often sit, the three of us, the Holland brothers and myself,
0:29:21 > 0:29:25would sit and try to analyse a feeling
0:29:25 > 0:29:28and if there was a drop in the mood,
0:29:28 > 0:29:34as long as it was up and you were feeling like, "Wow, man, this is sensational,
0:29:34 > 0:29:38"it's got feeling, it's got realism."
0:29:38 > 0:29:42You know, I could believe that this happened to somebody.
0:29:42 > 0:29:45Then you're on the right track.
0:29:45 > 0:29:49# Now if you feel that you can't go on
0:29:49 > 0:29:53# Because all of your hope is gone... #
0:29:53 > 0:29:58Holland-Dozier-Holland had become Motown's most successful songwriters,
0:29:58 > 0:30:02writing major hits for an extraordinary number of different acts,
0:30:02 > 0:30:05such as Reach Out I'll Be There for The Four Tops.
0:30:05 > 0:30:07- # Darling...- Reach out...
0:30:07 > 0:30:09# Come on, girl... #
0:30:09 > 0:30:10They did a tremendous job on it,
0:30:10 > 0:30:13the guitar and the bassline was fabulous
0:30:13 > 0:30:19when we got to the rhythm, it just really catapulted the song.
0:30:19 > 0:30:23# I'll be there
0:30:23 > 0:30:28# With a love that will shelter you
0:30:28 > 0:30:32# I'll be there
0:30:32 > 0:30:36# With a love that will see you through... #
0:30:36 > 0:30:39Motown was now a hit factory
0:30:39 > 0:30:43with a strictly regimented system for the production of every new release.
0:30:45 > 0:30:49I got the idea from the assembly line when I worked at an automobile plant
0:30:49 > 0:30:53and as the cars rolled down the line, they started out as a frame
0:30:53 > 0:30:58and they ended up brand spanking new cars coming off the line.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02In my company, I tried to do the same thing,
0:31:02 > 0:31:05only with human beings, which was a lot more interesting.
0:31:11 > 0:31:12Motown WAS a production line.
0:31:12 > 0:31:16I mean, that's what made them so great because there was a plan,
0:31:16 > 0:31:20there was a layout of how it should work.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24The production line began, with Motown's producers and writers
0:31:24 > 0:31:27competing to create the next big hit.
0:31:27 > 0:31:29Secrecy was key.
0:31:29 > 0:31:31We kept our doors closed.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33Whenever we were working in our office,
0:31:33 > 0:31:37we made sure there wasn't anybody lurking outside our door,
0:31:37 > 0:31:42listening to the different things we were coming up with.
0:31:44 > 0:31:45Once they had a song,
0:31:45 > 0:31:48it was recorded, often within the day,
0:31:48 > 0:31:51by the Funk Brothers, Motown's house band.
0:31:51 > 0:31:54The Funk Brothers, in my opinion, were invaluable to the company
0:31:54 > 0:32:00because they could execute what Brian and Lamont wanted them to do
0:32:00 > 0:32:05because basically, when Brian and Lamont would go into the studio,
0:32:05 > 0:32:07they would only have chord sheets.
0:32:07 > 0:32:10The ranges were done in their heads on the spot.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13Before the records were released,
0:32:13 > 0:32:15they had to come before a quality control meeting,
0:32:15 > 0:32:18where Gordy and his team would scrutinise the song
0:32:18 > 0:32:21to see whether it was good enough to be a major hit.
0:32:21 > 0:32:24Minor hits were not acceptable.
0:32:25 > 0:32:28It was survival of the fittest, so to speak.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32That's when the real fun started and the real competition.
0:32:32 > 0:32:34And of course the real hit records came out of that
0:32:34 > 0:32:38because it had to be great to get out of that meeting alive.
0:32:38 > 0:32:42# Nowhere to run to, baby... #
0:32:42 > 0:32:43And with Gordy in overall control,
0:32:43 > 0:32:46the production line went into overdrive.
0:32:46 > 0:32:50# Got nowhere to run to, baby
0:32:50 > 0:32:53# Nowhere to hide
0:32:53 > 0:32:57# It's not love I'm running from
0:32:57 > 0:33:00# It's the heartbreak I know will come
0:33:00 > 0:33:04# Cos I know you're no good for me
0:33:04 > 0:33:07# But you've become a part of me
0:33:07 > 0:33:11# Everywhere I go, your face I see
0:33:11 > 0:33:15# Every step I take, you take with me
0:33:15 > 0:33:20Murray the K had this brilliant idea to make videos of us.
0:33:20 > 0:33:25He took us to the Ford Motor Company and they built a Mustang while we sang Nowhere To Run.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29# Nowhere to hide... #
0:33:29 > 0:33:32We had to get on the line and off the line
0:33:32 > 0:33:34and the guys, the workers there, were complaining,
0:33:34 > 0:33:38saying, "Get these women out of here! We're trying to make a car.
0:33:38 > 0:33:40"We're trying to do our work."
0:33:40 > 0:33:44And they didn't stop the line, they would just make us jump off and on as it was moving
0:33:44 > 0:33:50and we walked through the paint line and where they put the tyres on and everything
0:33:50 > 0:33:53but we got a first-hand view of just how cars are made
0:33:53 > 0:33:59and they made this car in the two minutes and 45 seconds that we sang Nowhere To Run.
0:33:59 > 0:34:01# Nowhere to run
0:34:01 > 0:34:05# Nowhere to hide from you, baby... #
0:34:05 > 0:34:07It may have been a production line
0:34:07 > 0:34:11but new methods were constantly employed to create a new sound.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13# Nowhere to hide... #
0:34:13 > 0:34:17We went out in the garage. In the back of the studio,
0:34:17 > 0:34:21there was some old chains back there
0:34:21 > 0:34:25and we wanted something to give a different sound, a clinking sound.
0:34:25 > 0:34:30Well, we brought those chains and different things into the studio
0:34:30 > 0:34:34and miked them up, put a microphone on them and tried to see what type of sound we'd get.
0:34:34 > 0:34:37Then you'd start putting it on a beat...CLINK!
0:34:39 > 0:34:41CLINK! CLINK!
0:34:44 > 0:34:46And he held that chain and beat that chain
0:34:46 > 0:34:52until his hand actually bled, making the sound that you hear in the rhythm.
0:34:52 > 0:34:55# Just can't get away from you, baby... #
0:34:55 > 0:34:58But Motown needed more than just an efficient production line
0:34:58 > 0:35:01to ensure sales in the record shops.
0:35:01 > 0:35:05The machinery was the people there at Motown
0:35:05 > 0:35:08and I have been told I have a reputation of being a tough guy.
0:35:08 > 0:35:11Distributors didn't pay their bills.
0:35:11 > 0:35:12They had a lot of trouble
0:35:12 > 0:35:17because I believed if I sold you something and you sold it,
0:35:17 > 0:35:22you're entitled to pay me and I would not accept anything less than that.
0:35:22 > 0:35:24And that's where I got a reputation.
0:35:24 > 0:35:27I collected the money. I always got our money.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30Whether you personally dig the Detroit sound or not,
0:35:30 > 0:35:33there's no question it's being dug by a lot of youngsters
0:35:33 > 0:35:39to the happy tune of an estimated 15 million gross a year.
0:35:39 > 0:35:43Richard O'Brien, CBS News, Detroit.
0:35:43 > 0:35:45Held scoreless by Chicago,
0:35:45 > 0:35:49the Detroit Lions explode with Tobin Rote quarterbacking and passing.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Chicago knew that Motown was on the right track
0:35:52 > 0:35:54and was looking on enviously.
0:35:54 > 0:35:57And a great run back...whoops!
0:35:57 > 0:36:02'It was almost like rival teams, you know.
0:36:02 > 0:36:06'They had a good idea, we just went along. We tried to use it.'
0:36:06 > 0:36:08We were always listening,
0:36:08 > 0:36:10these guys would go and buy Motown records
0:36:10 > 0:36:14and come back and make us listen to them, the writers.
0:36:14 > 0:36:17"This is what we want, we wanna emulate this."
0:36:19 > 0:36:21And with Chess in the doldrums,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24having had no major hits for several years,
0:36:24 > 0:36:27Leonard and Phil Chess needed a rescue plan.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36Where are you, Voice?
0:36:36 > 0:36:39Come in, it's time to come in!
0:36:39 > 0:36:42# Rescue me
0:36:42 > 0:36:44# Take me in your arms
0:36:44 > 0:36:46# Rescue me
0:36:46 > 0:36:48# I want your tender charms
0:36:48 > 0:36:50# Cos I'm lonely
0:36:50 > 0:36:52# And I'm blue
0:36:52 > 0:36:53# I need you
0:36:53 > 0:36:55# And your love too
0:36:55 > 0:36:57# Come on and rescue me
0:36:58 > 0:37:00# Oh yeah
0:37:00 > 0:37:02# Rescue me... #
0:37:02 > 0:37:05When I came to Chicago, I knew I was coming to Chess Records.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08I came to be a jazz musician
0:37:08 > 0:37:10and it didn't happen.
0:37:10 > 0:37:15And Leonard asked me if I would do a duet with, er...
0:37:15 > 0:37:17I was detoured.
0:37:17 > 0:37:20He asked me would I do a record with Bobby McClure
0:37:20 > 0:37:23and I said, "Of course," you know, because I love Bobby
0:37:23 > 0:37:27and we did a record called Don't Mess Up A Good Thing.
0:37:27 > 0:37:29# A good thing
0:37:30 > 0:37:32# A good thing
0:37:34 > 0:37:36# You've been cheating on me
0:37:36 > 0:37:39# Now, you know I know it's true
0:37:39 > 0:37:42# But ain't nobody in the whole wide world
0:37:42 > 0:37:46# Gonna love you like I do So don't be no fool... #
0:37:46 > 0:37:49But Don't Mess Up A Good Thing was never going to rival anything at Motown,
0:37:49 > 0:37:52charting at a modest Number 33.
0:37:54 > 0:37:56# You're gonna mess up a good thing... #
0:37:56 > 0:37:59We were desperate for a hit at Chess.
0:37:59 > 0:38:02We needed a hit to pay the salaries.
0:38:02 > 0:38:05Record companies have cold streaks and hot streaks,
0:38:05 > 0:38:08just like football teams or baseball teams.
0:38:08 > 0:38:12We were having a cold streak and we needed a hit.
0:38:12 > 0:38:16And the only sure-fire way they knew they would get a hit...
0:38:16 > 0:38:18was to copy Motown.
0:38:19 > 0:38:21# Rescue me
0:38:21 > 0:38:23# Take me in your arms
0:38:23 > 0:38:25# Rescue me
0:38:25 > 0:38:27# I want your tender charms
0:38:27 > 0:38:29# Cos I'm lonely
0:38:29 > 0:38:31# And I'm blue
0:38:31 > 0:38:32# I need you
0:38:32 > 0:38:34# And your love too
0:38:34 > 0:38:36# Come on and rescue me
0:38:36 > 0:38:39# Come on, baby, and rescue me
0:38:39 > 0:38:43# Come on, baby, and rescue me
0:38:43 > 0:38:47# Cos I need you by my side
0:38:47 > 0:38:50# Can't you see that I'm lonely?
0:38:50 > 0:38:51# Rescue me... #
0:38:51 > 0:38:53I will have to tell you...
0:38:53 > 0:38:56Rescue Me WAS inspired by the Motown sound.
0:38:56 > 0:38:58That year, Motown was hot,
0:38:58 > 0:39:03they were on the charts with all those kinds of bass lines and drum riffs.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06Yes, it was one of the few Chess Records
0:39:06 > 0:39:13that took from Motown and tried to have a similar kind of hit.
0:39:13 > 0:39:18# Cos I need you by my side... #
0:39:18 > 0:39:23People thought Rescue Me was a Motown song because of its rhythm.
0:39:23 > 0:39:29Everything was...DUM, DUM... you know, it was on the one.
0:39:29 > 0:39:33Everything was on the one, it was upbeat and everything
0:39:33 > 0:39:36and everyone thought it was Motown automatically, you know,
0:39:36 > 0:39:38because Chess wasn't doing nothing like that.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41But that WAS all Motown, wasn't it?
0:39:41 > 0:39:45Chess? Well, that was the time when we all felt...
0:39:48 > 0:39:51Chicago had good reason to feel left behind.
0:39:51 > 0:39:54Detroit, once again, was a step ahead.
0:39:55 > 0:39:58Gordy, having perfected the sound,
0:39:58 > 0:40:00now concentrated on the image.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04With The Supremes as the trailblazers,
0:40:04 > 0:40:07Motown moved from the projects downtown...
0:40:07 > 0:40:11to the very heart of the white establishment, uptown.
0:40:11 > 0:40:17I said, "I'm going to open up a department that has nothing to do with singing
0:40:17 > 0:40:19"cos I can't even hold a note.
0:40:19 > 0:40:21"But you are gonna be trained
0:40:21 > 0:40:25"to appear in Number One places around the country
0:40:25 > 0:40:28"and even before the Queen and the President of the United States."
0:40:28 > 0:40:33Those youngsters in 1964 looked at me and laughed and said,
0:40:33 > 0:40:35"All we want is a hit record."
0:40:43 > 0:40:48What Gordy and Miss Powell created was a Motown finishing school
0:40:48 > 0:40:51which was to be called "artist development".
0:40:51 > 0:40:56It was Maxine Powell's job to refine us.
0:40:56 > 0:40:58She, very early on,
0:40:58 > 0:41:03told us that we were all diamonds in the raw...
0:41:03 > 0:41:05and we needed to be refined.
0:41:05 > 0:41:10And I thought that was a really wonderful way of looking at us.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13So she just basically taught us
0:41:13 > 0:41:15how to sit and how to talk
0:41:15 > 0:41:18and what fork to eat with and which one not to.
0:41:18 > 0:41:22And it's always been said that if a group of artists were together
0:41:22 > 0:41:25you could always tell a Motown artist
0:41:25 > 0:41:27because of our refinement.
0:41:27 > 0:41:30- # Come see about me - See about me, baby
0:41:30 > 0:41:32# Come see about me... #
0:41:32 > 0:41:36But artist development did not only deal with etiquette
0:41:36 > 0:41:39it also taught choreography and stage presence.
0:41:39 > 0:41:43In an early performance of The Supremes' classic Come See About Me
0:41:43 > 0:41:46Diana Ross decided to add a personal touch.
0:41:46 > 0:41:50# No matter what you do or say... #
0:41:50 > 0:41:52I said, "What are you doing?"
0:41:52 > 0:41:56She was kinda rolling her eyes and I said, "What are you doing?"
0:41:56 > 0:41:58"I'm singing."
0:41:58 > 0:42:02And I said, "It looked like you're also making faces."
0:42:02 > 0:42:05"Well, I'm souling, I'm feeling it."
0:42:05 > 0:42:10And I said, "Well, for a number one place around the country you can't do that
0:42:10 > 0:42:15"because they are not gonna look at you for two hours making faces.
0:42:15 > 0:42:21"You're going to go to a different level eventually." But they couldn't see that.
0:42:21 > 0:42:23MUSIC: "Come See About Me"
0:42:26 > 0:42:30- # I've been crying - Ooh, ooh
0:42:30 > 0:42:34- # Cos I'm lonely - For you
0:42:34 > 0:42:38- # Smiles have all turned - To tears
0:42:38 > 0:42:42- # But tears won't wash away - The fears
0:42:42 > 0:42:46# That you're never ever gonna return
0:42:46 > 0:42:49# To ease the fire that within me burns
0:42:49 > 0:42:53# It keeps me crying, baby, for you... #
0:42:53 > 0:42:58Gordy's investment in Motown's finishing school was paying off.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01The Supremes had become a household name
0:43:01 > 0:43:04in both black and white homes.
0:43:04 > 0:43:06Part of their appeal unquestionably
0:43:06 > 0:43:11is that they seem like young white girls of the period.
0:43:12 > 0:43:16Gordy had them well trained by Maxine Powell
0:43:16 > 0:43:20and they're just so appealing and so cute and so clean.
0:43:20 > 0:43:22They're just really clean.
0:43:22 > 0:43:27This was gonna be his ticket into white America. And he succeeded.
0:43:27 > 0:43:30Mr Gordy, who's that we're listening to?
0:43:32 > 0:43:35Those are The...Supremes.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38And that's a...
0:43:38 > 0:43:42a record taken from their album which is their current release.
0:43:42 > 0:43:46The Supremes Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50That's your big group, isn't it?
0:43:50 > 0:43:52Yes, it is. It's...
0:43:52 > 0:43:56not only MY big group but it's the big group in the world today.
0:43:56 > 0:43:59Perhaps the finest singers in the world.
0:43:59 > 0:44:01MUSIC: "You Can't Hurry Love"
0:44:01 > 0:44:05# I need love love to ease my mind... #
0:44:05 > 0:44:11The Supremes had not only conquered America but had become Gordy's global ambassadors.
0:44:11 > 0:44:16# You can't hurry love No, you just have to wait
0:44:16 > 0:44:21# She said love don't come easy It's a game of give and take... #
0:44:21 > 0:44:25But with their success came increasing criticism that Berry Gordy had sold out
0:44:25 > 0:44:28to a white sensibility.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31# No matter how long it takes... #
0:44:31 > 0:44:35Critics would write, "The Supremes are...
0:44:35 > 0:44:38homogenised and this and that. And that hurt.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41It really did hurt us, you know, because...
0:44:41 > 0:44:44we wanted to be so much more.
0:44:44 > 0:44:48In the later part of the '60s among black kids I knew
0:44:48 > 0:44:53was this feeling that whites were co-opting this music
0:44:53 > 0:44:57and there was no longer a sense of pride about whites liking the music.
0:44:57 > 0:45:01So there was this kind of sense that Gordy was making a mistake
0:45:01 > 0:45:07by trying to make his music have this integration, assimilation appeal that people no longer liked.
0:45:07 > 0:45:12I remember one kid said, "This should be called the sound of black America."
0:45:12 > 0:45:15And accusations that Gordy was out of touch
0:45:15 > 0:45:18were echoed within the Motown family itself
0:45:18 > 0:45:22when acts were pushed into the world of white entertainment.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24# The moon on their wings
0:45:24 > 0:45:29# These are a few of my favourite things... #
0:45:29 > 0:45:32Florence was not as comfortable
0:45:32 > 0:45:36doing the Hollywood scene. I mean, some people just aren't,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39and Florence was one of those.
0:45:39 > 0:45:43How can you fight something that looks good?
0:45:43 > 0:45:46But she just wasn't comfortable with it.
0:45:46 > 0:45:51So for her...to do some of the things that we had to do,
0:45:51 > 0:45:56she just felt it was fake. She wanted to be real. She didn't want to be make-believe.
0:45:56 > 0:46:01But the direction The Supremes were taking were not Florence's only concern.
0:46:01 > 0:46:04With the rise and rise of Diana Ross
0:46:04 > 0:46:09Florence and Mary were no longer backing singers but background singers.
0:46:09 > 0:46:12- # You made me love you - You made me love you
0:46:12 > 0:46:16# And oh, my darling now you're gone
0:46:16 > 0:46:17# Now you're gone
0:46:17 > 0:46:21# You said loving you would make life beautiful
0:46:21 > 0:46:24# With each passing day... #
0:46:24 > 0:46:26There was a period of time
0:46:26 > 0:46:31where Florence was disgruntled to say the least
0:46:31 > 0:46:33about Diana being the lead singer.
0:46:33 > 0:46:38Because when the girls started off Florence was the lead singer.
0:46:38 > 0:46:40And so naturally, you know...
0:46:40 > 0:46:43You know, a little vanity is in all of us.
0:46:43 > 0:46:48She wanted to continue with that but people kept pushing Diana Ross.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52The pressure on Florence increased to such an extent
0:46:52 > 0:46:55that alcohol and depression took over her life
0:46:55 > 0:46:58and she was sacked from The Supremes.
0:46:58 > 0:47:00# After you made me... #
0:47:00 > 0:47:04Gordy decided to disengage from certain details
0:47:04 > 0:47:08in relation to the life of certain people in that company
0:47:08 > 0:47:11because they were no longer important to him.
0:47:11 > 0:47:13So the other people in The Supremes,
0:47:13 > 0:47:17once he decided he was zeroing in to make Diana Ross a star,
0:47:17 > 0:47:21the other people in The Supremes became expendable.
0:47:25 > 0:47:31If Gordy was seen to be disengaging from personal issues within the Motown family,
0:47:31 > 0:47:37he was also criticised for ignoring the bigger problems affecting America.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40With the escalating war in Vietnam,
0:47:40 > 0:47:43a growing urban crisis and the rise of the Civil Rights movement,
0:47:43 > 0:47:47the optimism of the early 1960s had evaporated
0:47:47 > 0:47:52and the mood of the country had changed.
0:47:52 > 0:47:56Suddenly Motown seemed hopelessly out of touch.
0:47:56 > 0:48:01You must know that in that period of time
0:48:01 > 0:48:04Berry was interested in building his company.
0:48:04 > 0:48:06He was not interested...
0:48:06 > 0:48:11I don't think so much in... the Civil Rights movement.
0:48:11 > 0:48:14And everybody was beating that drum.
0:48:14 > 0:48:16MUSIC: "Choice Of Colours"
0:48:23 > 0:48:27And it would be in Chicago, not Detroit,
0:48:27 > 0:48:30that America's social conscience was heard.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35# If you had a choice of colours
0:48:37 > 0:48:41# Which one would you choose My brothers?
0:48:42 > 0:48:46# If there was no day or night
0:48:48 > 0:48:52# Which would you prefer to be right? #
0:48:52 > 0:48:56Curtis Mayfield was one of the first artists to sing openly
0:48:56 > 0:49:00about community struggle and racial harmony.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03He grew up in Chicago's housing project.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05Obsessed by music,
0:49:05 > 0:49:08he began writing and performing aged 14.
0:49:08 > 0:49:12After a series of pop hits with The Impressions,
0:49:12 > 0:49:16he increasingly turned his attention to songs with a social message.
0:49:16 > 0:49:20# People must prove to the people
0:49:20 > 0:49:23# A better day is coming
0:49:23 > 0:49:26# For you and for me
0:49:27 > 0:49:32# With just a little bit more education
0:49:32 > 0:49:36# And love for our nation
0:49:36 > 0:49:38# Would make a better society... #
0:49:38 > 0:49:43I think the reason Curtis was singled out, so to speak,
0:49:43 > 0:49:46was because Curtis was writing...
0:49:46 > 0:49:50in the period when the Civil Rights movement...
0:49:50 > 0:49:55was just really kind of getting rolling in...in America.
0:49:55 > 0:50:00His songs... "People, get ready, there's a train a-comin'...
0:50:02 > 0:50:05"..You don't need no ticket You just get on board
0:50:05 > 0:50:09"All you need is faith to hear diesels humming..."
0:50:09 > 0:50:12I mean, that's just...that's poetry.
0:50:12 > 0:50:17THE IMPRESSIONS: # People get ready
0:50:17 > 0:50:20# There's a train a-comin'
0:50:20 > 0:50:23# You don't need no baggage
0:50:23 > 0:50:26# Just get on board
0:50:27 > 0:50:32# All you need is faith to hear the diesels humming
0:50:32 > 0:50:36# Don't need no ticket
0:50:36 > 0:50:39# You just thank the Lord... #
0:50:39 > 0:50:42When you talk about Curtis Mayfield you have to understand
0:50:42 > 0:50:48that you can't really put him in just anybody else's category.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51I don't know whether he was the hit of his time
0:50:51 > 0:50:53or he was saying things...
0:50:53 > 0:50:58that was...today... He was saying things that was important
0:50:58 > 0:51:00about what we were going through,
0:51:00 > 0:51:05what life was about. And he felt that somebody had to tell it.
0:51:05 > 0:51:09# There's no hiding place
0:51:09 > 0:51:12# Against the kingdom's throne... #
0:51:12 > 0:51:19I don't think Berry Gordy would have allowed Curtis to sing those message songs in the beginning.
0:51:19 > 0:51:21That's just my opinion.
0:51:21 > 0:51:24Obviously with hindsight, he probably would say yes.
0:51:24 > 0:51:29Berry was about reaching young America, the...
0:51:29 > 0:51:33the bubblegum songs that everybody could feel good about.
0:51:33 > 0:51:36# Don't need no ticket
0:51:36 > 0:51:43# You just thank the Lord. #
0:51:45 > 0:51:47But with the events of 1967,
0:51:47 > 0:51:52Berry Gordy and Motown would be given a wake-up call.
0:52:01 > 0:52:06With five days of violence, 7,000 arrests, 1,000 injured and 43 dead,
0:52:06 > 0:52:10Detroit experienced the worst riot in its history.
0:52:12 > 0:52:18My father was able to secure our house.
0:52:18 > 0:52:19And take out my mom and...
0:52:19 > 0:52:21That was a very scary time.
0:52:21 > 0:52:25We left town the next day - I'll never forget it.
0:52:25 > 0:52:28As we flew away, we saw the city burning.
0:52:28 > 0:52:31The riot signified a lot of things.
0:52:31 > 0:52:35It signified a lot of things. It signified class unrest,
0:52:35 > 0:52:39it signified racial unrest, but the biggest problem was that it seemed as though
0:52:39 > 0:52:41Detroit was becoming ungovernable.
0:52:49 > 0:52:53# Set me free Why don't you, babe?
0:52:53 > 0:52:56# Get out my life Why don't you, babe? #
0:52:56 > 0:52:59All this was bad news for Berry Gordy, whose Motown organisation
0:52:59 > 0:53:02was also being challenged in other ways.
0:53:04 > 0:53:08In '67, we decided to go on strike because we wanted to have
0:53:08 > 0:53:11a part in the business,
0:53:11 > 0:53:13a piece of the pie, as it were.
0:53:13 > 0:53:17Our own artists.
0:53:17 > 0:53:21Maybe a deal subsidiary, like people did.
0:53:21 > 0:53:27Gordy, though, was never going to give up any part of his Motown empire.
0:53:27 > 0:53:30There was to be no negotiation.
0:53:30 > 0:53:34After notching up over 40 hits in the US alone for the likes of The Supremes,
0:53:34 > 0:53:37Martha And The Vandellas and The Four Tops,
0:53:37 > 0:53:41Holland-Dozier-Holland left Motown for good.
0:53:43 > 0:53:45That was just a backbreaker to me.
0:53:45 > 0:53:48I mean, to all of us.
0:53:48 > 0:53:51I wanted to go with them so bad, I didn't know what to do.
0:53:51 > 0:53:57Normally, we were very close as buddies. I mean, we were chummy chums.
0:53:57 > 0:54:00But we knew that the magic pair was leaving, as well.
0:54:00 > 0:54:06But we didn't realise how bad that would affect us until after they had really gone.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20Many feared that the departure of Holland-Dozier-Holland
0:54:20 > 0:54:21was the end of the Motown story.
0:54:21 > 0:54:26But Gordy showed that his company was bigger than any producer, any writer
0:54:26 > 0:54:28and any artist.
0:54:28 > 0:54:34With a new writing team, he addressed all his critics with The Supremes' biggest hit to date.
0:54:34 > 0:54:36# Hold on... #
0:54:36 > 0:54:41Socially, so much had changed in the latter part of the '60s.
0:54:41 > 0:54:43And especially here in America.
0:54:43 > 0:54:49Holland-Dozier had left, there was pressure on the writers
0:54:49 > 0:54:51to get a hit for the Supremes.
0:54:51 > 0:54:57And so Berry Gordy and some of the members got together and they formed this group called "The Committee",
0:54:57 > 0:55:00or whomever was the writers for Love Child,
0:55:00 > 0:55:06and came up with this real social aware song - Love Child.
0:55:06 > 0:55:08# You think that I don't feel love
0:55:08 > 0:55:11# But what I feel for you is real love
0:55:11 > 0:55:13# In other's eyes I see reflected
0:55:13 > 0:55:15# A hurt, scorned, rejected
0:55:15 > 0:55:16# Love child... #
0:55:16 > 0:55:20I thought that was very ingenious,
0:55:20 > 0:55:25although it was reminiscent, the arrangements and everything, of previous stuff
0:55:25 > 0:55:27that HDH had done.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31I thought the subject matter was just right on the button.
0:55:31 > 0:55:35The newly christened Diana Ross and the Supremes,
0:55:35 > 0:55:39with new member Cindy Birdsong replacing Florence Ballard,
0:55:39 > 0:55:43are seen in ghetto gear, sporting Afro hair on the album cover.
0:55:43 > 0:55:48But for Middle America's number one TV programme, the Ed Sullivan Show,
0:55:48 > 0:55:51a toned-down look had to be employed.
0:55:51 > 0:55:57# I started my life in an old, cold Run-down tenement slum
0:55:57 > 0:56:01# My father left He never even married Mom
0:56:01 > 0:56:06# I shared the guilt my mama knew So afraid that others knew I had no name
0:56:06 > 0:56:07# Ah-h-h...
0:56:07 > 0:56:11# This love we're contemplating Is worth the pain of waiting
0:56:11 > 0:56:16# We'll only end up hating The child we may be creating
0:56:16 > 0:56:20# Love child, love child Never meant to be
0:56:20 > 0:56:24- # Love child - Scorned by...- society
0:56:24 > 0:56:26# Love child
0:56:26 > 0:56:29# Always second best
0:56:29 > 0:56:31# Love child
0:56:31 > 0:56:34# Different from the rest
0:56:34 > 0:56:37# Hold on, hold on Just a little bit... #
0:56:37 > 0:56:42We were now part of the social issues of America.
0:56:42 > 0:56:43And we were women.
0:56:43 > 0:56:47And we were talking about something that meant something to us.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51We were very aware that it was a social statement
0:56:51 > 0:56:55and we were very happy that finally we were mature.
0:56:55 > 0:56:58We were always trying to be mature.
0:57:01 > 0:57:05The Supremes and Motown had grown up and come of age.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09With Love Child, Gordy had shown that his company had the ability to adapt
0:57:09 > 0:57:11and change with the times.
0:57:11 > 0:57:15I think we kind of covered so many levels,
0:57:15 > 0:57:19and it's a body of work that is the important thing in Motown.
0:57:19 > 0:57:21It's not one song, one artist, anything.
0:57:21 > 0:57:26It's a body of work that made a whole lot of people happy around the world.
0:57:26 > 0:57:30After Love Child, Gordy left Detroit
0:57:30 > 0:57:33and moved his headquarters to Los Angeles,
0:57:33 > 0:57:37where a new generation of writers and producers successfully put social issues
0:57:37 > 0:57:39at the forefront of their music.
0:57:39 > 0:57:44Gordy's empire entered a second golden age.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50But the sound that had encapsulated the spirit and optimism of the '60s
0:57:50 > 0:57:52was now part of history.
0:57:52 > 0:57:55The age of innocence of Motown was over.
0:57:57 > 0:57:59# Mother, mother
0:57:59 > 0:58:04# There's too many of you crying
0:58:05 > 0:58:09# Brother, brother, brother
0:58:10 > 0:58:14# There's far too many of you dying
0:58:14 > 0:58:18# You know We've got to find the way
0:58:19 > 0:58:23# To bring some lovin' here today
0:58:26 > 0:58:29# Father, father We don't need to escalate... #
0:58:29 > 0:58:31E-mail us at subtitling@bbc.co.uk