The Temptations are an American vocal group who released a series of successful singles and albums with Motown Records during the 1960s and 1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top 10 hit single "Cloud Nine" in October 1968, pioneered psychedelic soul, and was significant in the evolution of R&B and soul music. The band members are known for their choreography, distinct harmonies, and dress style. Having sold tens of millions of albums, the Temptations are among the most successful groups in popular music.
Motown Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has become a nickname for Detroit, where the label was originally headquartered.
The Winans family is a U.S. family of gospel music artists from Detroit, Michigan.
Levi Stubbs was an American baritone singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the R&B group the Four Tops, who released a variety of Motown hit records during the 1960s and 1970s. He has been noted for his powerful, emotional, dramatic style of singing.
Guy Antony Chambers is an English songwriter, musician and record producer, best known for his work with Robbie Williams, although he has written songs with other artists including Caro Emerald, Rufus Wainwright, Katy B, Marlon Roudette, Miles Kane, Mark Ronson, John Newman, Kylie Minogue, Example, The Wanted, James Blunt, Melanie C, Katie Melua, Schmidt, Tina Turner, Zak Abel and many others.
MauriceWhite was an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and arranger. He was the founder and leader of the band Earth, Wind & Fire. White served as the band's main songwriter, record producer and co-lead singer with Philip Bailey.
Frederick Dewey Smith, known professionally as Fred "Sonic" Smith, was an American guitarist, best known as a member of the influential and political Detroit rock band, the MC5. At age 31, he married and raised a family with poet and fellow rock musician, Patti Smith. The couple collaborated musically, and raised two children together.
Etterlene "Bunny" DeBarge is an American soul singer–songwriter, best known as the lone female sibling of the Motown family group DeBarge. She is also best known as the lead vocalist behind the classic R&B ballad, "A Dream" from the group's In a Special Way album and is also the co-writer of the group's 1982 breakthrough hit, "I Like It" and the number-one hit, "Time Will Reveal".
The Five Stairsteps, known as "The First Family of Soul" and later "The Invisible Man's Band", was an American Chicago soul group made up of five of Betty and Clarence Burke Sr.'s six children: Alohe Jean, Clarence Jr., James, Dennis, and Kenneth "Keni", and briefly, Cubie. They are best known for the 1970 song "O-o-h Child", listed at #402 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The Kentucky Headhunters are an American country rock and Southern rock band. They were founded in 1968 as Itchy Brother, which consisted of brothers Richard Young and Fred Young along with Greg Martin and Anthony Kenney. Itchy Brother performed together until 1982, with James Harrison replacing Martin from 1973 to 1976. The Young brothers and Martin began performing as The Kentucky Headhunters in 1986, adding brothers Ricky Lee Phelps and Doug Phelps to the membership.
Robert Louis "Bobby" DeBarge, Jr. was an American singer and musician. DeBarge was the lead singer of the Motown R&B/soul vocal group Switch and was noted for his impressive falsetto vocals. Later on, he served as both mentor and a co-producer of his siblings' band, DeBarge, eventually joining them to fill in for departing members El and Bunny. Personal problems, including substance abuse which eventually led to drug trafficking charges in 1988, plagued DeBarge in later years, taking focus away from his musical career. He contracted HIV in the 1980s, and died of AIDS complications in 1995, at age 39.
Yossi (Joseph) Toiv, known professionally as Country Yossi, is an American Orthodox Jewish composer, singer, radio show host, author, and magazine publisher. A pioneering composer and singer in the Jewish music genre, Toiv has to his credit three albums as a member of the group Or Chodosh circa 1971–73, seven albums under the name Country Yossi and the Shteeble Hoppers, and a series of six albums for children called Kivi and Tuki. He also released "Country Yossi's Classic Calls" a humorous collection of actual on-air phone calls to his radio show. He has also released two animated Kivi and Tuki DVDs.
Lakeside is a funk band, best known for their 1980 number one R&B hit, "Fantastic Voyage".
Black Merda is an American rock band from Detroit, active from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s and reuniting in 2005. The core band members are guitarist/vocalist Anthony Hawkins, bassist/guitarist/vocalist VC L. Veasey, and guitarist/vocalist Charles Hawkins, plus original drummer/vocalist Tyrone Hite. Hite was a native of Detroit; the Hawkins brothers and Veasey were all born in Mississippi and came of age in Detroit.
Bruce Charles Sudano is an American singer-songwriter, noted for creating songs for artists such as Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire and his late wife, the Grammy Award-winning singer Donna Summer. Sudano is the founder of indie record label Purple Heart Recording Company.
Tim & Bob, also known as Funktwons, were a songwriting and production duo. Tim & Bob have discovered and or worked on some of the biggest artists in the music industry and has helped develop the Atlanta music scene as it is widely known for today. They have won three Grammy Awards amongst twelve nominations and have sold more than 300 million albums worldwide making them one of the most successful producer duos in music history. They are among the most consistent urban producers in the last 18 years, earning a spot on Billboard's top ten list of producers almost every year since 1998.
Fred Godfrey was the pen name of Llewellyn Williams, a World War I songwriter. He is best known for the songs "Take Me Back To Dear Old Blighty" (1916) and "Bless 'Em All" (1917), a 1940s hit recorded by George Formby that can be found on many war films.
Brothers of Soul was a soul trio composed of Fred Bridges, Richard Knight, and Robert Eaton, who were also a songwriting team involved with around 50 singles. Based in Detroit in the 60's and 70's, they recorded a number of songs, mainly with producer Ric Williams for the Zodiac and Boo labels. Their biggest hit was "I Guess That Don't Make Me a Loser," which peaked at 32 on the R&B charts in May 1968.
Brandon & Leah was an American-based indie pop group made up of former husband and wife team Brandon and Leah Jenner.
Andrew Alexander "Mike" Terry was an American saxophonist, songwriter, arranger, producer and musical director. His baritone sax solos feature on the breakthrough hits of Martha and the Vandellas, and The Supremes. As a member of the Funk Brothers he performed on thousands of Motown recordings from 1960-1967, including at least seven US #1 hits. As was Motown’s policy at the time, none of the studio musicians were credited by name. Terry was the musical arranger of the 1966 hit "Cool Jerk" by The Capitols, and later became a record producer, with partners including George Clinton, Sidney Barnes, and Jack Ashford.
