Re: A Tamla Motown Hot 100

At 94, Stevie Wonder – Happy Birthday (1981)




A song written, produced and performed by Stevie Wonder for the Motown label. Wonder, a social activist, was one of the main figures in the campaign to have the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. become a national holiday, and created this single to make the cause known.

Ironically, the song was never released as a US single, so it never reached its intended audience but, in the UK, the single peaked at No. 2 in the pop charts.

Re: A Tamla Motown Hot 100

At 93, Diana Ross - Upside Down (1980)



"Upside Down" was issued as the lead single from Ross's tenth studio album, Diana. It was a huge hit internationally, topping the singles charts in the USA, Sweden, Italy, Norway, and Switzerland, while reaching number five in Canada and number two on the UK singles chart.

The song was written and produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers (of the band Chic). As would be widely reported later, their studio liaison with Ross was not a success. She disliked the results of their sessions and gave them specific remixing instructions; they made slight changes and suggested that if she still did not like them, she could get them remixed herself. Ross did so, reworking the whole album with Motown producer Russ Terrana to downplay the funk element and make her voice more prominent.

Not one of my favourites .....

Re: A Tamla Motown Hot 100

At 92, Eddie Kendricks - Keep On Truckin' (Part 1) (1973)




Eddie Kendricks had split from The Temptations in 1971 - it took two years for him to achieve a major hit on his own. "Keep On Truckin'" was produced and partly written by Frank Wilson.

The song's title was, apparently, inspired by Robert Crumb's artwork "Keep On Truckin'":

Re: A Tamla Motown Hot 100

At 91, Kim Weston - Helpless (1966)

Re: A Tamla Motown Hot 100

At 90, Marvin Gaye - Gonna Give Her All The Love I've Got (1969)




"Gonna Give Her All the Love I've Got" was originally recorded and made a hit by Jimmy Ruffin on Motown's Soul Label imprint in 1967. The song was written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong and produced by Whitfield.

The single by Marvin Gaye, from the album That's the Way Love Is, was similarly producer by Norman Whitfield.

Another Motown act, The Temptations, recorded the song as part of their album "The Temptations Wish It Would Rain".

Re: A Tamla Motown Hot 100

At 89, The Elgins - Heaven Must Have Sent You (1966)




This song was very popular on the Northern soul scene in the UK and was reissued in by Tamla Motown in 1971.

Re: A Tamla Motown Hot 100

At 88, Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons - The Night (1972)




Although the single failed to chart when first released, it became a popular track on the northern soul circuit, which led to a successful UK re-release in the spring of 1975.

Re: A Tamla Motown Hot 100

At 87, Marv Johnson - Come To Me (1959)




"Come to Me" is the debut single by American singer Marv Johnson and is notable as the first ever single to be released by what would eventually become known as Motown, on the newly formed Tamla Records label.

Originally the label was to be called Tammy Records, which Berry Gordy named after the Debbie Reynolds hit, "Tammy", that is until a record label of the same name took notice, forcing Gordy to alter the name to Tamla Records.

Re: A Tamla Motown Hot 100

At 86, Jr. Walker & The All Stars - Shotgun (1965)




"Shotgun" was written and composed by Walker and produced by Berry Gordy Jr. and Lawrence Horn. The song utilises only one chord throughout the entire song -- A-flat seventh. Other songs featuring this same structure (or non-structure) are "Chain of Fools" and "Land of 1000 Dances".

Re: A Tamla Motown Hot 100

At 85, Chris Clark - I Want To Go Back There Again (1967)




Chris Clark was a six-foot platinum blonde soul singer who was one of the few white artists signed to Motown Records. She achieved little commercial success but co-wrote the screenplay for the 1972 motion picture Lady Sings the Blues starring Diana Ross. During the early 1970s, she was an executive with Motown's Film and Television Production Division in Los Angeles. In 1975 Clark was the Creative Assistant on the motion picture Mahogany. Ultimately Clark served as Head of Creative Affairs for Motown from 1981 to 1989.

A good song, but, IMO, Clark stuck out like a sore thumb - not only white and tall but also not particularly talented. She was, though, ambitious.