Berry Gordy dropped out to box, came back with a record label, and built Motown.
From a Detroit family of eight children to the founder of Motown, Berry Gordy signed acts including the Supremes and Marvin Gaye and ran the highest-earning Black-owned business for decades.
Berry Gordy III was born in Detroit in 1929, the seventh of eight children. His father ran a grocery store, a plastering and carpentry business and a printing shop. Gordy dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade to become a professional boxer, hoping to get rich quickly, and boxed until he was drafted into the army in 1951 for the Korean War.
After returning in 1953 he earned a GED, started writing songs and opened a record store.
From songwriter to label founder
He wrote or co-wrote hits including “Money (That’s What I Want)” and, for Jackie Wilson, “Lonely Teardrops”, and later songs for the Jackson 5. As founder of Motown and its subsidiaries, he launched the Miracles and signed acts including the Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, the Four Tops, Gladys Knight and the Pips, and Stevie Wonder. Motown was the highest-earning African-American business for decades.
He was known for carefully directing the image, dress, manners and choreography of his artists.
Gordy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, received the National Medal of Arts from President Barack Obama in 2016 and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2021. His story shows how a founder who understood both music and business built something that outlasted any one song.
