MISGUIDED MAGAZINE SPRING 2020

VOL 4
ENTREPRENUERS
BERRY GORDY JR.
Berry Gordy Jr. is an entrepreneur, successful media
executive and businessman, and the founder of
Motown Records. He tried many careers—boxing,
record store ownership, assembly line worker and a
tour in the U. S. Army during the Korean War—until he
found a niche in the world of entertainment. A gifted
songwriter, Berry penned or co-wrote hits for Jackie
Wilson, including “Reet Petite,” “Lonely Teardrops”
and “To Be Loved.” Despite this success, Berry was
not content to write songs: He burned with the
entrepreneurial spirit. With an $800 loan from the
Gordy Family’s Ber-Berry Co-op, Berry set out in 1959
to apply some of the principles he learned in the auto
plant to the production of records and the creation
of music groups and solo artists. In 1960 Motown
released the song “Shop Around,” written by Smokey
Robinson and performed by him and the Miracles. The
song sold more than a million copies, and with that
record Gordy’s company launched the most successful
and influential era in the history of popular music.
Motown Records made more than 110 number-one hit
songs and countless top-ten records. The same vision
that conceived of Motown Records led Berry Gordy,
Jr., into the movie industry in the 1970s. Although he
had moved into a different medium, Berry’s eye for
talent was evident in the casting of Billy Dee Williams
opposite Diana Ross in two films, Lady Sings the Blues
and Mahogany. Hit movies followed his move to Los
Angeles, with Motown artists, like Diana Ross and
Michael Jackson starring in films Gordy produced,
including the film adaptation of the Broadway musical,
The Wiz. In June 1988 Gordy sold his company to MCA,
Inc. He kept control of Jobete, the music publishing
operation, and Motown’s film division, but he sold the
record company for $61 million..
Sources: motownmuseum.org/story/berry-gordy/, and
notablebiographies.com/Gi-He/Gordy-Jr-Berry.html
MISGUIDED MAGAZINE | 57