After
starting Tamla Records in January 1959, Berry Gordy founded
a second label, Motown Records, in September 1959. Also
in 1959, Gordy purchased the property that 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 a few years, Motown would occupy several neighboring
houses with administrative offices, mixing, mastering and
rehearsal studios.
Despite losing Holland–Dozier–Holland, Norman Whitfield, and
a number of its other hitmakers by 1975, Motown still had
a number of successful artists during the late 1970s and 1980s.
In Australia, US Gordy was issued on HMV (1963), Stateside
(1964) then TamlaMotown from 1965. |