Traumatized by her mother’s leaving her storied, Baptist preacher father while she was still a little girl, then losing her mom to an unexpected heart attack; pregnant and giving birth twice before she was 15-years-old; married to a street-wise hustler who beat her up before she was out of her teens, it’s a wonder that Aretha Franklin could speak or sing at all, let alone rise to become one of the most celebrated vocalists who ever lived. Indeed Rolling Stone magazine recently ranked Aretha as the greatest singer of them all, while the BBC called her the “greatest in U.S. history.” Countless immortals have concurred, from Freddie Mercury to George Michael, from Elton John to Mariah Carey.  

            With her dad as manager, Aretha was on the road singing gospel by the age of 12 and recording at 14. Signing with Columbia Records to sing pop, she was losing her way until she switched labels, moving to Atlantic, and broke through with her celebrated R&B style beginning in 1967 with such giant hits as the Otis Redding penned “Respect” (cited by Rolling Stone as the #1 single of all-time), “Chain of Fools”, “Ain’t No Way”, “Since You’ve Been Gone”, and “Think”.

            Dubbed the “Queen of Soul”, Aretha remained equally at home in church singing gospel as she was on the concert stage. By the end she was a recognized legend, still able to thrill an audience as she did in 2015 before a visibly moved First Family as she roared out Carole King’s “A Natural Woman” at the latter’s Kennedy Center Honors ceremony.  

One of the sad realities of American music throughout history parallels the even worse socio/political reality of historical racism arising out of slavery and subsequent racial segregation. Examples abound from the negative stereotyping of minstrel shows, to the marketing of so-called “race records” by white owned labels. Occasionally, though, there were breakthroughs, with black music and artists fully embraced by whites and blacks, and the music of Motown has to be one of the highlights.

         Berry Gordy, a black Detroit area high school dropout, parlayed his songwriting connection to R&B singer Jackie Wilson into starting the label Tamla Records which eventually morphed into Motown. Utilizing the crack songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland and a superb group of studio musicians known to us today as the Funk Brothers, there was a heavy emphasis on drums, bass, tambourines, sophisticated melodies, gospel-flavored harmony singing, guitars and horns, exquisitely recorded and presented in a clean R&B/pop package. For good measure, Berry had his artists attend in-house charm school, learn the rigors of carefully choreographed dance routines, and dress impeccably.

         There were several successful Motown solo artists in the ’60s, including the breathy vocalist Mary Wells; jazz singer turned soulster, Marvin Gaye; and a teenage Stevie Wonder who was almost dropped from the label but went on to produce some of the most memorable music of the 1970s.  

         Four vocal groups came to dominate Motown in the 1960s- the Miracles were the breakout act. Led by William “Smokey” Robinson, a gifted songwriter with an instantly recognizable falsetto vocal style, their 1960 “Shop Around” was Motown‘s first million-seller. Other giant hits included “I Second That Emotion”, the slow dance favorite, “Ooo Baby Baby”, and the much honored “The Tracks of My Tears”.

         The Temptations featured five outstanding vocalists, with raspy voiced David Ruffin sharing lead (until he was replaced with Dennis Edwards) with the sweet falsetto of Eddie Kendricks. Their classic “My Girl” is still heard everywhere, and as the ’60s turned into the ’70s, they reinvented themselves by foraying into funk and psychedelia, producing the unforgettable “Papa Was a Rolling Stone”.

         The Four Tops, led by the stellar Levi Stubbs with his powerful baritone, had a grittier sound but scored with such hits as “I Can’t Help Myself”, “Reach Out I’ll Be There” and “Bernadette”. As a unit, they stayed together for 44 years, unheard of in popular music.

         The dominant act, however, was the Supremes- Florence Ballard (later replaced by Cindy Birdsong), Mary Wilson, and lead vocalist, Diana Ross. The most successful female group in recording history, once they hit paydirt in 1964 with “Where Did Our Love Go”, nine out of ten singles hit the top of the charts including such standouts as “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “You Can’t Hurry Love”.

         -Steve Williams (7/17/23) – Greatest Recording Artists Blog Post #28