Talk:Berry Gordy

This article must adhere to the biographies of living persons (BLP) policy, even if it is not a biography, because it contains material about living persons. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libellous. If such material is repeatedly inserted, or if you have other concerns, please report the issue to this noticeboard.

If you are a subject of this article, or acting on behalf of one, and you need help, please see this help page.

Biography: Musicians

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article is supported by WikiProject Musicians.

United States Low‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

R&B and Soul Music Top‑importance

	R&B and Soul Music portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject R&B and Soul Music, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of R&B and Soul Music articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.R&B and Soul MusicWikipedia:WikiProject R&B and Soul MusicTemplate:WikiProject R&B and Soul MusicR&B and Soul Music articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Record Labels High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Record Labels, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of record labels on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Record LabelsWikipedia:WikiProject Record LabelsTemplate:WikiProject Record Labelsrecord labels articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Record Production High‑importance

	Record production portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Record Production; a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's documentation of Record Production articles. Questions or comments related to record production and related articles are welcome at the project's talk page. Anyone interested may join the project: add your name to the list of project members!Record ProductionWikipedia:WikiProject Record ProductionTemplate:WikiProject Record ProductionRecord Production articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

African diaspora Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject African diaspora, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of African diaspora on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.African diasporaWikipedia:WikiProject African diasporaTemplate:WikiProject African diasporaAfrican diaspora articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Length

Way too short!!!
You sound like my wife.71.193.225.92 (talk)

Racial vandalism

Whoever thinks it's very clever to write something like "he is the great black man in U.S history" should be reminded that Wikipedia is no place to jerk around. Deleted and replaced with the previous categories and links. Regards, Sven PS: Thx for editing the quote - nice one. Sven

They are imbecilic in their hatred, stay strong Sven. People who can’t work together shouldn’t be editing an encyclopedia for communities!

WillieHowardCO67 (talk) 17:07, 3 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Films

needs to mention his film career moves as well. Like Berry Gordy's Last Dragon, Mahogany, and Lady Sings the Blues

The Motown story is in NO way related to the Dreamgirls story. There was a formal apology from Dreamworks stating the insignificance of this movie from the actual Motown story. One must learn to differentiate between what one sees in a movie and reality. Don't believe everything you see in movies.

Meow

"meow meow meow" May somebody explain these interesting facts in the third-last paragraf? THX. <eg>

It's vandalism. Thanks for noticing, I have reverted it. Hyacinth 03:45, 15 May 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Motown museum wiki link?

There is a wiki on bootie meat record which is the Motown offices museum in Detroit. I think there should be a link from here, but am not sure where to put it. There is a lack of context in the article as it stands. Advice? Thanks. --Packrat1 21:21, 7 August 2006 (UTC)packrat1[reply]

Bias?

Little is there about his dictatorship control over artists and producers. While I don't know much on the issue, it seems he wasn't a man with his eye on creative genius, just a man with his eye on money. Can't blame him, but the article doesn't give both sides of the story Early Q 18:53, 5 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Also, what about the payola allegations mentioned in the Dreamgirls articles? This article is far too laudatory... —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 74.110.55.10 (talk) 04:49, 28 January 2007 (UTC).[reply]

Concerning the payola allegations, Smokey Robinson has refuted it. There is absolutely no proff--whatsoever--that Gordy took money or paid money. This is why "Dreamgirls" is a false movie.

It is very possible that Smokey Robinson was lying; he is, after all, human. The book Motown: Music, Money, Sex, and Power by Gerald Posner spends two chapters discussing alleged payola operations implemented by Gordy and the Motown executives, going so far as to dig up court documents and depositions by one of the individuals who alleges he was directly involved. As described, the alleged payola operations at Motown bear a strong resemblance to those used in Dreamgirls (which is of course a work of fiction and inherently "false" by its nature). Also discussed are longtime rumors that Motown was Mafia-controlled. Although no one associated with Motown was ever formally charged with payola, and the executive in question - Michael Lushka - wasn't said to be trustworthy, it's not much of a stretch of the imagination to consider that Motown, whether under Gordy's orders or not, participated in payola, especially since many other labels do the same.

What is certain about Motown and Gordy is that the artists were signed to substandard contracts and there was significant conflicts of interest (Motown ran its own management, booking,and financial consultant divisions for its artists, controlling the careers and expenses up to and including filing their tax returns). Much significant information about Gordy and Motown can be added to these articles. Why hasn't it been? Because this article isn't of much concern to most "Wikipedians", and as a result, no one's going to do too much work on it. I would, but I've found such efforts to be stressful and unappreciated without some form of assistance. --FuriousFreddy 00:48, 29 April 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I believe the payola scam should be mentioned, and this article seems biased and politically correct by omitting it. Darklight1138 15:41, 4 May 2007 (UTC)[reply]

In 1994 interviews, Mr. Gordy denied the allegations that he cheated artists out of their rightful income (salary, royalties) and said that he had painstakingly modelled Motown's standard contracts after that of United Artists.61.69.217.3 (talk) 07:27, 12 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Here is the source.^[1] and another source is his autobiography, where he says that he modelled the contracts after United Artists, and another articles from the same period.^[2] — Preceding unsigned comment added by 61.69.217.3 (talk) 04:59, 17 January 2018 (UTC)[reply]

References

Naming convention

To prevent the back-and-forth I've seen here lately, can we settle this issue this way:

Berry Gordy's legal name is "Berry Gordy, Jr." It's what's on his birth certificate, and most of his credited work.
Technically, Berry Gordy, Jr. is actually "Berry Gordy, III", since both his father and grandfather were named "Berry Gordy", and his son his named "Berry Gordy, IV". However, he has never been addressed by this name.

Let's address Gordy by the name he was actually called, with no mention of the "Berry Gordy III" mess. --FuriousFreddy (talk) 01:23, 10 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Sixth cousin?

I don't think it's significant that Berry Gordy is distantly related to President Carter and very distantly related to Elvis Presley. Why is this trivia in a top paragraph? NWeber (talk) 16:22, 19 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Is that even true?

Is Berry Gordy related to Elvis Presley and Jimmy Carter? Is there a source or anything that proves it? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.224.248.125 (talk) 02:15, 15 September 2009 (UTC) Well, there is Lillian Gordy Carter's Wiki page![reply]

Louis Walsh thinking he's dead

Can this page be locked for a bit to stop the bit about Louis Walsh thinking he's dead being consistantly added then reverted? I don't know how to go about it myself. BananaNoodle (talk) 21:17, 3 December 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Why would you need to remove this? Smurfmeister (talk) 16:39, 3 January 2012 (UTC)[reply]

There is nothing wrong with this page Thebookworm123455789123456789 (talk) 20:09, 28 October 2018 (UTC)[reply]

His boxing career seems worth a mention in pesonal life.

I didn't know he was a boxer until I saw the external link. It seems worth a mention and would nicely add to the personal section about him (or maybe the "early years" section). Children and marriages are interesting but the boxing also says something meaningful about him. Calan (talk) 03:54, 3 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you for the suggestion, however his boxing is actually stated in the "early years" section already. Best, --Discographer (talk) 00:16, 4 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Who wrote this uninteresting, self-serving excuse of a bio?

What is with the quick mention of the successful Black acts out of Motown, and the comparatively lengthy focus on the obscure White artists? Racism cloaked in trivia. Also, this is written as though the Blacks had to be carefully watched and groomed, whilst the White acts had no need of such scrutiny and control. Give me a break. So obvious,...and it made an article that could have been interesting boooring!

A response:I think the best part of wiki is mentioning the obscure and the mind-blowing sides of things. Not a whole lot of rocker knew of the White Shadow side of Motown. But what I can appreciate is that less and less people in these newer generation know anything about Berry Gordy III's success in music, in the military, and in the film industry. Expand on it, don't let out a jealous whine. A Black owned business producing White artists when it did is an important happening in so many ways. I just want to celebrate!

Motown, the Musical needs update

The autobiographical musical, for which Berry Gordy wrote the book, is an enormous hit. I saw it this afternoon. It has caught the wave of the Baby Boom's turn to nostalgic theater in older age, which began with Jersey Boys. The entire audience was Baby Boomers, willing to pay sixty dollars for a balcony seat and up to 200 for orchestra. African American, about ten percent. And this is San Francisco, the sticks. It's still running on Broadway for bigger prices than that. It will gross more than anything Gordy ever did before; though I have to question if it will revive interest in the music, since I saw almost nobody there who was under fifty. It's Berry Gordy getting to tell his side of things, and might as well have been titled, "Ode to Berry Gordy." Best line: Diana Ross, about 22, realizing Berry is in love with her, says to Berry, 36, "I'm the luckiest girl in the world! Why me???" Whole show is like that, but his music is unbeatable.Profhum (talk) 05:25, 18 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I just have to say that for some reason I found this really amusing. I am obsessed with Motown the Musical, and I'm 19, and I've seen it three times on Broadway (and yes I spent way too much money on those tickets). But you're right, I didn't see that many other young people, though there were definitely some at every show. Personally, I can't speak on it reviving interest since was already in love with the music and story of Motown long before the show opened (I own Berry Gordy's autobiography that the show was based on, and other books about Motown, oh man am I obsessed). But I did see it once with a group of students from my college, and they all loved it, and after the show they were singing the songs and saying how they had to look up all the music online and get it on iTunes. So it definitely revived an interest in them, at least for a moment. Agreed on the fact that it is very much the Berry Gordy show, but I think giving one perspective helped make the plot more cohesive and engaging. That was a hilarious line. ElfLady64 (talk) 21:55, 18 December 2014 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Berry Gordy. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20130407231259/http://www.playbill.com/news/article/175832-Songwriters-Hall-of-Fame-to-Honor-Motowns-Berry-Gordy to http://www.playbill.com/news/article/175832-Songwriters-Hall-of-Fame-to-Honor-Motowns-Berry-Gordy
Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.berrygordy.com/

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 17:45, 31 October 2016 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Berry Gordy. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 09:40, 9 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]

[1] ttp://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/27/books/mr-motown.html

[2] ttp://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-11/entertainment/ca-7736_1_founder-berry-gordy

[1]

[2]