Get ready for all the hits, glittering costumes, dazzling dance routines and outstanding musicianship in this breath-taking live concert spectacular. It’s no surprise that this show is one of the biggest success stories in British theatre history.Ĭome and celebrate with us as we’re coming out to start off a chain reaction and take you on a musical journey with the biggest Motown party of the year. Words by Veronica Webb – the first Black model to receive a multi-year cosmetics contract in the 1980s, and now Fashion and Beauty Editor of The Glow Up.The Magic of Motown is now in its 16th year and seen by over a million people. And a variety of contemporary artists have sampled Motown music. Former President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle danced to “You & I” by Stevie Wonder at their wedding In an interview with Hypebeast, Kanye West has said his 'favorite record label of all time is Motown”. Nearly 60 years since its founding, the music of Motown Records continues to inspire people from a variety of generations and across many communities, both within Detroit and internationally. In 1988, after selling multiple millions of records, earning numerous industry awards, and changing music forever, Berry sold his startup for $61 million.

Motown Records launched the careers of Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Smokey Robinson (who also was the company’s VP). He borrowed $800 from his family’s “lending club” to start a record label, in his home in Detroit. How did the magic of Motown Records begin? In 1959, a Detroit auto worker named Berry Gordy saw a need for “product inclusion” in the American recording industry at the time: a Black-owned music company, which would focus on Black music. She says: “No matter how many years, or even decades that pass, 'What's Going On' continues to be a reminder to us all to continuously question the world around us, and work towards improved conditions, not just for ourselves and our loved ones, but also for our neighbors.' Morgan Debaun, the co-founder and CEO of Blavity, a website created by and for Black millennials, also draws inspiration from Motown. I owe my hometown credit for the song in my heart, and for the fact that it inspires me do what I love everyday. 1967's number one hit 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' by Marvin Gaye and The Supremes, a Motown anthem that blared from houses and cars from my earliest childhood memories, assured me that true power could be attained through elegance and beauty. My city's music was the soundtrack to the Civil Rights movement and unified the world in way no other music ever had before.

Motown was, in my young imagination, the working man's version of Hollywood. I grew up in the 70s in Detroit just walking distance from Hitsville, the headquarters of Motown Records, which is now the site of the Motown Museum. Motown and the success of Black Americans are synonymous in my mind.

Motown magic songs