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93-563: The tour saw the group perform to an estimated 2.1 million fans over 97 total shows, covering the UK, continental Europe and North America. The 41-date sold-out North American leg of the tour played to over 720,000 fans and grossed $ 60 million. The first UK portion of the tour saw the group play 20 arena shows to over 350,000 fans; the second UK portion of the tour saw the group play two Don Valley Stadium shows to 76,000 fans, and two Wembley Stadium shows to 150,000 fans. The 1998 Spiceworld Tour remains

186-628: A North American distribution deal with the label in 1983) and Boston Ventures in June 1988 for $ 61 million. In 1989, Gordy sold the Motown Productions TV/film operations to Motown executive Suzanne de Passe , who renamed the company de Passe Entertainment and continues to run it as of 2018 . Gordy continued to retain the Jobete music publishing catalog, selling it separately to EMI Music Publishing in parts between 1997 and 2004. It

279-468: A bland six-piece band." On the other hand, The New York Times Jon Pareles felt that "the songs, more than the act, are their real asset. [...] These numbers are exuberant, direct and immediately likeable, and they've turned a group of hard-working but only moderately gifted performers into stars." BBC News noted the audiences were mostly composed of families, and that even "most of the parents there seemed to be enjoying themselves". Gilbert Garcia of

372-567: A certain level financially." By the 1970s, the Motown "hit factory" had become a target of a backlash from some fans of rock music. Record producer Pete Waterman recalls of this period: "I was a DJ for years and I worked for Motown – the press at the time, papers like NME , used to call it Toytown. When I DJ'd on the Poly circuit, the students wanted me to play Spooky Tooth and Velvet Underground . Things don't change. Nowadays, of course, Motown

465-473: A chainmail Versace dress with linked gold squares. However, the dress was too heavy and too impractical for maintenance. After the performance of "Move Over", there was a thirty-minute intermission. The second segment begins with "The Lady Is a Vamp". For this performance, the group wore tailcoats while the dancers wore bowler hats . Then they perform Say You'll Be There , dancing with canes. The group performed "Naked" next, singing from behind chairs to give

558-408: A colour scheme arranged by their costume designer Ho to fit their style and character. Brown had a lot of patches of animal prints and greens; Halliwell's tones were different reds and purples; Bunton's were almost entirely bright red, pale blues and pink; Chisholm had very bright colours and Adams had patchwork on her corset. During the encore of the show, they sang "Never Give Up On The Good Times" and

651-556: A cover of the Sister Sledge song " We Are Family ". The Spice Girls exited the stage via the same doors from which they entered on top of the staircase. Total attendance for the Spiceworld Tour was estimated to be 2.1 million over the 97 shows in the UK, mainland Europe and North America. The 41-date North American leg of the tour grossed $ 60 million and saw the group perform to over 720,000 fans. The first UK portion of

744-428: A futuristic space-age themed backdrop, the show began with a CGI video introduction of a spaceship flying through the galaxy. The introduction included William Shatner as the narrator in a parody of his famous Star Trek title sequence speech , and included samples from " Wannabe ", " Say You'll Be There ", " 2 Become 1 " and " Mama ". The spaceship was shown to land on earth and as its doors appeared to open so did

837-533: A gross income of $ 20 million by the end of 1966. Early Tamla/Motown artists included Mable John , Eddie Holland and Mary Wells . " Shop Around ", the Miracles' first number 1 R&B hit, peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960. It was Tamla's first million-selling record. On April 14, 1960, Motown and Tamla Records merged into a new company called Motown Record Corporation. A year later,

930-555: A key role in the early days of Motown, leading the company's first session group, The Rayber Voices, and overseeing Jobete. The studio that Gordy purchased in 1959 would become Motown's Hitsville U.S.A. studio. The photography studio located in the back of the property was modified into a small recording studio, and the Gordys moved into the second-floor living quarters. Within seven years, Motown would occupy seven additional neighboring houses: Motown had hired over 450 employees and had

1023-928: A later Friday morning meeting, as producer Norman Whitfield did with "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and the Temptations' " Ain't Too Proud to Beg ". Many of Motown's best-known songs, including all the early hits for the Supremes , were written by the songwriting trio of Holland–Dozier–Holland ( Lamont Dozier and brothers Brian and Eddie Holland ). Other important Motown producers and songwriters included Norman Whitfield , William "Mickey" Stevenson , Smokey Robinson , Barrett Strong , Nickolas Ashford & Valerie Simpson , Frank Wilson , Pamela Sawyer & Gloria Jones , James Dean & William Weatherspoon , Johnny Bristol , Harvey Fuqua , Gil Askey , Stevie Wonder , and Gordy himself. The style created by

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1116-477: A peak-popular hit of 1958. Between 1957 and 1958, Gordy wrote or produced over a hundred sides for various artists, with his siblings Anna, Gwen and Robert, and other collaborators in varying combinations. In 1957, Gordy met Smokey Robinson , a local seventeen-year-old singer fronting a vocal harmony group called the Matadors. Gordy was interested in the doo-wop style that Robinson sang. In 1958, Gordy recorded

1209-512: A photography studio at 2648 West Grand Boulevard and converted the main floor into a recording studio and office space. Now, rather than shopping his songs to other artists or leasing his recordings to outside companies, Gordy began using the Tamla and Motown imprints to release songs that he wrote and produced. He incorporated Motown Records in April 1960. Smokey Robinson became the vice president of

1302-544: A producer for Erykah Badu, became the head of the label, and oversaw successful recordings from Badu, McKnight, Michael McDonald , and new Motown artist India.Arie . Diana Ross, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and the Temptations had remained with the label since its early days, although all except Wonder recorded for other labels for several years. Ross left Motown for RCA Records from 1981 to 1988, but returned in 1989 and stayed until 2002, while Robinson left Motown in 1991 (although he did return to release one more album for

1395-532: A second label in 1960. The two labels featured the same writers, producers and artists. Many more subsidiary labels were established later under the umbrella of the Motown parent company, including Gordy Records, Soul Records and VIP Records; in reality the Motown Record Corporation controlled all of these labels. Most of the distinctions between Motown labels were largely arbitrary, with the same writers, producers and musicians working on all

1488-558: A similar arrangement, most significantly with United Artists . In 1958, Gordy wrote and produced " Come to Me " for Marv Johnson . Seeing that the song had great crossover potential, Gordy leased it to United Artists for national distribution but also released it locally on his own startup imprint. Needing $ 800 to cover his end of the deal, Gordy asked his family to borrow money from a cooperative family savings account. After some debate, his family agreed, and in January 1959 "Come to Me"

1581-466: A solo rendition of " Where Did Our Love Go? " by The Supremes . Bunton had stated that "I've always been a fan of Diana Ross , that song is perfect for me, it's just the right pitch. I wouldn't want to do a song I found hard to sing." The group then performed " Move Over ", portraying supermodels on a runway, dressed in outrageous, outlandish clothes. The dancers, dressed in black, play the role of photographers. Originally, they were going to have Adams wear

1674-572: A spirited take on the Annie Lennox-Aretha Franklin duet "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves", you could see the mothers in the crowd jump up in appreciation." Throughout the American leg of the tour, commercials were played on large concert screens before the shows and during intermissions. It was the first time advertising had been used in pop concerts and was met with mixed reactions in the music industry. Garcia wrote that

1767-584: A subsidiary of Capitol Records . In late 2018, Motown began celebrating its 60th anniversary by reissuing numerous albums from their catalog. Motown UK launched in September 2020 under Universal UK's EMI Records (formerly Virgin EMI Records ) division. Motown Records joined Interscope Capitol Labels Group in 2024. Motown specialized in a type of soul music it referred to with the trademark "The Motown sound". Crafted with an ear towards pop appeal,

1860-482: Is a correlation between whether a British citizen considers themselves "British" or "European" and whether they live in an area which primarily supported Brexit . Derivatively, the adjective continental refers to the social practices or fashion of continental Europe. Examples include breakfast , topless sunbathing and, historically, long-range driving (before Britain had motorways ) often known as Grand Touring . Differences include electrical plugs, time zones for

1953-581: Is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group . Founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of motor and town , has become a nickname for Detroit , where the label was originally headquartered. Motown played a vital role in the racial integration of popular music as an African American -owned label that achieved crossover success with white audiences. In

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2046-479: Is chronicled in the 2002 documentary film Standing in the Shadows of Motown , which publicised the fact that these musicians "played on more number-one records than The Beatles, Elvis, The Rolling Stones, and The Beach Boys combined". Ashford later played on Raphael Saadiq 's 2008 album The Way I See It , whose recording and production were modelled after the Motown sound. Much of the Motown sound came from

2139-416: Is currently owned by Sony Music Publishing (Sony/ATV until 2021) through the acquisition of EMI Music Publishing in 2012 (as a leader of the consortium and eventually assigned full ownership in 2018). During the 1990s, Motown was home to successful recording artists such as Boyz II Men and Johnny Gill , although the company itself remained in a state of turmoil. MCA appointed a series of executives to run

2232-551: Is hip." Despite losing Holland–Dozier–Holland, Norman Whitfield, and some of its other hitmakers by 1975, Motown still had a number of successful artists during the 1970s and 1980s, including Lionel Richie and the Commodores , Rick James , Teena Marie , the Dazz Band , Jose Feliciano and DeBarge . By the mid-1980s, Motown had started losing money, and Berry Gordy sold his ownership in Motown to MCA Records (which began

2325-610: Is that although the Scandinavian peninsula is attached to continental Europe, and accessible via a land route along the 66th parallel north , it is usually reached by sea. Kontinenten ("the Continent") is a vernacular Swedish expression that refers to an area excluding Sweden , Norway , and Finland but including Denmark (even the Danish Archipelago which is technically not a part of continental Europe) and

2418-573: The Billboard Hot 100 . Following the events of the Detroit Riots of 1967 , and the loss of key songwriting/production team Holland–Dozier–Holland that year over royalty disputes, Gordy moved Motown to Los Angeles, California and it expanded into film and television production. It was an independent company until MCA Records bought it in 1988. PolyGram purchased the label from MCA in 1993, followed by MCA successor Universal Music Group, which acquired PolyGram in 1999. Motown spent much of

2511-548: The Phoenix New Times wrote that: "Rarely has any concert experience so carefully worked so many marketing angles at once. For one thing, the Spice Girls have managed to carve out a niche as a pop group that even moms can love, and they offered just enough nostalgia to keep beleaguered parents happy. When Baby Spice embarked on a solo version of The Supremes' "Where Did Our Love Go", or when the group launched into

2604-634: The Canary Islands , Madeira , the Azores , Iceland , the Faroe Islands , and Svalbard . The Scandinavian Peninsula is sometimes also excluded even though it is a part of "mainland Europe", as the de facto connections to the rest of the continent were historically across the Baltic Sea or North Sea (rather than via the lengthy land route that involves travelling to the north of

2697-737: The Capitol Tower . In 2018, Motown was inducted into Rhythm and Blues Music Hall of Fame in a ceremony held at the Charles H. Wright Museum . In 2021, Motown separated from the Capitol Music Group to become a standalone label once again. On November 29, 2022, Ethiopia Habtemariam announced that she would be stepping down as chairwoman/CEO of Motown. As of 2023, acts signed to Motown include City Girls , Diddy , Migos , Lil Baby , Lil Yachty , Smino , Vince Staples , YoungBoy Never Broke Again , and several other artists in

2790-455: The European continent , – which can conversely mean the whole of Europe – and, by some, simply as the Continent . When Eurasia is regarded as a single continent, Europe is treated both as a continent and subcontinent . The continental territory of the historical Carolingian Empire was one of the many old cultural concepts used for mainland Europe . This was consciously invoked in

2883-608: The continental part of Greece (excluding the Aegean Islands , Crete , and the Ionian Islands ), the continental part of Italy (excluding Sardinia , Sicily , etc.), the continental part of Portugal (excluding the Azores and Madeira ), and the continental part of Spain (excluding the Balearic Islands , the Canary Islands , the plazas de soberanía , etc.). The term is used from the perspective of

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2976-562: The hip hop and R&B genres. Berry Gordy 's interest in the record business began when he opened a record store called the 3D Record Mart, a shop where he hoped to "educate customers about the beauty of jazz", in Detroit , Michigan . Although the shop did not last very long, Gordy's interest in the music business did not fade. He frequented Detroit's downtown nightclubs, and in the Flame Show Bar he met bar manager Al Green (not

3069-466: The soul singer of the same name ), who owned a music publishing company called Pearl Music and represented Detroit-based musician Jackie Wilson . Gordy soon became part of a group of songwriters—with his sister Gwen Gordy and Billy Davis —who wrote songs for Wilson. In November 1957, " Reet Petite " was released and became their first major hit. During the next eighteen months, Gordy helped to write six more Wilson A-sides, including " Lonely Teardrops ",

3162-424: The " KISS principle " (keep it simple, stupid). The Motown production process has been described as factory-like. The Hitsville studios remained open and active 22 hours a day, and artists would often go on tour for weeks, come back to Detroit to record as many songs as possible, and then promptly go on tour again. Berry Gordy held quality control meetings every Friday morning, and used veto power to ensure that only

3255-537: The "Spice Boys", the group then performed "Do It" as their third song during the European leg of the tour; for the North American leg the third song was changed to " Step To Me ". After a brief costume change, the group returns to the stage to perform "Denying". In this performance, Geri Halliwell played the role of a waitress, Mel B the role of a gambler, Victoria Adams the role of a dancer, Emma Bunton

3348-539: The 1950s as one of the basis for the prospective European integration (see also multi-speed Europe ) The most common definition of mainland Europe excludes these continental islands : the Greek islands , Cyprus , Malta , Sicily , Sardinia , Corsica , the Balearic Islands , Great Britain and Ireland and surrounding islands, Novaya Zemlya and the Nordic archipelago, as well as nearby oceanic islands , including

3441-502: The 1960s, Motown and its subsidiary labels (including Tamla-Motown , the brand used outside the US) were the most prominent exponents of what became known as the Motown sound , a style of soul music with a mainstream pop -influenced sound and appeal. Motown was the most successful soul music label, with a net worth of $ 61 million. Between 1960 and 1969, Motown had 79 songs reach the top-ten of

3534-418: The 1960s, became its president in 1973. John McClain, an A&M Records executive, opined that Motown leaving its birth city marked a decline in the label's quality. "Something happened when [Motown] left Detroit and came to [Los Angeles]," he said. "They quit being innovators and started following trends. Before, Berry had a much more hands-on approach. And maybe you lose some of your desire after you get to

3627-519: The 2000s headquartered in New York City as a part of the UMG subsidiaries Universal Motown and Universal Motown Republic Group . From 2011 to 2014, it was a part of The Island Def Jam Music Group division of Universal Music. In 2014, however, UMG announced the dissolution of Island Def Jam, and Motown relocated back to Los Angeles to operate under the Capitol Music Group , now operating out of

3720-496: The Marvelettes scored Tamla's first US number-one hit, " Please Mr. Postman ". By the mid-1960s, the company, with the help of songwriters and producers such as Robinson, A&R chief William "Mickey" Stevenson , Brian Holland , Lamont Dozier , and Norman Whitfield , had become a major force in the music industry. From 1961 to 1971, Motown had 110 top 10 hits. Top artists on the Motown label during that period included

3813-606: The Marvelettes was one of four) and then Oriole American (" Fingertips " by Little Stevie Wonder was one of many). In 1963, Motown signed with EMI's Stateside label (" Where Did Our Love Go " by the Supremes and " My Guy " by Mary Wells were Motown's first British top-20 hits). Eventually, EMI created the Tamla Motown label (" Stop! In the Name of Love " by the Supremes was the first Tamla Motown release in March 1965). After

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3906-787: The Motown musicians was a major influence on several non-Motown artists of the mid-1960s, such as Dusty Springfield and the Foundations . In the United Kingdom, the Motown sound became the basis of the northern soul movement. Smokey Robinson said the Motown sound had little to do with Detroit: People would listen to it, and they'd say, 'Aha, they use more bass. Or they use more drums.' Bullshit. When we were first successful with it, people were coming from Germany, France, Italy, Mobile, Alabama. From New York, Chicago, California. From everywhere . Just to record in Detroit. They figured it

3999-617: The Motown sound typically featured tambourines to accent the back beat , prominent and often melodic electric bass guitar lines, distinctive melodic and chord structures, and a call-and-response singing style that originated in gospel music . In 1971, Jon Landau wrote in Rolling Stone that the sound consisted of songs with simple structures but sophisticated melodies, along with a four-beat drum pattern, regular use of horns and strings, and "a trebly style of mixing that relied heavily on electronic limiting and equalizing (boosting

4092-703: The Sickest Kids , The Veer Union and Four Year Strong . Motown celebrated its 50th anniversary on January 12, 2009, and celebrated it in Detroit on November 20, 2009, in a black-tie Gala titled "Live It Again!" The event was hosted by Sinbad and included Stevie Wonder , Smokey Robinson , the Temptations , Aretha Franklin and Kid Rock . In mid-2011, Universal Motown reverted to the Motown brand after having been separated from Universal Motown Republic Group, hired Ethiopia Habtemariam as its Senior Vice President, and operated under The Island Def Jam Music Group . Artists from Universal Motown were transferred to

4185-438: The Spice Girls. This is because of differences between us. I'm sure the group will continue to be successful and I wish them all the best." The Spice Girls quickly released a statement which stated that the North American leg of the tour would continue as planned with the remaining group members. The Spice Girls finally wrapped up the tour by performing to 150,000 fans over two gigs at Wembley Stadium in September 1998. Against

4278-713: The Supremes (initially including Diana Ross ), the Four Tops , and the Jackson 5 , while Stevie Wonder , Marvin Gaye , the Marvelettes , and the Miracles had hits on the Tamla label. The company operated several labels in addition to the Tamla and Motown imprints. A third label, which Gordy named after himself (though it was originally called "Miracle") featured the Temptations , the Contours , Edwin Starr , and Martha and

4371-610: The Supremes and the Temptations, Diana! with Diana Ross, and Goin' Back to Indiana with the Jackson 5 . The company loosened its production rules, allowing some of its longtime artists the opportunity to write and produce more of their own material. This resulted in the recordings of successful and critically acclaimed albums such as Marvin Gaye 's What's Going On (1971) and Let's Get it On (1973), and Stevie Wonder 's Music of My Mind (1972), Talking Book (1972), and Innervisions (1973). Motown had established branch offices in both New York City and Los Angeles during

4464-944: The Vandellas . A fourth, V.I.P. , released recordings by the Velvelettes , the Spinners , the Monitors , and Chris Clark . A fifth label, Soul , featured Jr. Walker & the All Stars , Jimmy Ruffin , Shorty Long , the Originals , and Gladys Knight & the Pips (who had found success before joining Motown, as "The Pips" on Vee-Jay ). Many more Motown-owned labels released recordings in other genres, including Workshop Jazz (jazz) Earl Washington Reflections and Earl Washington's All Stars, Mel-o-dy (country, although it

4557-490: The adverts were a "strange note" in a show that otherwise "delivered what it promised". He also criticised the group's performance of "Move Over", their Pepsi advert song, saying that the "rampant, near-subliminal Pepsi imagery on the video screen, seemed a tad too mercenary for even this ultracommercial setting." On the other hand, tour promoter John Scher acknowledged that, "[T]he cost of touring has become somewhat obscene. If it allows corporate sponsors to put more money into

4650-418: The company (and later named his daughter "Tamla" and his son "Berry"). Several of Gordy's family members , including his father Berry Sr., brothers Robert and George, and sister Esther, were given key roles in the company. By the middle of the decade, Gwen and Anna Gordy had joined the label in administrative positions as well. Gordy's partner at the time (and wife from 1960 to 1964), Raynoma Liles , also played

4743-412: The company, beginning with Berry Gordy's immediate successor, Jheryl Busby . Busby quarreled with MCA, alleging that the company did not give Motown's product adequate attention or promotion. In 1991, Motown sued MCA to have its distribution deal with the company terminated, and began releasing its product through PolyGram . PolyGram purchased Motown from Boston Ventures three years later. In 1994, Busby

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4836-403: The door at the back of the stage to reveal the Spice Girls. The group members were dressed in futuristic costumes, the first of 11 costume changes. They entered the stage performing "If U Can't Dance", followed by " Who Do You Think You Are ", which included an introduction sample from Club 69 's "Diva" and RuPaul 's " Supermodel (You Better Work) ". Accompanied by the tour dancers, referred to as

4929-726: The end of the European portion of the tour, Geri Halliwell did not appear for shows in Oslo, Norway. Halliwell's final performances occurred in Helsinki, Finland at the Hartwall Arena. Promotional appearances with the new 4-piece promoting the release of 'Viva Forever' on the National Lottery also claimed that Halliwell was ill. On 31 May 1998, Halliwell announced her departure from the Spice Girls. Through her solicitor she stated: "Sadly I would like to confirm that I have left

5022-411: The entertainment world and allows us to see more shows, it's positive." By opening up a whole new source of revenue, industry experts predicted more acts would follow the Spice Girls' lead. The audio of the full show at Birmingham's NEC Arena was broadcast live on BBC Radio 1 . Originally, Molly Dineen was meant to film a behind-the-scenes documentary with the Spice Girls during their American leg of

5115-523: The group's song "Got a Job" (an answer song to " Get a Job " by the Silhouettes ), and released it as a single by leasing the record to a larger company outside Detroit called End Records , based in New York. The practice was common at the time for a small-time producer. "Got a Job" was the first single by Robinson's group, now called the Miracles . Gordy recorded a number of other records by forging

5208-400: The high range frequencies) to give the overall product a distinctive sound, particularly effective for broadcast over AM radio". Pop production techniques such as the use of orchestral string sections, charted horn sections, and carefully arranged background vocals were also used. Complex arrangements and elaborate, melismatic vocal riffs were avoided. Motown producers believed steadfastly in

5301-461: The highest-grossing tour ever by a female group. The Spiceworld Tour was the first global tour staged by the group, and proved to be an almost instant sell-out. Tickets for the first two shows in Ireland sold out within 2 hours, and various shows on the North American leg such as Los Angeles, Toronto and Philadelphia sold out within mere minutes of sale. In New York City, the group set the record for

5394-476: The illusion that they were naked. The group then sang "2 become 1" wearing velvet catsuits. Ho wanted something luxurious, but not too over the top and felt that velvet was perfect, and it matched the song's feel as well, which was quiet and atmospheric. After "2 Become 1", they performed "Walk of Life". Mel B & Melanie C then covered " Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves ", which was originally sung by Annie Lennox and Aretha Franklin . The group then returned to

5487-461: The impact because acts were going all over the world at that time. I recognized the bridges that we crossed, the racial problems and the barriers that we broke down with music. I recognized that because I lived it. I would come to the South in the early days of Motown and the audiences would be segregated. Then they started to get the Motown music and we would go back and the audiences were integrated and

5580-542: The island residents of each country to describe the continental portion of their country or the continent (or mainland) as a whole. Metropolitan France is also known as l'Hexagone , "the Hexagon", referring to its approximate shape on a map. Continental Italy is also known as lo Stivale , "the Boot", referring to its approximate shape on a map. Continental Spain is referred to as peninsular Spain . Motown Motown

5673-553: The kids were dancing together and holding hands. In 1967, Berry Gordy purchased what is now known as Motown Mansion in Detroit's Boston-Edison Historic District as his home, leaving his previous home to his sister Anna and her then-husband Marvin Gaye (where photos for the cover of his album What's Going On were taken). In 1968, Gordy purchased the Donovan building on the corner of Woodward Avenue and Interstate 75 , and moved Motown's Detroit offices there (the Donovan building

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5766-623: The label in 1999). The Temptations left for Atlantic Records in 1977, but returned in 1980 and eventually left again in 2004. Wonder finally left the label in 2020. In 2005, Massenburg was replaced by Sylvia Rhone , former CEO of Elektra Records . Motown was merged with Universal Records to create the Universal Motown Records and placed under the newly created umbrella division of Universal Motown Republic Group . Notable artists on Universal Motown included Drake Bell , Ryan Leslie , Melanie Fiona , Kelly Rowland , Forever

5859-576: The less-than-dignified image commonly held of black musicians by white Americans in that era. Given that many of the talented young artists had been raised in housing projects and lacked the necessary social and dress experience, this Motown department was not only necessary, it created an elegant style of presentation long associated with the label. The artist development department specialized primarily in working with younger, less-experienced acts; experienced performers such as Jr. Walker and Marvin Gaye were exempt from artist-development classes. Many of

5952-498: The mid-1960s, and by 1969 had begun gradually moving more of its operations to Los Angeles. The company moved all of its operations to Los Angeles in June 1972, with a number of artists, among them Martha Reeves , the Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, and many of the Funk Brothers studio band, either staying behind in Detroit or leaving the company for other reasons. By re-locating, Motown aimed chiefly to branch out into

6045-660: The most part, the use of left-hand traffic , and for the United Kingdom, currency and the continued use of certain imperial units alongside the metric units which have long since displaced customary units in continental Europe. Britain is physically connected to continental Europe through the undersea Channel Tunnel (the longest undersea tunnel in the world), which accommodates both the Eurotunnel Shuttle (passenger and vehicle use – vehicle required) and Eurostar (passenger use only) services. These services were established to transport passengers and vehicles through

6138-535: The motion-picture industry, and Motown Productions got its start in film by turning out two hit-vehicles for Diana Ross : the Billie Holiday biographical film Lady Sings the Blues (1972), and Mahogany (1975). Other Motown films would include Scott Joplin (1977), Thank God It's Friday (1978), The Wiz (1978) and The Last Dragon (1985). Ewart Abner , who had been associated with Motown since

6231-533: The newly revitalized Motown label. On January 25, 2012, it was announced that Ne-Yo would join the Motown label both as an artist as well as the new Senior Vice President of A&R. On April 1, 2014, it was announced that Island Def Jam would no longer be running following the resignation of CEO Barry Weiss. A press release sent out by Universal Music Group announced that the label would now be reorganizing Def Jam Recordings, Island Records and Motown Records all as separate entities. Motown would then begin serving as

6324-489: The peninsula where it meets Finland, and then south through northeast Europe). The Øresund Bridge now links the Scandinavian road and rail networks to those of Western Europe. In both Great Britain and Ireland, the Continent is widely and generally used to refer to the mainland of Europe. An amusing British newspaper headline supposedly once read, "Fog in Channel ; Continent Cut Off". It has also been claimed that this

6417-491: The publishing firm Jobete in June 1959 (incorporated in Michigan). He applied for copyrights on more than seventy songs before the end of 1959, including material used for the Miracles and Frances Burnett records, which were leased to Chess and Coral Records . The Michigan Chronicle of Detroit called Gordy an "independent producer of records", as his contributions to the city were beginning to attract notice. By that time, he

6510-593: The quickest ever sell-out, selling 13,000 tickets for Madison Square Garden in less than 12 minutes. Such was the interest, it led to State Attorney General Dennis Vacco (together with the co-operation of the group) to investigate whether illegal scalping to ticket brokers had taken place – a claim that was later dropped by the Attorney General's office . The tour kicked off in Dublin , Ireland on 24 February 1998 before moving on to mainland Europe. Days before

6603-568: The rest of continental Europe. In Norway, similarly, one speaks about Kontinentet as a separate entity. In Denmark, Jutland is referred to as the mainland and thereby a part of continental Europe. The Scandinavian Peninsula is now connected to the Danish mainland (the Jutland Peninsula ) by several bridges and tunnels. The Continent may sometimes refer to the continental part of France (excluding Corsica and overseas France ),

6696-450: The role of a gangster's girlfriend and Melanie C the role of a club owner. The group then sang " Too Much " sat down on chairs. After another costume change, the group performed " Stop ". Kenny Ho , their stylist and costume designer, dressed the group in '60s themed clothing to fit the Motown -influenced song. Halliwell's costume was inspired by Madonna 's " Holiday section from her Blond Ambition World Tour . After "Stop", Bunton sang

6789-619: The scenes tour of the stage was also aired prior to the broadcast of the Wembley Stadium concert on MuchMusic in Canada. Live at Wembley Stadium , a video release of the group's show at Wembley Stadium, was released on VHS on 16 November 1998 and on DVD on 6 October 2008.       Continental Europe Continental Europe or mainland Europe is the contiguous mainland of Europe , excluding its surrounding islands. It can also be referred to ambiguously as

6882-410: The song. They were originally going to put dry ice on the stage, but the idea was dropped because it would have made the stage slippery, dangerous and very hard to dance on. During later performances of "Viva Forever", Chisholm would ad-lib the line "Spice Girls forever", in place of the lines "Viva Forever", towards the end of the song. The show ended with a '70s theme, with each group member dressed in

6975-811: The songwriting process of the writers and producers, one of the major factors in the widespread appeal of Motown's music was Gordy's practice of using a highly-select and tight-knit group of studio musicians, collectively known as the Funk Brothers , to record the instrumental or "band" tracks of a majority of Motown recordings. Among the studio musicians responsible for the "Motown sound" were keyboardists Earl Van Dyke , Johnny Griffith , and Joe Hunter ; guitarists Ray Monette , Joe Messina , Robert White , and Eddie Willis ; percussionists Eddie "Bongo" Brown and Jack Ashford ; drummers Benny Benjamin , Uriel Jones , and Richard "Pistol" Allen ; and bassists James Jamerson and Bob Babbitt . The band's career and work

7068-423: The songwriting trio Holland–Dozier–Holland left the label in 1967 over royalty-payment disputes, Norman Whitfield became the company's top producer, turning out hits for the Temptations, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight & the Pips and Rare Earth. In the meantime Berry Gordy established Motown Productions, a television subsidiary which produced TV specials for the Motown artists, including TCB , with Diana Ross &

7161-411: The stage and sang "Wannabe", " Spice Up Your Life " and "Mama". For their performance of "Mama", they set on steps above the stage, with three huge video screens projecting childhood photos of each member. In their next performance of " Viva Forever ", all five group members were dressed in white clothing, as their costume designer Ho wanted their outfits to reflect a sense of purity and spirituality to fit

7254-550: The tour saw the group play 20 arena shows to over 350,000 fans; the second UK portion of the tour saw the group play two Don Valley Stadium shows to 76,000 fans, and two Wembley Stadium shows to 150,000 fans. The tour received mixed to positive reviews. Natalie Nichols of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "[t]heir energy and dedication were sincere, even though the music was all unconvincing dance grooves and slick soul-pop, lightly seasoned with funk, hip-hop and rock by

7347-452: The tour. After Geri Halliwell's departure, Dineen was called and started filming a documentary starring her instead. She was replaced by Ian Denyer who directed the documentary, broadcast on Channel 4 and subsequently released on VHS under the title Spice Girls In America: A Tour Story . The final show at Wembley Stadium was broadcast live on 20 September 1998 on Sky Box Office and presented by Dani Behr and Georgie Stait. A full behind

7440-541: The tunnel on a 24/7 basis between England and continental Europe, while still maintaining passport and immigration control measures on both sides of the tunnel. This route is popular with refugees and migrants seeking to enter the UK. Especially in Germanic studies , continental refers to the European continent excluding the Scandinavian Peninsula , Britain, Ireland, and Iceland. The reason for this

7533-528: The use of overdubbed and duplicated instrumentation. Motown songs regularly featured two drummers instead of one (either overdubbed or in unison), as well as three or four guitar lines. Bassist James Jamerson often played his instrument with only the index finger of his right hand, and created many of the basslines apparent on Motown songs such as " Up the Ladder to the Roof " by the Supremes. Artist development

7626-541: The very best material and performances would be released. The test was that every new release needed to fit into a sequence of the top five selling pop singles of the week. Several tracks that later became critical and commercial favorites were initially rejected by Gordy, the two most notable being the Marvin Gaye songs " I Heard It Through the Grapevine " and " What's Going On ". In several cases, producers would rework tracks in hopes of eventually getting them approved at

7719-445: The young artists participated in an annual package tour called the " Motortown Revue ", which was popular, first, on the " Chitlin' Circuit ", and, later, around the world. The tours gave the younger artists a chance to hone their performance and social skills and learn from the more experienced artists. In order to avoid accusations of payola should DJs play too many records from the original Tamla label, Gordy formed Motown Records as

7812-577: Was Barrett Strong's " Money (That's What I Want) ", written by Gordy and a secretary named Janie Bradford , and produced by Gordy. Many of the songs distributed locally by Anna and Tamla Records were nationally distributed by Chess Records (sometimes with Anna and Tamla imprints). Gordy's relationship with Chess fostered closer dealings with Harvey Fuqua , nephew of Charlie Fuqua of the Ink Spots . Harvey Fuqua later married Gwen Gordy in 1961. Gordy looked toward creative self-sufficiency and established

7905-425: Was a major part of Motown's operations instituted by Berry Gordy. The acts on the Motown label were fastidiously groomed, dressed and choreographed for live performances. Motown artists were advised that their breakthrough into the white popular music market made them ambassadors for other African-American artists seeking broad market acceptance, and that they should think, act, walk and talk like royalty, so as to alter

7998-545: Was a regular weather forecast in Britain in the 1930s. In addition, the word Europe itself is also regularly used to mean Europe excluding the islands of Great Britain, Iceland, and Ireland (although the term is often used to refer to the European Union ). The term mainland Europe is also sometimes used. Usage of these terms may reflect political or cultural allegiances, for example it has been observed that there

8091-424: Was acquired by Seagram , and Motown was absorbed into the Universal Music Group . Seagram had purchased Motown's former parent MCA in 1995, and Motown was in effect reunited with many of its MCA corporate siblings (Seagram had hoped to build a media empire around Universal, and started by purchasing PolyGram). Universal briefly considered shuttering the label, but instead decided to restructure it. Kedar Massenburg ,

8184-420: Was demolished in January 2006 to provide parking spaces for Super Bowl XL ). In the same year, Gordy purchased Golden World Records , and its recording studio became "Studio B" to Hitsville's "Studio A". In the United Kingdom, Motown's records were released on various labels: at first London (only the Miracles' "Shop Around"/" Who's Lovin' You " and "Ain't It Baby"), then Fontana ("Please Mr. Postman" by

8277-482: Was in the air, that if they came to Detroit and recorded on the freeway, they'd get the Motown sound. Listen, the Motown sound to me is not an audible sound. It's spiritual, and it comes from the people that make it happen. What other people didn't realize is that we just had one studio there, but we recorded in Chicago , Nashville , New York, L.A.—almost every big city. And we still got the sound. In addition to

8370-472: Was originally an R&B label), and Rare Earth , whose acts, including the eponymous band , explored blues-oriented and progressive rock styles. Under the slogan "The Sound of Young America", Motown's acts were enjoying widespread popularity among black and white audiences alike. Smokey Robinson said of Motown's cultural impact: Into the 1960s, I was still not of a frame of mind that we were not only making music, we were making history. But I did recognize

8463-515: Was released regionally on Gordy's new Tamla label. Gordy originally wanted to name the label Tammy Records, after the hit song popularized by Debbie Reynolds from the 1957 film Tammy and the Bachelor , in which Reynolds also starred. When he found the name was already in use, Berry decided on Tamla instead. In April 1959, Gordy and his sister Gwen founded Anna Records which released about two dozen singles between 1959 and 1960. The most popular

8556-459: Was replaced by Andre Harrell , the entrepreneur behind Uptown Records . Harrell served as Motown's CEO for just under two years, leaving the company after receiving bad publicity for being inefficient. Danny Goldberg, who ran PolyGram's Mercury Records group, assumed control of Motown, and George Jackson served as president. By 1998, Motown had added stars such as 702 , Brian McKnight , and Erykah Badu to its roster. In December 1998, PolyGram

8649-476: Was the president of Jobete, Tamla, and the music writing company Rayber. Gordy worked in various Detroit-based studios during this period to produce recordings and demos, but most prominently with United Sound Systems which was considered the best studio in town. However, producing at United Sound Systems was financially taxing and not appropriate for every job, so Gordy decided it would be more cost effective to maintain his own facility. In mid-1959, he purchased

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