Tag Archives: Stevie Wonder
Headlines Du Jour ► Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Hello, Headliners. Today’s birthday is celebrated by Stevland Hardaway Judkins, but you all know him as Stevie Wonder. Here are some of the other Headlines Du Jour of yesteryear:
- 1780 – The Cumberland Compact is signed by leaders of the settlers in early Tennessee.
- 1846 – Mexican–American War: The United States declares war on Mexico.
- 1861 – The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia.
- 1880 – In Menlo Park, New Jersey, Thomas Edison performs the first test of his electric railway.
- 1917 – Three children report the first apparition of Our Lady of Fátima in Fátima, Portugal.
- 1939 – The first commercial FM radio station in the United States is launched in Bloomfield, Connecticut. The station later becomes WDRC-FM.
- 1954 – The original Broadway production of The Pajama Game opens and runs for another 1,063 performances. Later received three Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical, and Best Choreography.
- 1958 – During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela, Vice President Richard Nixon‘s car is attacked by anti-American demonstrators.
- 1958 – The trade mark Velcro is registered.
- 1960 – Hundreds of University of California, Berkeley students congregate for the first day of protest against a visit by the House Committee on Un-American Activities. Thirty-one students are arrested, and the Free Speech Movement is born.
- 1981 – Mehmet Ali Ağca attempts to assassinate Pope John Paul II in St. Peter’s Square in Rome. The Pope is rushed to the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic to undergo emergency surgery and survives.
- 1985 – Police release a bomb on MOVE headquarters in Philadelphia to end a stand-off, killing 11 MOVE members and destroying the homes of 250 city residents.
- 1994 – Johnny Carson makes his last television appearance on Late Show with David Letterman.
Let’s get to today’s Headlines Du Jour:
LGBT NEWS:
TEABAGGED ENOUGH ALREADY?
TODAY IN RELIGION:
BULLY CORNER:
CNN IN THE NEWS AGAIN:
TODDLES IN THE NEWS AGAIN:
STEVE DOOCY IN THE NEWS AGAIN:
ELISABETH HASSELBECK IN THE NEWS AGAIN:
ANN COULTER IN THE NEWS AGAIN:
IN OUTER SPACE:
Neil deGrasse Tyson Sends Right-Wing Flagship Newspaper Into Tizzy Over Evolution and Climate Change
Washington Times contributor finds it
frustrating that scientists don’t default to God.
frustrating that scientists don’t default to God.
VIDEO DU JOUR:
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Musical Appreciation ► Happy Birthday, Berry Gordy, Jr.
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| The Motown Museum in 2010, taken by author. |
Dateline November 28, 1929 – Berry Gordy, Jr. is born in Detroit, Michigan, the city he would later rename Motown.
The broad contours of Gordy’s life are well-known: He was the 7th of 8 children born to Berry Gordy II and Bertha Fuller Gordy, who had come up to Detroit in the early ’20s to work in the car business. Berry dropped out of school and opted for a career as a boxer, which he abandoned when he was drafted for service in Korea. When he returned from the service, he started writing songs. His first hit was “Reet Petite” for Jackie Wilson, which started Gordy off in show biz. After a few more songwriting credits, which include the smash “Lonely Teardrops,” he decided to try his hand at producing. He found a Detroit Doo Wop group called The Matadors, renamed The Miracles, which started Gordy’s roster of artists.
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| The street sign in front of the Motown Museum |
In 1959 Gordy borrowed $800 from his family and started up his own record label, Tamla Records. The first record issued on Tamla was “Come To Me,” by The Miracles and written by Marv Johnson, who later wrote “You Got What It Takes.” It wasn’t until the 3rd release, “Bad Girl” by The Miracles, that Motown was officially launched as a record label.
New artists and new hits followed: Barrett Strong‘s “Money (That’s What I Want),” and The Miracles‘ “Shop Around,” The Marvelettes‘ “Please Mr. Postman,” Mary Wells, The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Jimmy Ruffin, The Contours, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, The Commodores, The Velvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, The Jackson 5, and many more.
Growing up in Detroit in the ’60s, it made one feel great to know the city had its own record label. When The Beatles started covering Motown tunes, we knew for sure that Motown had arrived worldwide.
However, the good times couldn’t last. In the early ’70s Gordy moved the Motown base of operations to Los Angeles, and things have never been the same since, for Detroit or the label.
However, it’s always been about the music. Here’s a Berry Gordy Jukebox for your listening pleasure. Get ready to sing and dance along, because you won’t be able to help yourself. And that, my friends, demonstrates the power of Motown.