The legend that is Tamla Motown started in 1959 when Ford worker and part-time songwriter Berry Gordy Jr borrowed $800 to set up a studio. From his first hit onward - the prophetic Money (That's What I Want) - he set out to create a crossover style, targeting his records at white and black consumers alike.

Early Motown hits were pure formula . Gordy softened the blue notes of most contemporary black music in favor of a more danceable, poppy beat, with gospel -influenced singing and clapping. Prime examples of the early approach featured all-female groups like the Marvelettes ( Needle in a Haystack ), the Supremes ( Baby Love ) and Martha Reeves and the Vandellas ( Nowhere to Run ), as well as the all-male Miracles ( Tracks of My Tears ), featuring the sophisticated love lyrics of lead singer Smokey Robinson . Gordy's "Quality Control Department" scrutinized every beat, playing all recordings through speakers modeled on cheap transistor radios before the final mix.

The Motown organization was an intense, close-knit community: Marvin Gaye married Gordy's sister. "Little" Stevie Wonder was the baby of the family. It did, however, move with the times, utilizing such innovations as the wah-wah pedal and synthesizer. By the late 1960s its output had acquired a harder sound, crowned by the acid soul productions of Norman Whitfield with the versatile Temptations . In 1968 the organization outgrew its premises on Grand Avenue; four years later it abandoned Detroit altogether for LA, to be closer to Hollywood. Befitting the MOR tastes of the 1970s, the top sellers now were the high-society soul of Diana Ross and the ballads of the Commodores . White artists began to appear on the label: Tom Jones is said to have turned down a contract, though R. Dean Taylor ( Indiana Wants Me ) and the less successful Kiki Dee accepted.

The 1970s saw many top artists, dissatisfied with Gordy's constant intervention, leave the label. The crack songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, responsible for most of the Four Tops ' hits, stayed in Detroit to produce the seminal Chairmen of the Board ( Gimme Just A Little More Time ), along with Aretha Franklin and Jackie Wilson .

Today Motown is owned by the giant PolyGram corporation. Artists on the label include Boyz II Men, Queen Latifah and, to this day, Stevie Wonder.